Vitamin Supplements

Food supplements are here to stay and can give you a kick-start when you need it, but the utter confusion they sometimes cause does more harm than good

One of the fastest growing sections of the health industry is that of vitamin preparations. However, there is still a great deal of ignorance among both the public and health workers as to their desirability and meaningful use. The budget that most people have for “luxuries” like vitamins and health literature is limited.

For many people, a health shop is an exciting place filled with thousands of small bottles of exotic preparations from all corners of the earth. Every label promises health, vitality and energy. A few of the products have Western scientific backing, but the vast majority of the labels on the bottles give a vague, generalised indication of their beneficial effects. People then hurry home with empty purses and bags full of “mixtures of goat dung and turnips” to share the secrets of far-off lands.

Fortunately, there are shop owners who know enough about their health products, but sometimes people with very little knowledge palm off preparations on customers. There are also salespersons who walk around with testimonials from people who coincidently began to feel better after they had taken one or a whole course of their products. Sometimes people feel better simply because they are having the regular meals that are recommended together with the preparations, and not necessarily from the pills.

There are people who have the necessary know-how, though. Find out how much training the salesperson has had and ask for a Certificate of Good Manufacturing Practice.

REMEMBER, even if something is natural, it is not necessarily safe for human consumption. Snake venom is natural.

It is also not necessarily what you take, but how you take it.

I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that consumers often do not have the faintest idea of what they are taking. I often ask people what vitamin supplements they are taking and the answer comes back: “Some or other homeopathic pill that I bought at the supermarket.” This is usually a multivitamin they found next to the children’s fever medicine.

Vitamins

Vitamins are substances that our bodies need, but are unable to manufacture for themselves. They are complex biochemical molecules that are manufactured by other living organisms. We use some of these plants and animals as food. The vitamin group includes vitamin A, a group of B vitamins, and vitamins C, D, E and K.

The B vitamins and vitamin C are water-soluble and the kidneys therefore excrete any excess. Vitamins A, D and E are n_ot water-soluble. If too much of these vitamins are consumed it can accumulate in the fat cells and other tissues and lead to poisoning. As is often the case in life, too much of a good thing is not a good idea.

Too much vitamin A can result in headaches, therefore it is recommended that no more than 5000 international units (IU) be taken every day. Read the label on the packaging and work out how much to take per day.

It should seldom, if ever, be necessary to take a Vitamin K supplement as it is manufactured by the bacteria in the colon. Some plants (especially green leafy vegetables) also contain vitamin K. People who are on warfarin (an anticoagulant) should be careful of vitamin K as it can hamper the working of the drug.

Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid. Many people find pure vitamin C too acid. This can be overcome by taking a buffered form.

If you take a vitamin pill, it will (hopefully) dissolve in the alimentary canal. The vitamins then find their way through the walls of the canal into the bloodstream. Here they are distributed to the different tissues. The tissues are, however, unable to handle large amounts at once. The excess eventually lands up in the kidneys (in the case of water-soluble vitamins) and is excreted in the urine. That dark yellow or orange colour of the urine is a sign that you are flushing away part of your investment unused. In order to avoid this waste, B vitamins and others are often supplied in a slow-release form.

“Slow release” means that the pills dissolve more slowly and the vitamins are released more gradually over a longer period. Read the label on the packaging or consult your pharmacist or health worker.

Vitamin packaging always has “RDA” written on it. This stands for recommended daily allowance — the amounts that, according to the World Health Organization, are necessary for preventing the so-called deficiency diseases. The “RDA” values are the absolute minimum that the body requires and do not necessarily reflect the needs of the body for optimal functioning.

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