INMYVIEW... DITCH THE VITAMIN PILLS

WE SPEND more than £400 million each year on supplements in this country — but, frankly, I fear the vast majority of people buying them are wasting their money.

Last week, Dr Paul Clayton, the former adviser to the Government’s Committee on Safety of Medicines warned that 90 per cent of health supplements are ‘unvalidated, poorly formulated, over-hyped products which offer few, if any, benefits’.

One problem he suggested, is that they lack adequate quantities of the active ingredients.

However, I think this is missing the point, as it buys into the idea that it’s possible to extract the active ingredients from healthy foods (or synthesise them) and that boosting intake in this way is of value.

Taking isolated substances out of their natural context cannot match the value of getting nutrients from food.

Take, for example, the humble apple: weighing around 100g, it would contain less than 6mg of vitamin C — on the face of it, no match for a 500mg vitamin C capsule.

Yet that same apple would also contain numerous other beneficial compounds — quercetin, catechin, phlorizin, and chlorogenic acid — which contribute to the antioxidant benefits of the vitamin C by mopping up harmful chemicals that may cause disease.

Add together the benefits of the other compounds and the total antioxidant activity of the apple is equivalent to 1,500mg of vitamin C.

Plus there is the added bonus of the fibre from the fruit and the feeling of fullness it provides.

So why would you instead want to take a factory-made capsule that has only vitamin C in isolation?

Of course, there are people who do need supplementation — a regular injection of vitamin B12 is vital for pernicious anaemia, while folic acid is a must for pregnant women to prevent birth defects. But, for the vast majority, my advice is: save your money.