Thoughts on Nutritional Supplements

I've often wondered if there was any truth to the oft-heard claim that certain foods and dietary supplements can "boost the immune system." And since I caught a wee cold from Ciara yesterday, I thought I'd poke around the Internets and find out. The short answer is no. The long answer is interesting. A clinical immunologist at the University of Texas points out that the descriptions of these treatments are vague to the point of meaninglessness; the claimants fail to describe which aspect of the immune system will be affected. And, he says, where the immmune system is concerned, a "boost" could be a very bad thing, if it stimulates the parts of the immune system that cause it to reject its own cells and tissues. "To indiscriminately disrupt ('boost') any part of this network," he says, "would be disastrous to the host. The concept of 'boosting' the immune system is actually part of what occurs in autoimmune diseases..."

Add this to the fact that there's no proof that megadose Vitamin C aids in the body's ability to fight off the common cold, and the dearth of evidence that echinacea and other "natural cold remedies" are effective, and those rows upon rows of vitamins at Whole Foods and your local nutrition mart begin to look like the tangible elements of a very expensive belief system where scientific evidence is trumped by the placebo effect and confirmation bias.

It's a common misconception that the average (non-pregnant, non-vegan, not severely ill) person needs dietary supplements to maintain health. People often say they take vitamins because they can't or don't want to squeeze in all those FDA-recommended fruits and vegetables into their diet. But the recommendations aren't high because they are required for adequate vitamin intake. The truth is that you'll get an adequate supply of vitamins and minerals from only a couple servings per day; what we need from those plants is fiber and balance; a diet of only meat, bread, and milk products is not a good idea. What happens often, I think, is that people figure that if certain diseases (scurvy, pellagra, rickets) are caused by vitamin deficiency, then an abundance of vitamins will lead to excellent health. The problem with this thinking is that these diseases present themselves only in cases of extreme malnutrition; the vast majority of Americans will have no problem avoiding them.

I was a little disappointed when I found out about Vitamin C, because I'd like to think I can exercise some power over that annoyance of annoyances, the common cold. "Just wait it out" doesn't sound like good advice when you've got things to do and you've gone through your third box of Kleenex in two days. Many of us were raised on Flintstone vitamins (not myself, but friends of whom I was jealous) and those tasty orange-flavored cough drops, and it's uncomfortable to abandon the tradition of self-medication and comfort. I think many of us, myself definitely included, abandon our shrewdness as consumers when it comes to our health. We look askance at the car salesman who pitches the extended warranty plan, but we're willing to trust the aproned clerk at Whole Foods who assures us that that $19 bottle of Vitamin B pills will "energize our protein system" or something. Why do we do this? Well, because the prospect of ill health is scary. I want to be the best Joanna I can be, dammit, and I don't want my teeth to fall out and my liver to shrivel up or some such awful thing. I also want to be attractive; oh please, sell me your magical products.

But don't get me wrong; I'm all about comfy traditions. Chicken soup may not be a scientifically proven cure, but it's so hot and good. And I'm all about comfort. But I'm not buying any vitamins. I'll just eat a non-crap diet and hope for the best.