Ask Your Pharmacist? Do we need supplements?

Do we need supplements?
Eamonn Brady is a pharmacist and the owner of Whelehans Pharmacy, Pearse St, Mullingar. If you have any health questions e-mail them to info@whelehans.ie

Question
There are so many vitamin and mineral supplements and natural and herbal medicines on the market. Do we need supplements and are there any supplements I should be taking for overall good health?

H McG Mullingar

Response
Natural medicines have grown in popularity in recent years. However, a recent report in the Daily Telegraph in the UK (and reported in the Irish Independent on November 6th 2012) showed that supplement use has reduced in the UK since 2008; there are two reasons for this according to the report. One is because of the economic slowdown, meaning people have less money to spend; the second is due to the lack of evidence of the effectiveness and the benefit of taking supplements. According to the Irish Independent article “In recent years an increasing number of studies have questioned claims that taking health supplements brings major health benefits”. For example, a Harvard study, published in November 2012, concluded that multivitamins have no benefit on cardiovascular health. According to some health experts, individuals who believe they are deriving benefits from supplements may be less likely to engage in other preventive health behaviours such as eating their 5 a day and exercising regularly. According to the British Diabetic Association, if you have a balanced diet such as five portions of fruit and veg a day, eating oily fish regularly, and food from all groups and you are well then you should not need to take supplements. However according to the British Diabetic Association there were some groups of people such as the under-fives, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly who may benefit from some supplements such as vitamin D.

Balanced diet is better than any supplement?
Evidence shows that eating a healthy diet can reduce your risk of illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and cancer (particularly bowel cancer). No single kind of food contains all the nutrients and fibre you need, so it's important to eat a range of foods. There are five main food groups which should form part of our diet. The five main food types are (1) starchy foods (2) fruit and vegetables, (3) dairy foods (4) meat, fish and other non-dairy sources of protein (such as beans) and (5) fats and sugar. If you have a balanced diet you do not need supplements.

For certain conditions or at time of illness, your GP or pharmacist may recommend certain supplements. For example calcium and vitamin D if you suffer from osteoporosis or iron if you suffer from anaemia.

It would not be possible in a short newspaper article to explain the benefits (or lack of benefits) of individual supplements. However I have a comprehensive article on individual vitamins, minerals, natural medicines and herbal medicines which you can few at www.whelehans.ie or ask for a free copy in Whelehans pharmacy.
Disclaimer: The advice in this article is very general. For more specific advice and information on diet and food, you should speak to a dietician or nutritionist