TODAY WE LOOK AT FOOD FOR HEALTH: Vitamins, supplements, minerals, and more. Americans love their vitamins and dietary supplements, spending nearly $30 billion on the goods each year. Look at these eye-popping statistics:
- The global dietary supplements market is worth $152 billion. While much of that is from vitamins, other supplements account for nearly 70 percent of the revenue share is from other supplements. The industry continues to grow as many want to improve our health through vitamins and other supplements.
- Americans spend $30.2 billion on supplements annually. This amount includes $28.3 billion for adults and $1.9 billion for children.
- Americans spend 9.2 percent of their out-of-pocket health care spending on supplements. This share means that, of the 59 million Americans purchasing supplements, the average person is spending over $500 each year on them.
- The industry makes money: The average profit margin is 38 percent. While this is less than the overall pharmaceutical profit margin of 76.5 percent, supplements generate a lot of money: The average supplement store makes over $100,000 in income annually.
- There are over 29.000 dietary supplements in the United States, with about 1,000 new ones added each year.
- Fifty-eight percent of Americans aged 20 and over have used a dietary supplement in the past 30 days, while overall usage increases with age.
What do you think is the most commonly consumed supplement? If you guessed vitamin D, you are spot on. Two out of three of us take this supplement. Magnesium, fish oil, Co-Q10, and a multivitamin are right behind at 54, 53, 46, and 42 percent, respectively, taking them.
Supplements have been growing in popularity for decades. In 2022, nearly four in five Americans will take at least one supplement. We spend a whopping $30.2 billion on supplements each year.
Are supplements regulated in the USA?
The answer is yes and no. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulate most dietary supplements under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). This regulation does not ensure safety or even that the product contains what it is touted to have.
What do the FDA and FTC give us? Consumers must have access to warning letters, recalls, information about ingredients, and other important information.
Despite some oversight by these federal agencies, nearly three in four individuals are concerned that supplements must be backed by trustworthy research. The FDA needs better to regulate nutritional and other supplements in some critical ways.
Healthy habits: 9 pillars of health
Some argue that most non-pregnant, otherwise healthy individuals are wasting their money if they spend it on supplements. There is no magic set of pills to keep you healthy. Here are my nine pillars of health:
- Avoid smoking
- Avoid excess alcohol consumption
- Physical activity (including resistance training)
- Get adequate sleep
- Healthy weight
- Balanced diet
- Mindfulness
- Community
- Have a purpose in life
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20170807-ikigai-a-japanese-concept-to-improve-work-and-life
Today I will focus on five ways to get some of the equivalents of supplements through food. My patients often ask me, “What supplements should I be taking?”
Are they wasting their money and mistakenly believing that there is a magic set of pills that will advance their health? My answer is always the same: We would all follow evidence-based practices of healthy eating and exercise in a perfect world.
The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is an independent panel of national experts that frequently offers evidence-based recommendations about clinical risk-reducing practices.
The panel systematically reviewed 84 studies before it created new guidelines. The guidance now offers there is “insufficient evidence” that taking multivitamins, paired supplements, or single supplements can help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer in otherwise healthy, non-pregnant adults. Here are the guidelines:
https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/vitamin-supplementation-to-prevent-cvd-and-cancer-preventive-medication
Please remember that the task force is saying something other than that you should not take multivitamins, for example. Rather, it suggests that if supplements for healthy individuals were really good for us, we should know by now.
I will not get into the pros and cons of supplementation today. Still, I want to remind you of some perils:
The task force specifically recommends against taking beta-carotene supplements because of a possible increased lung cancer risk. It also recommends against taking vitamin E supplements because they do not reduce early mortality, cardiovascular disease, or cancer.
Food for health
Let’s turn to some ways you can use diet to give you some substances supplements might provide. I will begin by stating the obvious: Numerous health food options are tasty had healthy. Fill your plate with fruits, vegetables, quality protein sources, and other whole foods, and you are on your way to improving your health. And your plate will look wonderfully colorful, too.
1. Magnesium. Low levels are associated with various sleep disorders. Nevertheless, the evidence for magnesium supplements to improve sleep (for those with sufficient magnesium levels) could be more robust. As magnesium supports immune health, nerve and muscle function, and blood sugar regulation, you should increase your consumption of certain foods. Greens, nuts, seeds, beans, fish, and yogurt all fit the bill.
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2. Collagen is a protein responsible for skin stretchiness and healthy joints. You will find the substance in your bones, muscles, and blood. It also makes up three-quarters of your skin and a third of your body’s protein. With age, we make less collagen. Some turn to collagen supplements to help with bone density, bone or joint pain or reduce aging signs. Many of the available studies are small and inadequate.
You naturally make collagen in your body by combining amino acids, protein’s building blocks. To make collagen, we need proline. You can find it in dairy, egg whites, cabbage, mushrooms, and asparagus. It would be best if you also had glycine, which you will find in chicken and pork skin, gelatin, and several foods rich in protein.
Add vitamin C (from citrus fruits and bell peppers) and zinc (beef, pork, lamb, shellfish, chickpeas, lentils, beans, cheese, milk, nuts, and seeds). We also need copper (for example, from cocoa powder, cashews, sesame seeds, lentils, and organ meats).
3. Vitamin B6.
https://www.healthline.com/health/vitamin-b6-foods
Vitamin B-6 supports vital functions throughout your body. These functions include stress reduction and maintaining overall good health, including immune system functioning. Many Americans are deficient in dietary vitamin B-6. Here are some foods that give you a vitamin B-6 boost:
- Ricotta
- Milk
- Salmon
- Tuna
- Eggs
- Chicken liver
- Beef
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Sweet potato
- Green peas
- Chickpeas
- Bananas
- Cereals
- Avocado
Eat well, and you may be able to toss the B-6 supplements.
4. Melatonin. Melatonin is essential for good sleep. The pineal gland, in our brain’s center, makes it. Melatonin functions with the sun’s rhythms: We make more melatonin when the sun goes down and less when the sun rises.
While some take supplements, these six food sources of melatonin: Tart cherries, goji berries, eggs, milk, and fish (oily types such as sardines or salmon) are best. I also like incorporating pistachios and almonds for melatonin, antioxidants, minerals, and healthy omega-3 fats.
5. Vitamin D. We need vitamin D to absorb calcium for bone health. However, a large study discovered that vitamin D pills (taken with or without calcium) do not affect bone fracture rates or other ailments like cancer and cardiovascular disease. I have some quibbles with the study, but today is all about food for health. Moreover, some with health conditions such as celiac disease (and those deprived of sunshine) may find supplements helpful.
Back to foods rich in vitamin D: Consider upping your consumption of salmon, herring, sardines, canned tuna, egg yolks, mushrooms, and vitamin D-fortified foods.
Although we make vitamin D from the sun’s ultraviolet light, excessive exposure increases our skin cancer risk. While getting sufficient vitamin D from diet alone is challenging, it is not impossible. I will stop here, as I am longing for my beloved Hawaii.
Thank you for joining me in this look at vitamins (and other supplements) and how you can use food to increase your levels of vital substances.
The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.
