To support health in the 21st Century it may take more than just some dietary changes. Even good quality, organic produce has been transported and stored, thus losing nutrients, while the pace and strain of modern life might lead to a drain of nutrients from the body. Therefore, it is generally beneficial to add nutritional supplements, such as vitamins and minerals, into a healthy life-style. Indeed, a tailor-made supplement programme forms an integral part of Nutritionhelp recommendations to encourage good health.
To that end it is always encouraging to hear how safe nutritional supplements actually are. In the light of much scare-mongering in the press about supplements, knowing that there were no deaths associated with vitamin supplementation in 2015 is very reassuring for those who understand the benefits of adding nutrient supplements to the diet. It is important to bear in mind that few, if any medications can boast this clean record.
The Orthomolecular News Service posted the following report last week, with the details of these latest findings. This is very encouraging for those of us who know the value of supplementing specific nutrients. Please note, that although the article refers to homeopathic remedies, Nutritionhelp does not recommend these.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, January 5, 2017No Deaths from Supplements. No Deaths from Minerals or Amino Acids. No Deaths from Homeopathics or Herbs.
by Andrew W. Saul, Editor
(OMNS, Jan 5, 2017) Not only are there no deaths from vitamins, there are also zero deaths from anysupplement. The most recent (2015) information collected by the U.S. National Poison Data System, and published in the journal Clinical Toxicology (1), shows no deaths whatsoever from dietary supplements.
No deaths from minerals
There were zero deaths from any dietary mineral supplement. This means there were no fatalities from calcium, magnesium, chromium, zinc, colloidal silver, selenium, iron, or multimineral supplements. Reported in the “Electrolyte and Mineral” category was a fatality from the medical use of “Sodium and sodium salts” and another fatality from non-supplemental iron, which was clearly and specifically excluded from the supplement category.
No deaths from any other nutritional supplement
Additionally, there were zero deaths from any amino acid or herbal product. This means no deaths at all from blue cohosh, echinacea, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, kava kava, St. John’s wort, valerian, yohimbe, Asian medicines, ayurvedic medicines, or any other botanical. There were zero deaths from creatine, blue-green algae, glucosamine, chondroitin, or melatonin. There were zero deaths from any homeopathic remedy.
But when in doubt, blame a supplement. Any supplement.
There actually was one fatality alleged from some “Unknown Dietary Supplement or Homeopathic Agent.” This is hearsay at best, and scaremongering at worst. How can an accusation be based on the unknown? Claiming causation without even knowing what substance or ingredient to accuse is baseless.
The truth: no man, woman or child died from any nutritional supplement. Period.
If nutritional supplements are allegedly so “dangerous,” as the FDA, the news media, and even some physicians still claim, then where are the bodies?
References:
Mowry JB, Spyker DA, Brooks DE et al. 2015 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System (NPDS): 33rd Annual Report. Clinical Toxicology 2016, 54:10, 924-1109,http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15563650.2016.1245421
Data for minerals, herbs, amino acids, and other supplements are presented in Table 22-B.
The complete 187-page article is available for free download fromhttps://aapcc.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs/annual_reports/2015_AAPCC_NPDS_Annual_Report_33rd_PDF.pdf or download this and all previous AAPCC Annual Reports at http://www.aapcc.org/annual-reports/
