Supplements: good or bad?

Recently, my mother-in-law was here for a visit. One day, I had my little GNC supplement holder open on the counter because I was either filling it for the day or taking my morning supps, and she passed by and said, "Are these all yours??"

Uh oh. I felt a battery of questions coming my way. Would I remember what I was all taking and why? Would I remember all the stuff I've read to back up my reasoning for taking each supplement?

"Yeah. They are just vitamins and stuff." waving it off like no big deal. But I knew she was going to think it was bad.

"You know that vitamins shorten your life. By 5 years." she said.

"Hmmm." I said, not really sure what to say next. "Why is that?" I asked.

"I can't remember." she said. "I read it."

Ah yes. I can vaguely remember not that long ago that there was a big headline about how taking supplements may not be all that good for you. A good scary headline is going to get your attention. We love sensationalism, don't we?

She went on to tell me that she hasn't taken anything for something like 15 years.

"Not even a multi-vitamin?" I asked.

"No." she said. "You should get all the nutrients you need from food."

Yep, I know this would be lovely. But the reality is, most of us don't. And supplements can fill in those much needed gaps. Plus, when you workout hard, you need to replenish your body with more than what the average person needs.

Of course I researched into this a little more. I remember when my mom brought the headline to my attention. I rolled my eyes at her and said, "Yeah, I will look into it." I'm not one to believe the first thing I hear. I need back up.

After a little searching, I discovered what I pretty much figured to be the case. A poor study. I would tell you all about it but I figured if you are interested, you can just click on the link yourself. It really is interesting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/vitamin-dangers_b_1018430.html

And this isn't the only one I found. Just Bing it sometime if you want more than one source. You will find that most of it has the same message...."Don't stop taking your vitamins!"

My MIL is very educated and smart. I do trust her wisdom. But this is one of those things that will need more convincing, more solid evidence, to get me to change. I know she is just concerned about my dietary habits. Like my mother, she thinks I could stand to gain a few pounds. And as far as the supplements go, she didn't push me for an explanation, she simply wanted to share some information she thought was valuable. And I appreciate that, because it made me think enough to want to do more research into it.