When I meet someone new — say at a party or while I’m traveling — and they hear that I’m an “anti-aging” doctor, there’s one question I’m almost always asked...
“Are supplements really worth the money?”
I understand why people are questioning taking additional vitamins, herbs, and other nutrients.
For years, the medical establishment declared that supplements were a waste of money.
And sometimes they are.
Today there are a lot of third-rate supplement salesmen who are riding high on the health and wellness wave. They’ve been overcharging customers for cut-rate herbs, vitamins, minerals, and other supplements.
I tell my patients to avoid the following when shopping for a supplement:
The majority of vitamins in the country’s top-selling supplement are derived from synthetic ingredients.
Synthetic ingredients. Technically, these vitamins have the same molecular structure as natural vitamins. But your body can’t absorb them properly, so they pass right through your system without doing any good. One of the best-selling –and top doctor-recommend multi-vitamins – is almost 100% synthetic.1
Toxic ingredients. Many low-quality supplements do more harm than good. In fact, these Franken-supplements even include coal tar, petroleum, and acetylene gas.
There’s no third-party testing. It’s easy for supplement companies to cut corners when it comes to quality control. Sadly, it’s you, the consumer, who pays the price by getting a product that doesn’t live up to the claims or ingredients on the label. Third-party certification – from a company not involved in the production or sale of the supplement – tests for purity, safety, and quality.
With this being said, the answer I give to the person asking me if supplements are really worth the money…
Is a resounding yes.
As a regular reader who’s interested in natural health, you already know that.
But there was a time when conventional doctors, Big Pharma, and the FDA didn’t believe that nutritional supplements had any medical value at all.
Many in the medical establishment even considered supplements like vitamin D3, CoQ10, vitamin B6, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), and magnesium to be “quack treatments.”
Some studies even discredited omega-3 fatty acids!2
All of that’s changed. Multiple studies back up the medicinal power of supplements and demonstrate their ability to keep people healthy and out of the hospital.
A study funded by the Council for Responsible Nutrition concluded that:3
If every cardio patient in the U.S. over the age of 55 took omega-3s and vitamins B6, B12, and B9 (folic acid) supplements, the chances of ending up in a hospital were radically reduced, and the combined health-cost savings would be more than $1 billion a year.
If all U.S. cardio and diabetic patients over 55 in the U.S. took chromium supplements, the total savings in health costs would be $970 million a year.
If Americans over 55 with age-related eye disorders took lutein and zeaxanthin antioxidants, the estimated savings would be $967 million a year.
Supplements are also overwhelmingly safe.
In 2022, the FDA received reports of more than 1.25 million adverse events from Big Pharma drugs, including 175,000 deaths.4
Compare that to 2,400 adverse reports from nutritional supplements and zero deaths.
The Top 10 Most Important Supplements You Can Take
I’ve been recommending nutritional supplements to my patients since I began practicing medicine more than 30 years ago. And I’ve done it for one simple reason — they work. These are the top supplements I recommend:
DHA. This omega-3 fat can prevent or improve chronic conditions associated with aging, including heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, arthritis, and inflammation. You need between 600 and 1,000 mg of DHA daily. I recommend getting DHA from squid. Sometimes called calamari oil, it contains more DHA than fish oil alone.
CoQ10. This is one of the most important supplements you can take. Benefits of this antioxidant include treating and preventing heart failure and diabetes, protection against certain kinds of cancer, strengthening mitochondria, protectingthe brain against oxidative damage, slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and protecting lungs and increasing pulmonary function. Take 50 to 100 mg a day of the ubiquinol form. It’s eight times more powerful.
Vitamin D. The sunshine vitamin helps protect against cancer, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune diseases like MS, depression, and so much more. You can get a healthy daily dose of D by getting around 15 minutes of direct sunlight. It also strengthens your bones, boosts immunity, reduces inflammation, and helps with weight loss. I recommend taking at least 5,000 IUs of vitamin D3 in its cholecalciferol form. This is the same kind your body naturally produces.
Rounding out my top 10 are vitamins C, K2, E, and a B complex, as well as magnesium, PQQ, and curcumin.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
References
Centrum FAQs. https://www.centrum.co.za/faq. Accessed on November 21, 2024.
Danaei G, et al. “The preventable causes of death in the United States: comparative risk assessment of dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors.” PLOS Medicine. 2009; 6(4): e1000058.
Shanahan C and De Lorimier R. “Smart prevention: Health care cost savings resulting from the targeted use of dietary supplements.” Funded by the Council for Responsible Nutrition. Published by Frost & Sullivan. 2013.
Kommy S, Carter C, Whitfield P. “Adverse Drug Reactions.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK599521/ Accessed on November 21, 2024.