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Supplements - Buyer beware!

After a recent email, and several exchanges on a few of the message boards I frequent, I felt is was imperative of me to reiterate my stance on the use of vitamins, supplements and herbal remedies.

As long time readers of my blog may already know, I am against the taking of all vitamins, supplements and herbal remedies. But I wasn't always that way. Prior to my diagnosis I truly believed the taking of Vitamin C, E, Calcium, fish oil (and a few other items) were essential for good health. Obviously that didn't work, and now I'm even of the opinion it was that belief which led to my diagnosis of MCL.

That's not to say all of the hype is a complete fabrication. After all, I am a firm believer in the efficacy of EGCG, a by product of green tea. Nor am I saying maintaining proper nutrition isn't important, because it definitely is. What I am saying is, if you can't get it naturally, it's probably not worth getting. And that's a policy I adhere to religiously, taking no artificially produced vitamins, supplements or herbal remedies.

There have been no clinical studies authenticating or substantiating any of the claims made for the numerous supplements sold on the market. In my opinion, all the hype about many [most, all] of these products is simply a scam by the pharmaceutical and supplement industries to instill fear into the minds of consumers, and separate them from their money.

Worst of all, the supplement industry is not regulated. So buyer beware. Even if the claims were substantiated, there is no guarantee you're getting what you expect when you purchase any of those products online or at the market.

Even Dr Oz, who I consider the biggest shill for the pharmaceutical and supplement industries, warned about this on a recent show.

So even if you don't want to take my word for it, at least take Dr. Oz's.
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Comments

Kim said…
I feel much better now about not taking any vitamins. At all. Ever. I've never seen Dr. Oz.
4:00 AM
Marc said…
You're not missing much by not listening to Dr. Oz. Like I said, I think he's just a shill for big pharma. Unfortunately too many do listen to him!
4:15 AM
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