There's always some controversy or other with regard to nutritional supplements. When I set out to research the role of zinc and whether I should consider supplementing my son's diet with zinc, I was looking for Real Science(tm) and facts. I quickly learned that the worst place to go for information is any website selling supplements, or that front for such websites. An example would be a website that talks about how their health was improved by using supplements and quick link to a website selling the supplements.
These sites will likely tell you that the supplements are:
Essential to good health.
Necessary to correct symptoms of a nutrient deficiency.
And that our diets are often deficient in this important nutrient.
By the time you finish reading one of these websites, you may suspect that you have multiple deficiencies because the listed symptoms cover everything from sexual dysfunction to lack of energy to poor immune function. What they don't tell you is how you can tell if you actually need a supplement. They gently suggest that you probably do and even if you don't, what harm could it do to take it?
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Firstly, you can do harm by ingesting too much of a nutrient. You can damage your organs. You can even fatally damage your organs. One sign of this is the child resistant caps on vitamins and supplements containing iron. From the NIH website:
There is considerable potential for iron toxicity because very little iron is excreted from the body. Thus, iron can accumulate in body tissues and organs when normal storage sites are full. For example, people with hemachromatosis are at risk of developing iron toxicity because of their high iron stores.
In children, death has occurred from ingesting 200 mg of iron [7]. It is important to keep iron supplements tightly capped and away from children's reach. Any time excessive iron intake is suspected, immediately call your physician or Poison Control Center, or visit your local emergency room.
Here are the organs affected by hemochromatosis:
The extra iron builds up in the body’s organs and damages them. Without treatment, the disease can cause the liver, heart, and pancreas to fail.
What are the symptoms of hemochromatosis?
Joint pain is the most common complaint of people with hemochromatosis. Other common symptoms include fatigue, lack of energy, abdominal pain, loss of sex drive, and heart problems. However, many people have no symptoms when they are diagnosed.
If the disease is not detected and treated early, iron may accumulate in body tissues and eventually lead to serious problems such as
* arthritis
* liver disease, including an enlarged liver, cirrhosis, cancer, and liver failure
* damage to the pancreas, possibly causing diabetes
* heart abnormalities, such as irregular heart rhythms or congestive heart failure
* impotence
* early menopause
* abnormal pigmentation of the skin, making it look gray or bronze
* thyroid deficiency
* damage to the adrenal glands
Obviously it is possible to have too much of a good thing or essential nutrient. Not every nutrient overdose has such severe effects, but if you are taking supplements to improve your health then it is prudent to ensure that you don't damage it instead. Good intentions are not enough. You need rational, data based decision making. Enter the National Institute of Health. That link has an extensive list of various supplements from herbs to vitamins. I find it simpler to search using "NIH" and "____" using the name of the item in the blank. It usually pulls up the NIH fact page as the first or second choice.
The things you should know:
Does my diet supply adequate amounts of the nutrient?
What is the Recommended Daily Allowance?
What is the Tolerable Upper Intake Level for me?
Am I taking any medications that could interfere with nutrient absorption/excretion?
Will the nutrient interact with any medications or therapies I am using?
Do I have any nutrient absorption problems due to gastrointestinal issues?
The NIH pages will answer the first three questions and possibly the next two. The last question you should answer for yourself. You may wish to check the manufacturer's website if you are taking any drugs. It's surprising how many drug/nutrient interactions there are.
Can I get too much of a nutrient from my diet?
Yes. Check the food sources for the percent of the recommended daily allowance of nutrient. Oysters are not only rich in zinc, they are VERY rich. (6 medium oysters > 500% RDA of zinc!) Liver is something else that is rich in many nutrients and best eaten in moderation. I don't know any vegetable that is overly nutrient rich, and mineral nutrients from plant sources tend to less bioavailable than animal sources.
When you determine your current intake of any single nutrient, check your diet first and any supplements or vitamins that you are currently taking. I am taking a calcium supplement that contains in the order of highest percentage of RDA: manganese, zinc, magnesium, calcium, copper and Vitamin D. What the label proclaims in the largest type is: Calcium Citrate. Much smaller type on the front of the label lists magnesium and Vitamin D. You need to look at the back label to see the rest of the contents. I'll be glad when this bottle runs out and I can switch to something without all the extra ingredients. The manganese content is 250% RDA! I don't think I need that much and even though I only take one pill instead of the two the label recommends, I prefer to play it safe.
Always check your intake against the upper tolerable limit. If you go shopping for supplements, make sure you know both what the RDA is and what the upper tolerable limit is for each nutrient. I have found supplements on the shelves that have more than the upper tolerable limit per pill. Please be careful. Our bodies may excrete some excess nutrients, but those are usually highly water soluble nutrients. Metals tend to be absorbed readily and stored and excreted poorly. This leads to storage diseases like hemachromatosis or more often, by metabolic displacement where the excess metal displaces another metal, often iron. This can result in induced anemia, where the body has adequate iron but the production of red blood cells is being disrupted by the intrusion of excess metals.
Extra Credit:
If you want to search online for research involving a nutrient, the most productive search technique I have found is to search for both the nutrient and this phrase "the role of". This pulls up the greatest percentage of scientific papers. Reading research does require a certain amount of fortitude, but it's useful when you want to investigate a particular claim like "Zinc deficiency can change the way you taste food.".
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Sun AM - louisev (Turtle Diary)
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