Diet Trap #7: Eating Nutrient-Poor Food and Trying to Make up the Difference with
Supplements
Supplementation is a complex subject. One thing is clear, however: you cannot mediate the
damaging (and overweight-promoting) effects of a nutrient-poor diet with the use of
supplements—period.
Theoretically, if you are eating the way your body is designed to eat (nutrient rich) you won’t have
a substantial need for supplementation. It’s not that you can’t benefit from it—but you shouldn’t be
relying on it in lieu of nutrition.
Dr. Amy Lanou, reporting on an interview with Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Cornell’s lauded nutritional
biochemistry researcher, shared the following:
“All too often, scientists, health and fitness experts, and individuals like you and me get excited
about the potential healing action of a nutrient, like an antioxidant or another natural
substance, and revise our lifestyles to incorporate this latest finding into our personal quests
for health. More often than not, the clearest path to success seems to be to take a pill or potion
that has a high concentration of this desired active substance. But our bodies, our systems for
digestion, absorption, and metabolism were designed to utilize nutrients in the amounts and
combination provided in food. And foods are made up of thousands of different health-giving
substances that are not in supplements, substances that work better together to deliver their
health-giving gifts. It would seem that there is some wisdom behind the design of the original
‘packages’ for these nutrients.”Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live, agrees: “It is critical to recognize that all dietary supplements
are supplements to, and not substitutes for, a healthful diet. You cannot make an unhealthy diet
into a healthy one by consuming supplements.”
At the same time, Dr. Fuhrman endorses supplementation to address widespread practices that
make some nutrients unusually hard to come by. Some people require more of certain nutrients
than others. For example, it is not uncommon for some people to need extra vitamin D or extra B12,
even when their diets contain typical amounts of these vitamins. This is especially true regarding
vitamin D because of the depletion of the atmosphere’s ozone layer, and the subsequent increase in
skin damage from the sun. Because of this, many people practice sun avoidance and wear
sunscreen, which decreases vitamin D production. Northern climates with less sunshine also lead to
lower Vitamin D levels.
Here’s the trap: Diet purveyors who promote nutrient-poor diets and then encourage you to “make
up the difference” with nutritional shakes, pills, powders and other potions are concerned primarily
with their business models, not your health. Many diets “take away” by depriving you of food, and
then try to “give back” by selling you their supplements.