MAKE SENSE OF SUPPLEMENTS

Many supplements, from vitamins to superfood extracts, are a monumental waste of money. Many large independent studies have shown that people who regularly take a multi-vitamin tend to live shorter lives than those who don’t. It’s unexpected, but true. Very few do you any good, and some could be doing you harm – particularly if you wrongly believe swallowing a big coloured capsule or tipping powder into your protein shake negates the need to fill your plate with vegetables. When nutrients occur in plants, meat or fish our bodies find them very easy to absorb correctly, but when in pill form the different components can interact with each other. With supplements, it’s easy to end up taking an excess of one component and then be deficient in another. If you take large quantities of calcium, for instance, your iron absorption is affected. If you take too much vitamin C, your copper levels can drop too low.

Furthermore, some supposedly health-giving supplements (even vitamin D) can be toxic in larger doses.

The only supplements with good evidence are folic acid for women planning to get pregnant, vitamin D for some groups and vitamins A, C and D for children aged six months to five years.

Equally worrying is the more than a million over-65s who suffer dangerous side effects because they are taking herbal remedies and dietary supplements alongside drugs prescribed by their GP.

You might think it’s ‘only’ a vitamin supplement or a ‘natural herb’ but certain combinations can increase the risk of bleeding, raise blood sugar levels or even stop prescribed medications

from working effectively.