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- - Could Supplements and Fortification be Bad for You? (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=485321)

Could Supplements and Fortification be Bad for You?

Marty Kendall posted a new article today, that I read as "why vitamins and supplements could be making you fat." :)

Quote:

Our satiety analysis of one hundred and fifty thousand days of nutrient data from forty thousand people shows that we crave and have a distinct satiety response to the essential nutrients in food. However, we do not see this same response with high intakes of nutrients that could only be achieved with supplements and fortification.

While supplements are fortification can play a role where there are legitimate deficiencies, it appears that a mismatch of nutrients in foods that they don’t belong in could:

-confuse our appetite and lead us to eat more,

- and continue to eat low-satiety foods rather than craving whole foods that naturally contain those nutrients.

https://optimisingnutrition.com/too-much-nutrients/

I read that too, and utterly agreed with the premise that nutrient-dense food should be our first source.

I think our body's "signals for nutrition" can be trusted, if we've been eating nutritious foods. Perhaps our discernment goes beyond hunger and we can better tell what we are actually hungry FOR.

I need to read Marty's article on nutrients so I am not commenting on that specifically What I am offering is my approach to nutrition. I view supplements as exactly that supplemental. I work to maximize the nutrient density of all the food I eat and then I add supplements to augment the nutritional value of my diet not as a substitute for nutrient dense foods. This is all far from an exact science but I do believe that supplements have their place but nutrient dense foods certainly comes first.

Ran across this article this morning:

Supplements That Should Not Be Mixed

I was struck by how many supplements I DON'T take... because I'm not trying to make up for a bad diet. Just as exercise won't take the pounds off by itself, eating badly and thinking we can make up for something by taking a pill of whatever form. It's not a working plan, and it hasn't been working.

Like I use green tea to keep my cortisol low, and Ashwagandha is a favorite adaptogen, which are herbs which provides a "boost" for me when I take them for 6-8 week periods. But the article warns me I shouldn't do that if I'm taking prescription drugs:

Quote:

But taking ashwagandha might interact with a variety of medications including:

Drugs for people with diabetes

Taking ashwagandha with antidiabetes drugs meant to lower blood sugar levels could increase the risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) (NMD, 2022). Some herbs have been shown to help in the management of diabetes, but taking them on top of drugs that do that too can potentially lead to blood sugar that is too low (Gupta, 2017).

Drugs for high blood pressure

There is animal research that suggests that ashwagandha may lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, putting people who take blood pressure-lowering medication at risk for hypotension, blood pressure that is too low (NMD, 2022).

Immunosuppressants

Human research has shown that ashwagandha can stimulate the immune system. In addition, animal research has shown that ashwagandha can decrease the effectiveness of the immunosuppression caused by cyclophosphamide, a drug used to treat cancer and nephrotic syndrome (NMD, 2022).

This is good to know, but I'm eating in a way that gives me stable blood sugar, normal blood pressure, and a grip on my autoimmune issues. It turns out adaptogenic herbs all have a beneficial effect on my quest to stabilize my cortisol and stress levels in a way that lets my body function properly. I apparently I shouldn't take them when I'm eating a bad diet and taking drugs for it.

While I am a fan of medicine, I think the science of nutrition has been so woefully propagandized we really need a double-take on this assumption, as so many doctors have, that at my age I'm not taking ENOUGH drugs. I've lost track of the many who were certain I was simply under-medicated, and offered their favorite combo of Prozac and Ambien. Get me shut up, going and coming, because they aren't given any other tools.

We can't outrun a bad diet, and we can't medicate/supplement our way out, either. That was my take on this article, which was really interesting.

DH, who always had high triglycerides and high blood pressure on the SAD, is getting great numbers and cutting down his dose of high blood pressure medicine as it swings, in smaller and smaller arcs, back to normal as he decreases his doses -- with doctor permission -- with the pills.