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Health

or Hype?

iiiMOMME
The medical jury is still out on the growing market
for vitamins and nutritional supplements.

RUTHAN BRODSKY
Special to The Jewish News

1

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The Most

was simple then. In
0
0
the first 70 years of
F
VITAMINS:
this century, parents
Multivitamins
told children to take
Vitamin
C
their vitamins and clean
Vitamin
E
their plates.
B vitamins
This advice probably
Vitamin
A/beta carotene
wasn't too far from the
current healthy top 10
MINERALS:
tips. Today, parents might
Calcium
be telling their kids to take
Magnesium
vitamins, minerals and
Chromium
herbs, and finish their
Zinc
broccoli and soy milk.
Selenium
Linda Mandelbaum of
Potassium
West Bloomfield has always
Iron
taken some kind of supple-
ment. "My mother was a
HERBS:
biochemist and vitamins
Echinacea
Above:
Linda
Mandelbaum
takes
a
number
of
supplements
during
the
week.
were always a part of my
Garlic
life," says Mandelbaum, an
Ginseng
Below: An organizer helps keep track of the pills.
interior designer. "Over the
Ginkgo biloba
years, however, I've expand-
St. John's wort
The U.S. Food
ed on her advice and these
and Drug
days I take a variety of nutrients, including
SPECIALTY SUPPLE-
Administration
herbs and minerals.
MENTS:
only intervenes
"Even so, putting the right food in front
Melatonin
when
it
of my family is a priority. Vie use supple-
DI
ti receives many
ments to complement food, not to replace
Fish oils
negative
food. We ear lots of vegetables, fresh fruit,
Glucosamine
reports.
whole-grain products and low-fat protein."
.
On the other
The nutritional business is big, and getting
An y< 0,...,0. -
hand, the potential health benefits
bigger. Mandelbaum is among the more than
of certain supplements have attracted scientific attention. There are
two-thirds of Americans who rake dietary supplements. Almost
hundreds of thousands of unsolicited testimonials describing how a
half think it's okay to take vitamins or other supplements without
particular product has changed someone's life for the better. Stories
consulting their doctor. The result is more than $11.5 billion in
about controlling anxiety and depression, improving memory, lower-
annual sales, with the expectation that this figure will grow as more
ing cholesterol and liberating libidos are all parr of the supplement
baby boomers hit age 50, seeking the magical antidote to aging
market.
and a better quality lifestyle.
Researchers have found evidence of possible benefits in folic
At issue, however, is whether consuming these nutritionals is
acid, ginkgo biloba and St. John's wort and in certain antioxidants,
making people healthier and helping them feel better.
including vitamins C and E.
Traditional medicine says there's no research to demonstrate that
In other cases, such as using beta-carotene to inhibit coronary
vitamins and supplements do any good. In fact, this position says
disease, the initial promise hasn't been proven.
supplements may even harm one's health, particularly when people
Yet, because of all the possibilities, the federal government has
take too many vitamins or when the supplement interferes with a
established
a research center focusing on alternative medicine,
patient's medication.
including research on supplements.
Dietary supplements are not held to the same standards that
"There's no simple answer to the issue," says Suzette Kroll, out-
apply to over-the-counter drugs. The supplement business capital-
patient dietician at Beaumont Hospital. "There's no yes or no to
izes on studies suggesting some worthwhile effect from their prod-
the question whether or not we get enough of the right kinds of
uct. Companies can sell their products without any proof that they
foods.
work as long as they don't make any explicit claims.

4 / 3
1999

114 Detroit Jewish News