Vitamins and Supplements part 2 of 2

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Once we realize that we cannot obtain the essential nutrients we need form food alone, you can then conclude that some sort of supplementation should be added to our diet.

There are good whole food vitamins on the market. I’m not here to sell any of them. Do some research and find them. None of them will be one pill a day. Most will need to have 4 or more capsules taken per day simply because you can’t compress all the ingredients into one pill, it ain’t possible! And that is your first clue to a good supplement. It takes more than one pill to get the needed ingredients.

Vitamins and Supplements part 1 of 2

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Do you take vitamins and supplements? Why do you take them? How did you choose what you currently consume? Price? Ingredients? Availability? Recommendation? Why?

I talk supplements with many people in the office, and most are just winging it, hoping it helps their health. Many people have fallen for the “one a day” advertising. Some buy supplements as cheaply as possible. Others look for certain ingredients, but really have no idea what should be in them. It is hard to know what to look for and how to buy when your knowledge and time are limited.

Supplement producers can squeeze a lot of stuff into a capsule these days, but is it stuff worth having? It is highly doubtful that any single pill can pack the essentials needed to make a difference. Most of the one a day pills are chock full of synthetic vitamins and low cost ingredients that aren’t well absorbed by our bodies. Shopping at discount stores and big box retailers will probably let your health short changed in the long run. If you like blowing money on things that have no value, be my guest. The old saying that you get what you pay for certainly applies to supplements.