Health supplements and vitamins are big business — our desire to boost our well-being has grown so much that the market for pills and potions was valued at US$47.9 billion in 2021. But do they actually improve your quality of life? Or should you be just looking to get those vital vitamins and minerals from your diet?
Just like food, supplements are meant to provide a variety of benefits for overall health and well-being, such as increasing energy levels, boosting the immune system, improving physical performance, and supporting the body in its ability to handle stress.
But how do you know where to start and which vitamins you need?
“It’s important to do your due diligence,” says Suzan Terzian, a clinical nutritional consultant, holistic coach and integrative functional nutritionist. She explains that finding out you need to supplement your health is most commonly discovered through blood tests and is an accurate way to be sure of what your body needs.
Speaking at the Livehealthy Festival, which took place at THE BRIDGE|Lifestyle Hub in Abu Dhabi in January 2023, she added: “It’s really important to highlight the form of the supplement that’s being given. A very common mistake that we see is people are given, for example, folic acid. It may not sound like there’s anything wrong with that, but actually that is not the form of folate of that vitamin that your body is able to utilize.”
Terzian adds that you could end up in a situation where you’re taking a supplement in order to improve your health, however you may be putting ingredients that are actually detrimental to your health into your body.
A complex industry
Alongside Terzian on the panel at the event was Farah Hillou, an integrative and functional nutrition certified practitioner. “First of all, we can see that supplements can be divided into nutrients,” she said. “So for example protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, multivitamins. You’ve also got hormones, for example, melatonin, DHEA, and then you’ve got herbals and botanicals and they each have different practices. It’s also important to note that supplements come in different forms, and in different dosages.”
Both panellists agreed that they promote a food-first approach to their clients, especially those who challenge the need for supplements after years of not having to take them. “It’s really the quality of the food we eat that is different now. The soils are different, agricultural practices are different. You know, we could both be here on the same diet but my digestive and absorptive capacity is not as good as yours. So and we’re bombarded with so many environmental factors. That could also increase our need for extra nutrients.”
And to those who are dismissive of supplements and think they have limited potential to make a difference, Hillou says the body takes what it needs, just like with medicine. “And that to me is an indicator as to what is going in the gut. Why is this person not absorbing this vitamin or mineral? If we can understand that we can move on to the root cause.”
Effects of a positive environment
While taking supplements can help promote optimal health, there needs to be attention paid to what else you are doing in your life.
“It doesn’t matter what supplement you take or how amazing that supplement is,” added Terzian. “If your environment, or the ‘soup’ that your body is living in isn’t right, if the main pillars of health — nutrition, sleep, exercise, rest, hydration, and social heart connections — are not present, then no matter what supplement you’re taking, you know it’s going to do very little in assisting and taking you to that other place that you want to be.”
The onus is on us
Supplements are not magic pills that solve all your nutrition issues, but they can help with filling the gaps that are missing. The key message from the discussion on supplements is that we need to dig deep and really understand what changes we can incorporate gradually, but on a daily basis, to ensure a healthier lifestyle.
“We really have to understand that it’s like eating a whole pizza one day — nothing bad is going happen to you. Going to the gym for three hours one day — nothing good is going happen to you either,” concluded Terzian. “It’s the cumulative effects of all of these things. So, we can support the optimal lifestyle and optimal ranges of things — with the help of supplements.”
