Mommy News - Vol. 1, Issue 3
- The Negative Myth About Vitamins
- Question and Answer
- Fun Foods for Fast Moms
- Tension Tip of the Day
- Diet Tip of the Day
The Negative Myth About Vitamins
Stephanie Raffelock
Not long ago there was a featured article on Yahoo raising concerns about the safety of vitamins. The very same week my local newspaper ran a similar article about whether or not the nutrient industry could police itself adequately. These questions circulate every few months or so in the form of negative press: "Your Vitamins—Are They Safe—Do They Do Good or Harm?"
In this country, we are bombarded by a tired old mantra about nutrients: "there needs to be more research…we don't know what they will do." Yet, we readily accept any prescription drug because a doctor says we need it and overlook that fact that over 110,000 deaths occur every year in this country from non-error, adverse effects of medications. What that means is that the patient got the right drug for the right condition in the right dosage, but the patient died anyway. So says a report from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), No.4, July 26th 2000 article written by Dr. Barbara Starfield, MD, MPH of the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Juxtapose that next to the 2005 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Center's national poisoning and exposure data base, which tells us that only 11 deaths have been attributed to vitamins in the last 24 years! In fact you have a better chance of being poisoned by dish detergent than you do of being poisoned by vitamins.
So why this negative bend, supported by many physicians? First of all, mainstream medical journals publish negative editorials against nutritional supplements. This is in direct proportion to pharmaceutical advertising within those journals. Therefore most medical doctors are exposed only to negative review. For instance, recently the media ran headlines claiming that vitamins C, D, and E do not prevent heart attacks or strokes. But the media gave no notice to credible organizations who would offer a rebuttal, i.e. Life Extension Foundation, Natural Products Association, The Journal of Natural and Complementary Medicine. The truth is that there were many flaws in the study that came to this conclusion; and other studies that did show significant improvement in cardio vascular health were not used as any sort of balanced reference. Thus the consumer who relies on main stream media may draw the conclusion that these supplements are not effective. Note that the only time the safety issue seems to come up is when media is questioning "Vitamins—Good or Bad?"
Media is greatly supported by pharmaceutical advertising. Count the number of drug commercials within an evening program and it is easy to see why these media outlets might be biased. You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you!
It is in the economic interest of drug companies to steer Americans away from healthier life styles and dietary supplements. Enormous amounts of pharmaceutical dollars are spent influencing congress, the FDA and other federal agencies.
Okay, so now let's get down to pregnancy and post pregnancy vitamins. Years ago there was a law suit which determined that the use of folic acid would help prevent a certain type of birth defect. Now, all women are given folic acid during pregnancy. In the vitamin business, the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission prevent companies from advertising that their nutrients have any "therapeutic" value at all. So, companies have to couch health claims in benign wording that will comply with the FDA's edict that "this product is not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease or disease process." Yet, we know (and it is common knowledge) that folic acid may reduce a woman's risk of having a child with a brain or spinal cord birth defect, but it took a lawsuit, Pearson v. Shalala to be even to say that much. Because of that case the FDA had to concede that in fact pregnant women do need folic acid. Interesting, huh?
The prenatal vitamin that we produce is high-quality, high potency meant to affect your body in a positive and beneficial way. Because of the ginger and papain in the product, your body gets help digesting the vitamins without your tummy getting upset. Notice how carefully and blandly I had to construct those last two sentences? FDA/FTC compliance.
There is a great need for FDA laws to change. They are out of date and they don't really serve the consumer. Now I am all for truth in advertising, and I don't believe that nutrient companies should be able to advertise false or outrageous claims, but I do believe that nutrient companies should be able to tell you how a product works based on research. Today there is voluminous research on dietary supplements and how they can help in the disease process. It would be nice to have that be more public.
New GMP laws (Good Manufacturing Practices) now protect the consumer inasmuch as vitamins must be assayed (tested) to assure cleanliness/contamination, i.e. no bacteria or heavy metals and they must be true to content, meaning that if a producer of vitamins says that there is 100mg of something in a product, then testing should bear that out. At Sound Formulas, we post our Certificates of Analysis on our web site under "product quality assurance," so that you know we are paying attention to quality and cleanliness.
The last point that I want to make is that RDI's (Recommended Daily Intake) of vitamins has not been changed in over 40 years. They are out of date, and the idea that a supplement contains 100% of a recommended RDI is enough, is an old, tired paradigm that just doesn't hold true anymore. The RDI is the daily dietary intake level of a nutrient which was considered (at the time they were defined) to be sufficient to meet the requirements of nearly all (97-98%) healthy individuals in each life-stage and sex group. The RDI is used to determine the Daily Value which is printed on food labels in the U.S. and Canada. RDI's are based on the older Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) from 1968. Newer RDA's have since been introduced in the Dietary Reference Intake system, but the RDI's are still used for nutritional labeling.
It's a tough battle, the nutraceutical industry is up against big-Pharma and progress is slow. Neither my husband nor I are anti-drug. There is a time and place for drugs. It just shouldn't be the very first mode of treatment for all health problems. We want women to have a choice in their health care and we have done our best to create products that are effective.
Sometimes I think it's a matter of asking the wrong questions of the wrong people. Why would you want to ask your medical doctor about dietary supplements when he/she has no training in that area? Wouldn't you be better off asking a Naturopath or Nutritionist? Similarly, we need to get over this myth that dietary supplements are somehow suspect, un-safe or un-proven. One of my favorite publications is "Life Extension." Their foundation publishes a tremendous amount of research with regard to dietary supplements and they provide a balance to what you sometimes hear from a biased media.
The conclusion of all of this as it relates to Sound Formulas is that I am inclined to go with the testimonials of women who have taken our prenatal and postnatal supplements and not only reported back that they felt better, but that many of these women take our supplements again and again with each pregnancy and in post pregnancy. Knowledge is power. And we all need to educate ourselves about dietary supplements to get a better over-view and balance than what the media, the big pharmacy companies or our uninformed medical doctors are telling us!
Resources:
www.lef.org (life Extension Foundation)
www.Orthomolecular.org (Excellent resource regarding dietary supplement research)
Questions and Answers about Mommy Nutrition, by Dr. Dean Raffelock
The 5 most Frequently Asked Questions about Prenatal Nutritional Needs – Part III
Q- There are so many prenatal vitamins on the market that it makes my head spin! What should I look for in my prenatal vitamin?
A- Most prenatal vitamins do not contain enough nutrients to satisfy the needs of your developing baby and your own needs. Your body donates all the nutrients to form your baby's body so the prenatal you take should not leave you depleted. A high quality, relatively high potency prenatal is best. Quality is key. For example calcium carbonate is ground up shells or stones and very difficult to absorb. Calcium citrate is the easiest form to absorb. Iron and calcium should be taken at separate times of day so they do not cancel each other out. Be careful to not purchase a prenatal tablet coated with carnauba wax, a wax more suitable for coating fighter plane noses than vitamin pills.
Send your questions about nutrition and health to Dr. Raffelock at:
www.info@ soundformulas.comOkay, I just have to write up something again from Cathe Olsen's book, "The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook. Here is a little piece that she wrote about Snacks:
Try to keep food in your stomach at all times while pregnant and lactating. An empty stomach and low blood sugar may cause you to feel light-headed, dizzy, or queasy. Plan for a morning, afternoon and evening snack. Always bring some Trail Mix or Energy Bars when you go out. Snacks don't mean junk food. Snacks should contain protein, complex carbohydrates, and fat, just like your meals. (And here are some snacks that Cathe recommends.)
Savory Snacks: Perfect Popcorn, Popcorn Snack Mix, Deviled Eggs, Garbanzo Crunchies, Trail Mix, Spicy Trail Mix, Nori Rice Balls
Crackers, Bars and Cookies: Raw Seed Wafers, Brown Rice Crackers, Rye-Corn Crackers, Cinnamon Graham Crackers, Gingerbread Bars, Cranberry Date Bars, Carob Brownies, Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, Energy Bars, Carob-Nut Bars, Coconut-almond Shortbread, Flourless Sesame-Almond Cookies, Sunflower-Sesame Molasses Cookies, Cranberry-Pumpkin Cookies…Everything Cookies!
I think Cathe's book is a MUST HAVE for all pregnant and nursing women. Even if you aren't a vegetarian, her vegetable recipes can be used as side dishes and I don't think any of us really get enough vegetables, which are an amazing source of vitamins and enzymes for pregnant and lactating women. Cathe's website is www.simplynaturalbooks.com
"Did you know that if you order a three-month supply of Before Baby Boost prenatal, we will send you a free bottle of Mommy Tummy Calm?"
Tension Tip of the Day: The name Bellaruth Naperstek sounds like a character right out of a Harry Potter book, but in actuality, Belleruth is one of the premier pioneers in the art of "guided imagery." Sometimes when you get pregnant, it seems that all the women around you have saved up their worst horror stories about pregnancy and now they seek you out to share the story. Belleruth has a guided imagery CD for pregnancy which will sooth, calm and give you confidence and peace of mind tools for labor and delivery. Her pregnancy CD's are great to help alleviate stress and worry during pregnancy.
Diet Tip of the Day: With the summer months upon us, buy some plastic molds and make your own 100% juice, sugar free popsicles. And for some great ideas for other frozen desserts, Cathe Olson has a new book called "Lick It" that is sinfully delicious. As you know, she can be found at www.simplynaturalbooks.com
Please visit our new blog at www.pregnancyrecovery.com so that I can stop blogging myself and talk with you! Hugs and love to all of you, dear mommies! ~stephanie~
