SBS TV’s Insight program, hosted by Jenny Brockie, is researching a show about vitamins and supplements – and they want to hear from consumers about their experience with taking these (and other) complementary medicines. Have you taken vitamins, supplements or other non-prescription treatments for general health or a particular health concern you have? What has your experience been like with the quality and price? Who recommended them? Do you feel they worked for you, or did they do nothing at all? Insight is looking to hear all experiences- whether they be positive or negative.
If you are interested in sharing your story, email the producer Amanda Xiberras, at amandax@sbs.com.au
Is Choice planning to provide information (or attend the show when it is recorded) from a holistic consumer viewpoint…especially since Choice has views on the complementary medicine industry?
Ive taken Vitamin tabs for approx. 2 years and have now ceased. They were Calcium, Magnesium, & Vitamin D3. They are too expensive and I believe that if Im eating good food I don’t need them. I also took Glucosamine for approx. 2 years until I read that they may induce diabetes. I did not find any of those courses to be of any benefit.
Having travelled overseas many times I have observed that in the UK and US these Vitamins, supplements etc are not available in the massive quantities as in Australia.
I suspect that we have an addiction, or is it an obsession to ingesting these unproven pills?
Who is getting the benefit? I suspect the manufacturers are making millions. Any claims of success would have to be treated with suspicion.
If you understand the signs of vitamin/mineral deficiency you can take supplements only when you detect you have a deficiency in something. I’ve found the resulting improvement in health is therefore worth the expense. It beats the conventional medical approach of mostly treating symptoms.
I take 3 things, COQ10 ,Glucosamine with Chondroitin and MSM and magnesium.
Several years ago I was getting out of bed with stiff feet and walked around for a while till they came good. I went to arthritis specialist and all good, Naturopath suggested COQ10 for circulation and it fixed the problem so I have take 150mgm a day ever since. I used to get chilblains as a child and that is also from poor circulation. Another Naturopath suggested I was taking too much Glucosamine with Chondroitin and MSM ( suggested by physio) and magnesium so I stopped them both. I noticed a marked difference when I did that. Now I take them 3 times a week on alternate days instead of every day. I also take extra magnesium if I have cramps. It stops the cramps straight away.
For a while I took Vit D tablets but they did not increase my reading so had to take the liquid . Now I do not take any Vit D.
I have had blood tests in the past which recorded the Vitamin D levels hence the move to take the liquid not the tablets as it was not being absorbed.I play sport outside and garden a lot so why am i low in Vitamin D? Most recent test showed Vitamin B deficiency so now have injection for that. I also believed that if you ate well everything would be provided. However,our soils are now depleted of a lot of vitamins and minerals so our fruit and vegetables are not as good for you as they used to be.
I belong to an organic fruit and vegie co-op and grow some things myself, can’t do any more than that.
I am not sure where you got that from. If a plant has a deficiency, it will show symptoms indicating a deficiency. Usually the plant leaves, its fruits and other growing parts will exhibit the deficiency either through discolouration, deformatities or reduction in size and quality (e.g. tough, dry etc) of the plant material.
Farmers, whether conventional or organic, use fertilisers to ensure that the crop they are growing aren’t deficient in a particular nutrient as this can significantly impact on yield and sellability of the produce. Imagine trying to sell sickly looking yellow kale leaves because of a nutrient deficiency.
Overtime there however have been different cultivars used which may have slightly different nutrient qualities and nutritional quantities…inherent to the cultuvar used. However, unless the plant is specifically breed to remove a particular biochemical compound, the same componds will be present in the different cultuvars, albeit potentially at slightly different concentrations.
In relation to vitamin D, the body can make this through sunlight on skin. There has been some reports that as one get older, the efficency of the production of vitamin D is reduced leading to vitamin D deficiency in those who normally would not be considered deficient (such as those who have sun exposure).
Having a vitamin defficiency with age shouldn’t be confused with potential deficiencies of nutrients in what one eats and thus attribute the defficiency to other things.
Vit D synthesis in the body from exposure to sunlight requires a normal/good liver function. If you have a liver that isn’t working so well, or a fatty liver or Fatty Liver Disease (a further step on from just a fatty liver) then Vit D can be lower than expected. Fatty Livers can be had whether you are fat of not but are more typically associated with being overweight or obese. In these cases increasing Vit D by supplementation can help the body to increase the amount of D3.
Vit B12 is very important with normal red blood cell production… If you have insufficient B12 intake you will develop anemia. In some people this means that B12 is no longer adsorbed from the foods you eat due to a lack of Intrinsic Factor (IF) and will require lifelong injections/supplements in others it may just mean a change of diet to include foods that have B12 or to take supplements once B12 levels are brought back up by injections.
Some reasons why you may not be getting B12:
Lack of intrinsic factor (IF) can be caused by:
an auto-immune illness, where the immune system attacks the cells in the stomach that produce intrinsic factor (parietal cells);
having all or part of the stomach (where intrinsic factor is made) removed; or
a rare, inherited condition known as congenital pernicious anaemia.
Vitamin B12 deficiency may also be due to:
problems with absorption of vitamin B12 in the small intestine due to part or all of the small intestine being surgically removed or affected by disease (such as Crohn’s disease, coeliac disease or infection); or
a side effect from certain medicines, such as some type 2 diabetes and seizure medicines and some medicines used to treat gastro-oesophageal reflux, which can interfere with vitamin B12 absorption; or
a diet poor in foods that have B12 ie meat, poultry, shellfish, eggs, dairy products, fortified soy and/or nut and/or rice milks, nutritional supplements, some mushrooms with Shitake probably the best source in those and finally nori (the dried seaweed used in Sushi) is probably the best vegan/vegetarian source of B12.
Ostelin and cenovis Magnesium which also has some B6. Also Berocca. I get random cramping in odd places, and Berocca seems to help more than Magnesium.
Lots of articles around. A lot of fruit and veg these days are produced to travel well, look good and be artificially ripened. Just take a look at tomatoes and some of the stone fruits, look great but have no flavour.
It seems like I am being hit from all sides so maybe you are professionals in this area.If so it would be good to state that. For the record I am not a vegetarian and I was was brought up on meat and 3 veg on a dairy farm with unpasteurised, unhomogenised milk. The autoimmune problem I have is underactive thyroid and Hashimotos disease.
There are a lot of theories that Dr Albrecht wrote papers about and many which are seen as controversial. There are many websites claiming that his science was ahead of his time and that he forecast the current poor health of individuals (inc. cancer, obesity) from eating foods grown on poor soils. These same websites are not scientific and while there is a link between poor diets and poor health, the poor diets result from type of foods eaten and not the fertility of soils.
He also keenly promoted a cation balance or ratio, where there was a fixed and optimum ratio in a soil of Ca, Mg, K and Na for all plants. While plants needs cations, there is not an optimum ratio for maximising the health of food grown on a soils. Each plant has differing requirements and there is not optimum balance or ratio for a soil.
He also raised concern about the reduction of soil carbon in broad acre agriculture, some of his comments on the matter have been found to be correct in relation to soil fertility…but there is more to the eye. Soil carbon is important in a soil as it acts as a bank (can store and release nutrients into the soil solution making then available to plants) and also improves the physical properties of a soil. While soil carbon loss is concerning on a number of factors, soil carbon is not essential for plant growth (e.g. hydroponics cropping systems are devoid of soil carbon, but highly nutritious crops can be grown).
A lot of his work, while controversial, has been misused by many who believe in non-traditional crop growing practices. It is also used by seller of alternative medicines, like those on the TJ Clark website.
In relation to disclosure, I don’t work for big pharma or fertiliser company, but have worked in an business which provided products for the organic farming sector. I also have worked in the academic field in my early career.
These are mainly the result of breeding and harvesting times. It is known that leaving fruit and vegetables to ripen on the plant has superior taste to picking early to minimise transport impacts and maximise storage (also some factors considered when breeding new cultivars).
A tomato which say is deficient in Ca, has obvious signs…like blossom end rot. Other deficiencies can affect fruit quality, and why fertilisers are used.
I am really interested in this fact as when I was 12 I had ten inches( in those days) of my small intestine removed due to strangulation of the bowel which was going gangrene.( adhesions after appendix) No-one has ever related the B12 deficiency to that.
