Vitamin/Supplement Myths

I love MEGA FOOD Vitamins they are on of my favs! Look out for a blog post detailing why these (and vitamins similar to these) were my go to recommended vitamins to clients

Working as a nutritionist at a natural food store, I've heard all sorts of things about the efficacy and the validity of vitamins. Today I share the top 6 myths I have heard:

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Myth #1: You don't need supplements or a multivitamin if you eat well enough, you can get all your nutrients from food.

Fact: This could possibly be true for a very very very disciplined person (who likes to eat a lot lol ), but for the majority of us (if not all of us) it's pretty difficult for a number of reasons.

Reason #1: Our soil is depleted! The amount of nutrients (minerals) currently in our soil is a lot less compared to previous years

Reason #2: Unless you are picking your fruits and veggies straight from the garden, a lot of the nutrients deplete from farm to store. Even just sitting in your grocery store’s produce case many of the nutrients are depleted. People say, they buy their produce at the farmer's market to avoid this, but what I've found at many farmers markets is that a lot of the produce is STILL not local.

Reason #3: You would more than likely have to eat a 'lot' of food ( or drink a lot of green juices lol) to get the recommended dietary allowances, a lot more to get your optimal daily intakes and a lot lot more to get therapeutic amounts for any ailment you might be trying to fix. 

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Myth #2: There is no point taking multivitamins you pee them all out anyways!

Fact: This is not necessarily true, especially depending on the quality and the ingredients in your multivitamin.

Reason 1: There are fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, & K) which your body stores (minerals are also stored in your body). There are also water soluble vitamins (B Vitamins, Vitamin C)--with water soluble vitamins your body takes what it needs and the rest are excreted in your waste. The reason why your pee may turn yellow when you take a multivitamin or a b complex is because more than likely these supplements contain the B Vitamin Riboflavin (B2). B2 basically turns your urine yellow --this is a sign that the B2 has been metabolized by your body and it has taken what it needs, the yellow pee is the excess B2 your body did not need at the time. The natural pigment of riboflavin is yellow (flavin comes from flavus which is Latin for yellow). It’s much like if you eat a bunch of beets or carrots your urine might turn slightly red or yellow/orange especially if you don't drink enough water. 

Reason 2: Doctor’s recommend prenatal vitamins for pregnant people…
iron/b12/folate/vitamin c for anemic people…

calcium/magnesium/phosphorous/k2/d3 for people with low and decreasing bone density (osteopenia/osteoporosis)…and the list could go on and on!

To me this especially shows that vitamins can be absorbed and utilized by the body. Even synthetic vitamins can be absorbed, though not as efficiently or as easily as whole food vitamins (which I will touch more on in another blog post). 

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Myth 3: If I take a multivitamin or any other vitamin/supplement I don’t really need to eat as many vegetables or fruits ..or I don’t really need to watch what I eat.

Fact: Even if you do take vitamins—no vitamin is IN place of a healthy, fresh, unprocessed whole food, varied diet.

Reason: Vitamins are just a helper and are in no way to replace a healthy diet! A multivitamin is to help fill in gaps in your diet, not to replace your diet! There is truly no substitute for eating well to achieve 'optimal health'.

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Myth 4: I don’t need to take Vitamin D3 the sun supplies me with all I need

Fact: This could be true, but our lifestyles, where we live, skin color, and the seasons all impact how much Vitamin D from the sunlight we can actually absorb.

Reason 1: Many of us are not outside long enough, or we slather ourselves with sunscreen—this stops the absorption of uvb rays into our body to make vitamin D. The same with a dark skin person, the melanin acts as a sun block—so the darker you are the longer you actually have to stay outside to absorb sunlight to make vitamin D. This is why many darker skin people are deficient in vitamin D, especially those of them in the western word out of their ‘natural’ habitat. 

I will do another blog post about vitamin D later …the #1 deficient nutrient in the United States.

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Myth 5: I shouldn’t take calcium, my Dr. said by taking a calcium supplement the calcium will deposit in my arteries, my vessels everywhere else except my bones.

Fact: This is sort of true, taking calcium by itself without the needed ‘co-nutrients’ to get it to your bones may very well cause it to deposit in your arteries, BUT we should never take calcium by itself. Calcium should always be taken with magnesium and to go a step further D3/K2.  The commonly accepted ratio of calcium to magnesium is a 2:1 ratio. So if you’re taking a calcium or bone supplement with 1000 mg of calcium it should also have at least 500 mg of magnesium.  

I’ll also do another blog post about bone health and supplements for bone building.

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Myth 6: The ‘government’ said, the ‘FDA’ said….

Fact: Never completely trust the ‘government’ especially the American government (though I am forever ‘proud’ to be an American lol) there is a lot of money to make, subsidies and special interests that are protected by the government. :)

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Well there you have it the top 6 myths I’ve heard about vitamins. There are many more so maybe I will do a top 6 myths part 2. 

Thanks so much for reading and as always GOD BLESS YOU!
✞❤☮