Health Studies

Generally ads and studies show health benefits from supplements.

However, sometimes a study will document a negative result. This frightens people away from taking supplements that could be of benefit to them. The question is - how can it happen that a supplement can prove to be harmful?

Don't take anything to excess

The first answer is that any substance taken to excess can be harmful. Last year a young woman died from drinking too much water; yet we're advised continually to drink more water.

Is water harmful? Only in excess.

Vitamins and minerals come from our food and are of benefit as supplements.

Herbs are akin to medicine and should be considered with a careful eye to dosage - get advice from an expert.

Synergy

The second answer is synergy. Vitamins require minerals and other co-factors in order for the body to be able to absorb and use them. Vitamins as antioxidants, B vitamins, folic acid and minerals should be taken in a balanced formula to assure their synergistic affect. They should be taken at optimum levels, not excessive levels. Synergistically, the antioxidents need the B vitamins, folic acid and minerals to work.

In order for Medical Studies to show results, one drug is tested at a time and its effect is measured. This allows us to understand exactly how that particular drug affected the body. Unfortunately they use the same testing methods with vitamins. Without the synergy of the co-factors, vitamins will not show the same results when tested alone.

For example: to test the affect of vitamin C or E -- large amounts of these vitamins are used in an experiment in order to get fast results -- not taking into account that these vitamins are a food which requires its supporting factors in order to be absorbed into the body's cells. Without these supporting factors, the nutrient may become a pro-oxidant and can cause oxidative stress and therefore show a negative result on the test. However, these test circumstances don't happen in real life, when the food is ingested naturally, or when the supplement is taken along with its co-factors in a balanced formula.

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