Should you take supplements?

Supplements are a huge profit-making industry. We’ve been told to take supplements as added insurance for good health, but some manufactures have admitted they don’t pop their own pills.

“Maria Carmen Gomez-Cabrera, a physiologist at the university of Valencia and one of the world’s leading experts on antioxidants was debating the merits of supplements with two top researchers.” “The debate, she explained, isn’t whether supplements are good or bad for athletes. Rather, it’s “are they useless, or are they worse than useless.” “It’s no surprise that the purposed muscle-building supplements make unproven claims and may come with hazardous side effects.” Supplements have “few benefits and increasing evidence of negative effects” (pg. 44).

“According to Pieter Cohen, a professor at Harvard Medical School, there are only two types of sports supplements: those that are safe but don’t work, and those that might work, but have side effects…unless tests have shown that you’re low in a particular vitamin or mineral, there’s no evidence to suggest that you should take a daily supplement.” “Gomez-Cabrera and her colleagues at the University of Valencia have shown that antioxidant supplements suppress the oxidative stress that signals your body to adapt and get stronger.” You don’t want to pay money on pills that make you weaker and more susceptible to illness.

Gomez-Cabrera says, “…if you eat enough fruits and vegetables, five servings a day.”(pg. 46) You don’t need anything else…if you’re not eating like that, then taking a pill isn’t a solution.”

Bottom line: You don’t get a root canal if you don’t need one. Regardless of whether you’re an athlete or not, don’t take supplements unless you are on a restricted diet or cannot get enough nutrients from real foods. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Source: Outside magazine, November 2013 edition pg. 44 & 46 article titled Pounding Pills