I’d like to follow up further on my Life Extension posting a few days ago, where I expressed disappointment with the way the organization uses research to aggressively sell nutritional supplements. Two issues came up in the comments.
One is ethics, which are questionable, to put it mildly. Unfortunately, it’s all part of the tradition of selling nutritional supplements in the U.S., which is the snake-oil-sales approach. I’d say Life Extension has discovered a more sophisticated version of the snake-oil approach—using credible scientific studies to bolster their case. But even companies or practitioners who start out with the best of intentions seem to have a tough time shaking the snake-oil approach, witness Dr. Joseph Mercola and even Dr. Andrew Weil. The profits are just too tempting.
The second issue is one mac referred to, which is our pill orientation. We see pills as performing magic, which helps explain further why we have the ethics problems. But I’m sensing there is a way around this trap.
I’ve become increasingly aware that real foods can perform as much or more magic than pills. For example, I used to buy a green drink, Greens First, and consume a glass every day. Now I make my own green juice, and I swear, it’s probably five or ten times as potent in its nutritional-energy value. And because my green drink is literally bubbling with enzymes, I’ve cut way back on an enzyme (capsule) regimen I was following. Also, since I’ve begun making raw milk kefir, I’ve discontinued a probiotic supplement I was taking. Linda Diane Feldt made an interesting point in my posting about hormones that dark green leafy vegetables can help provide relief to women suffering symptoms of menopause.
What I’m struggling with a little is trying to calibrate which fresh foods equal a similar amount of a supplement. I know I’m getting a lot of vitamins, enzymes, and good bacteria from my power foods. But is it enough to ditch the multivitamin I take? I also suspect there are some vitamins that are difficult to obtain via food—in particular, vitamin D in large quantities seems pretty important, and difficult to replicate on a regular basis in any form other than sunlight, which is a problem in the winter.
But to the extent we can substitute food for supplements, we reduce our reliance on the “pill” system, not unlike reducing gasoline consumption to reduce dependence on the energy system.
Recent Comments