Vitamin Supplements: Supplement Buyers - Beware Of False And Biased Claims

Like clockwork, every few months I come across a new article that dismisses vitamin supplements as useless or even bad for you. They almost always make one very good point: vitamin supplements should not be used to offset the effects of a diet that's low on nutrition and high on processed junk. And I agree completely. But after that we generally part company.

I recently received an e-mail from an HSI member named Mary who found a web site that attacks the use of vitamin supplements. The site provides a long list of vitamin supplement drawbacks, and Mary included the list in her e-mail, along with this request: 'Please let me know what Dr. Spreen makes of it.'

US HSI Panellist Dr Allan Spreen, is known throughout the alternative medicine field as 'The Nutrition Physician' and a passionate advocate of dietary supplements. Nevertheless, his response to the 'Hit List' is not so much a defence as it is an insightful look at what we can realistically expect from our supplements.

First... consider the source
The web site Mary quotes is an alternative healthcare site that states: 'All man-made vitamin supplements are harmful, NOT helpful for you.' And yet this quote appears on a page where they advertise their own vitamin supplement product. In spite of this paradox, their message is clear: You can't trust other vitamin supplements, but you can trust ours. And that's where Dr. Spreen begins his comments with this observation: 'I tend to be suspicious when an information source puts down one type of vitamin supplement, only to push their own.'

Putting aside the obvious bias of the source, the list of vitamin supplement drawbacks starts off with what we'll call Hit Number One: '95 percent of all vitamin supplements sold today are synthetic.'

If this is actually true (no sources are cited for any of these claims), it probably has more to do with the popularity of vitamin C than with inferior vitamin supplements. Dr. Spreen explains: 'Perhaps the writer is taking license by referring to volume instead of types. It is well known that most of the vitamin C taken today is synthetic. Since more people take vitamin C than any other vitamin supplement, that would increase the number upwards concerning the total amount of synthetic vitamin supplements.

'It's also true that the synthetic form of vitamin C is not absorbed the same as natural, but not because the molecule is synthetic - it's because the other nutrients may not be present (such as bioflavonoids) that would be there in the natural state for improved absorption and utilisation. In the case of vitamin C the synthetic molecule is absolutely identical to the natural vitamin C molecule (at least double-Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling has said so).'

Natural born
Hit Number Two also addresses the 'natural' question: 'vitamin supplements are not natural, though labelled as such.' This blanket statement would have you believe that you can never trust the word 'natural' when you see it on a product, which simply isn't true.

'The fact is, vitamin and mineral supplements typically come from a combination of plant, animal and man-made sources. And this is just one of the reasons why we need to take special care in making sure that we get our vitamin supplements from reliable manufacturers. As Dr. Spreen points out: 'You have to be careful, especially when reading labels.'

Hit Number Three brings this sweeping generalisation: 'vitamin supplements are considered by the liver 'foreign' substances, eliminating most of them through the kidneys.' Dr. Spreen says, 'I have a problem with this one. If only in the case of vitamin C the liver wouldn't know the difference (except for the presence of other accompanying nutrients).'

'Vitamin supplements can change or alter normal cells to abnormal cells,' reads Hit Number Four. But Dr. Spreen points out that ANY abnormal molecule can abnormally affect human cells. He writes, 'That's why I'm so against most drug therapies (including synthetic hormones). However, I don't know how anyone can prove that all vitamins turn normal cells to abnormal ones. It would depend on the molecule and the nutrient.'

What goes in
Several of the Hits on the list concern the sources of vitamins. For instance, Hit Number Five reads: 'Most B vitamins are made from coal tar derivatives (what causes lung cancer in smokers) or from petro-chemicals (known central nervous system depressants, carcinogens, and respiratory irritants).'

That sounds pretty unappealing if you take it at face value. But things are not always as they seem. There's a huge difference between swallowing the nutrient (of any form) and taking, in Dr. Spreen's words, 'coal tar-laden smoke into one's lungs. Minor alterations to a molecule can make a huge difference in many substances. H2 is hydrogen gas, highly explosive. Add one oxygen atom and you have water. Cyanocobalamin is vitamin B-12 (which I've shot into hundreds of people without negative reaction). I'd hate to try that with cyanide, which is the same molecule, minus the cobalamin.'

Hit Number Six reads: 'Almost all B-12 is made from toxic cow livers or human sewage sludge!!!' Dr. Spreen says that he's never heard this 'sludge' claim before, but has this to say about cow livers: 'B-12 must come from some animal source or you won't get it... it's an animal nutrient. Whether all the sources are toxic is another matter. We're all probably toxic today, unless we live in the Andes, etc., and eat toxin-free foods.'

There's also the matter of different types of B-12. Dr. Spreen notes that there are three - cyanocobalamin, hydroxocobalamin, and methylcobalamin - and because they're different molecules he adds, 'I'm sure the source is more involved than sick cows and sludge. Plus, what about B-12 by injection (which is definitely from pharmaceutical houses)? Is injectable okay, but oral not okay? There are too many details involved for such a dismissive blanket comment to be considered factual.'

Buyer beware
I don't have enough space in this e-Alert to include the entire Hit List that Mary sent or all of Dr. Spreen's responses. Suffice it to say that the arguments that would have us believe that all vitamin supplements are worthless or harmful are thin at best.

The list does provide a good reminder that we can't take any vitamin supplement claims at face value. But we can rest assured that we're on the right track when we research claims, ask questions, and do whatever else it takes to make sure we're getting the highest quality vitamin supplements available.