Tablets promise it all, from quick fix to fit lifestyle
But are we getting a clean pill of health, asks Claire Keeton
VIGOROUS 5FM presenter DJ Fresh knocks back 20 to 30 pills a day, all supplements. And he is not alone; South Africa seems to be a pillpopping nation with demand for health products growing at about 15% a year.
Fresh (real name Thato Sikwane) wakes up at 3am on weekdays to present the popular Fresh @ 5. He starts off with a multivitamin after a breakfast of oats, egg whites and protein shakes and takes another vitamin after all other meals too, along with an omega-3 tablet three times a day. Before he sleeps — four to five hours a night — he takes a calcium, magnesium and boron mineral combination.
He gyms five times a week — a regime of cardio three times and weights five times — before which he swallows six tablets of amino acids and creatine. Postworkout he downs a similar supplement in powder form.
“Those are my regulars. Halfway through the day, to boost my energy, I take an antioxidant and I take various other herbal supplements for general wellbeing, on and off,” he said.
“The amount of pills could increase by five to 10 a day, or not, and this is when I am not sick. For me, it’s like a maintenance of wellbeing: let me be 100% as often as possible.”
Health shop manager Eddie Ndlovu said stress and infertility were among the main reasons customers visit the store, which has been operating in Rosebank, Johannesburg, for 20 years. The top sellers are multivitamins, vitamin B and hormone supplements.
“People are popping dozens of pills. They want a quick fix, something to jump-start them. But we are not selling pills. We are selling a lifestyle and the foundation is healthy food. “Having a cupboard of vitamins is sometimes a waste of money and it is possible to get vitamin toxicity if you take too many,” Ndlovu warned. When Fresh asked listeners “Are we a nation of pillpoppers?”, the responses varied. “The people popping pills for whatever reason are generally popping a lot. Some are not on anything because of affordability,” he said. “Supplements are not cheap at all.”
Health Products Association president Bruce Dennison said the South African market was worth about R8-billion a year.
Gareth Powell, of Ascendis Health Sports Nutrition, said supplements had migrated from the underground to be an accepted, lifestyle nutritional tool. “Supplementation, whether it be from a simple single vitamin through to a complicated multi-ingredient pre-workout blend, has become commonplace.”
Andrea du Plessis, head of nutrition at Vital Health Foods, said increased demands on our bodies from pressured lifestyles, the use of medication and decreased nutrient intake, drove demand for supplements. “People have a decreased micronutrient intake due to the high intake of processed foods [and] prolonged storage of fruit and vegetables to ensure availability all year round.”
Dietary recommendations recently rose from five portions of fresh fruit and/or vegetables a day to between seven and 10.
Daily multivitamins are recommended for all adults to support the prevention of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, Du Plessis said.
Medical aids are coming to the party. Sinenhlanhla Nzama of Discovery and Vitality said it funded over-the-counter vitamins and supplements and supported Department of Health plans to regulate these products.
Amendments to the Medicines and Related Substances Act are under discussion.
Placebo or not, supplements are going from strength to strength. As Fresh said: “Even if I’m taking a placebo and it’s doing nothing but I feel good, then it’s working for me.”