The article is a bit harsh, but I agree with most of it. First off, one-a-days are useless. When I have somebody take a multivitamin, it's usually 6-8 pills a day, which turns most people off. Seriously, how do you think they can pack all those vitamins and minerals into one pill? For me, the best vitamins are from real food.
A vitamin regimen needs to be tailored for each individual. Some people with certain conditions may need more support - like iron for those who have iron-deficient anemia, bone minerals for women with strong family history of osteoporosis and/or high risk factors. And fish oils for all of us, unless you eat a lot of fatty fish.
Currently, I'm working with a cancer patient and recommend higher doses of certain nutrients, as her chemotherapy treatment is depleting her of them. Antioxidants and cancer has been and will always be controversial. I've seen research where it has been beneficial, even helping chemoagents destroy cancer cells. On the flip-side, there's also rationale that antioxidants may protect cancer cells during treatment from being destroyed. Again, it's best to consult with a naturopath, so that a supplement regimen can be customized to each and every situation.
The article mentions the possibility of the placebo effect with supplementation and hints that it may be a complete waste of money. True, it may be. I'm not a big fan of buying supplements at GNC, The Vitamin Shop, even Whole Foods, because oftentimes they don't carry quality supplements. ConsumerLab.com independently tests products using highly specific HPLC methods and writes reviews on them. For instance, a recent review of ten milk thistle supplements (herb commonly used to benefit the liver) found that only one met its claims! Meanwhile sales of milk thistle in the US reached $95 million in 2008. There needs to be regulation in the supplement industry.
At my office, I recommend and supply products that use the highest quality ingredients; these companies also conduct independent tests to assure consumers of what they are buying. Currently the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) regulates supplements under the Dietary and Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), which is a joke. Under DSHEA, manufacturers need to ensure that their products are safe, and that they are not making misleading claims. DSHEA benefits supplement manufacturers, not you. A supplement does not need FDA approval to be sold; the manufacturer is responsible for its safety, not the government. A product just needs a label with a descriptive name stating that it is a "supplement", the name or place of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor, a complete list of ingredients, net contents of the product, and a "supplement facts" label. There are no rules on supplement serving size or the amount of nutrient in the product. The FDA does not analyze the contents of dietary supplements.
On February 3, 2010, Senators John McCain and Byron Dorgan introduced a bill S. 3002 - The Dietary Supplement Safety Act. Although I stand behind the idea that dietary supplements needs to better regulated, the bill would limit access to supplements for all of us. The bill would give the government control of what we could and could not buy, allowing them to even make some supplements illegal. Can't you smell it already -- big companies would be able to buy their way in, whereas smaller possibly more legit companies would go out of business? You can contact your senator now to oppose this bill: http://capwiz.com/naturopathic/issues/alert/?alertid=14692986.
Back to Pollan's point, the kind of person who takes supplements is one who is concerned for his/her health - probably exercises, eats whole grains, fruits & vegetables. Be that person. If you are healthy and eat the right foods (avoiding fake food), you can probably skip the supplement aisle where you shop. Depending on your symptoms, you may need a couple or none at all. Ask your naturopath.
Don't be the type of person who relies on a pill for your nutrients - it may not all be there. Quoting Hippocrates (again):
Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food.
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