Do Supplements Work?

Friday night, while looking at the Dali exhibit in the High Museum, my friend’s cousin asked me “do multivitamins work?” Startled I responded, “wow that’s one loaded question. Work for what? What result are you looking for?”

Neither supplements or the entire broad topic of nutrition for that matter, are cut and dry like an algebra problem. For x + y = z in your body, you must take the right form of the supplement, take it at the right time (with or without food; noting attention to specific types of foods that may help or hinder your supplement’s absorption) and look at how much you are taking at a time. In addition, to notice a benefit, many supplements need to be taken for a period of time, not just a one stop, pop it and bam! you feel amazingly better. Because of all of these factors, part of the responsibility of taking supplements falls on you, the consumer. But, here’s a quick cheat sheet for some common nutrition supplements.

In addition, I encourage people to follow this train of thought when considering a dietary supplement:

Low Calorie Diet Concerns

Low calorie diets have their place – they can help morbidly obese persons shed weight rapidly thereby modifying their disease risk factors and enhancing their quality of life. But, for the person who needs to lose 20 lbs or so, low calorie diets are not my favorite option unless they use them for a short period of time (2 weeks or so) or alternate low calorie days with higher calorie days (this takes diligence and commitment).

Why the distain for very low or low calorie diets? According to research out of Baylor University, conducted on Curves participants, a low calorie diet can quickly drop metabolism which means you are burning fewer calories at rest (in this particular study, they put women on a 1,200 calorie diet for 2 weeks). And that counteracts exactly what you are trying to do.

Secondly, low calorie diets can make you feel fatigued (especially if you aren’t eating the right foods). And when you are lethargic, all you want to do is sit on the couch – not exactly a good prescription for weight loss.

And lastly, low calorie diets often make it tough to get all the nutrients we need everyday. You have no calories to spare when you aren’t eating much, which means every single food must be packed with nutrition value. And, even then, you won’t meet your nutrient needs making a multivitamin and possibly supplemental vitamins or minerals (in addition to the multivitamin), very important. Some of the most obvious nutrient deficiencies and the foods you must eat to obtain enough of each nutrient include:

- Omega 3s ~ fatty fish
- Vitamin D ~ salmon, mackerel, fortified milk, some yogurts, some mushrooms, sunlight
- Calcium ~ dairy
- Iron ~ red meat, dark turkey meat, chicken
- Magnesium ~ halibut, mixed nuts, cereal

If you want to try a low calorie diet, do so only under the care of a Registered Dietitian and/or a physician who specializes in bariatrics (few physicians are versed on diet and nutrition but bariatrics is the study of obesity).