Where I stand on the vitamins wars

by Cynthia Allen

I admit I have never been much of a vitamin or herb person. Larry (Wells), by contrast, used to be into them in a big way. However, science has cooled his jets and even he is quite spartan in what he consumes these days. What do we really know about vitamins?

• Research has so far shown that people who consume large amounts of supplements actually have a shorter life span. Will that hold up as more studies are done? Possibly not.
• Research has so far shown that hardly any of the vitamins or supplements thought to be valuable actually do what they were thought to do. Will that hold up as more studies are done? Definitely, the seas will part and the benefits and dangers will be clearer over time.
• Research has so far shown that many brand name vitamins don’t contain what they say they contain. Yikes!
• Research has so far shown that many supplements/vitamins contain contaminants and fillers most us wouldn’t consume for free and sure don’t want to be paying for. Some contaminants were even considered harmful.

My Personal Stance

Eating quality whole (unprocessed) foods is important. A variety of colors, textures, and items on the food “pyramid” is vital.

A good quality multivitamin is likely important for virtually all Americans unless you eat a truly stellar diet.

Anyone over 50 should be considering how to bone up their diet and supplements as they relate to bone health, as well as getting more quality weight bearing movement and learning how to stack those bones for optimal alignment. Bone health deserves its own lengthy article, but this is enough for you to chew on for now.

Too many supplements are not good for digestion and when I see people complaining of health issues (particularly digestive ones) who are taking a lot of supplements, I get concerned.

After hearing the scary news the past couple of years on efficacy and contaminents, Larry and I buckled down and did some additional research. Larry found an independent rating service and from it we identified a line of vitamins for ourselves and Future Life Now that scored the highest in several categories. We also chose a product that is organic, vegan, vegetarian, and whole foods based as this likely packs the best punch.

Because we believe we should not all be taking a lot of items, our lineup is simple:

• A multivitamin
• A bone growth vitamin
• Vitamin C

There are situations where people do need an additional this or that, but you won’t find Future Life Now shelves packed with supplements because we just aren’t convinced they are necessary or even healthy. But we do want you to have an option for quality essentials where you get what you pay for with nothing extra or unsavory added in.

If you want to use try out our new line of vitamins, please make your first purchase on us at a 15% discount. If you decide you like them and sign up for auto refill every two months, you will receive 20% off.

____

Sources

Lifespan and Efficacy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21987192
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/High-dose-vitamin-supplements-may-reduce-lifespan-by-up-to-a-quarter-Animal-data
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6399773.stm
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1789253

Supplement Contaminants
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/new-york-attorney-general-targets-supplements-at-major-retailers/?_r=0

Vitamin Defects
https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/multivitamin_review_comparisons/multivitamins/

About the Author

Future Life Now Team