Healthy lifestyle habits that put you at risk for undesirable side effects

We live in a global environment: any news flies around the planet in seconds and that includes fake promises, expectations and lies about healing miracles. It is quite difficult to distinguish between scientifically proven truth and assumptions on which many potential cures are based.

Why does that happen? We have to understand that in nowadays profit-taking world it is not consumers’ health that always comes first. While many companies which intend to manufacture health promoting products start out honestly, there are also very many companies that use the consumers’ trust in miracles in their favor. TV and media advertising do not promote only good and well-tested products: they will advertise anything that looks like it might be true and brings in money.

Considering the epidemic obesity rates, which include early childhood and young age obesity, abnormally high numbers of patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, as well as heart diseases, not to mention cancer epidemics, people need something promising. TV, phone, laptop and computer screens scream to us: vitamins and supplements are the answer!

This era is also characterized by extreme efforts trying to maintain youthful look and energy, as well as live and stay active longer. There was no long-term research present when the first statements about the beneficial use of synthetic vitamins and supplements as our daily routine were made publicly available. Since the naturally occurring vitamins, amino acids and minerals played such an important role in functioning of our body and mind, it was simply believed that more of these nutrients are better. It was believed that the source of these nutrients was not the most important aspect.


For how many decades now have you heard from your doctor: just take some multivitamins, use omega-3 or fish oils, don’t forget vitamin C and E; obviously we all suffer from lack of vitamin D and calcium, so these should not be forgotten either? That has become such an indisputable healthy life-style feature that you will find hardly any person in the developed countries who hasn’t been on lots of vitamins and supplements at some moment of their life.

The CONCERN ABOUT OVERUSE OF SYNTHETIC VITAMINS and SUPPLEMENTS is growing with every new clinical trial that has been carried out to observe whether there are any significant benefits from such synthetic supplement use. The findings are shocking at some point. While almost everybody knows by now that multivitamin use did not result in any health benefits, not everybody is still aware that over-the-counter supplements do not do what they are supposed to, as well.

Millions of people reach every day for their calcium or vitamin D3 pill, or combination thereof.  Here is a quote from Science Daily (summary of a clinical trial): “Taking calcium in the form of supplements may raise the risk of plaque buildup in arteries and heart damage, although a diet high in calcium-rich foods appears be protective, say researchers at conclusion of their study that analyzed 10 years of medical tests on more than 2,700 people.”

Almost everybody over 50 believes that taking calcium supplements will aid in avoiding bone fractures and loss of bone mass and its mineral density: osteoporosis. That is not the only review; there are quite a few clinical trial conclusions that state the same: calcium in the form of a synthetic supplement does not provide with the same effects as consumption of dietary calcium, calcium naturally occurring in food products.

Meticulous testing showed that most of calcium taken as supplements did not even get to the bones: it was partially excreted with urine (hypercalciuria was quite common among calcium supplement users) and also calcium spikes were observed which does not happen with calcium-rich food intake. Judging by tests which showed no improvement with bone density, researchers believe that the other part of synthetic calcium dose is absorbed by soft tissue which explains arterial plagues and calcification of arteries. Calcium spikes were also responsible for heart conditions. Strokes and coronary artery blockages occurred much more frequently in those taking high doses of synthetic calcium supplements. Moreover, there was not observed decrease in fractures or osteoporosis.

Journal of the American Heart Association

Quote: “Because of the widespread awareness and treatment of osteoporosis with calcium supplements among older adults, this population would appear to be at greater risk of developing the adverse consequences of positive calcium balance, including vascular calcification.”

 “Calcium may be involved in pathogenesis of CVD (cardiovascular diseases) through multiple pathways, including through influences in lipid metabolism, insulin secretion and sensitivity, inflammation, thrombosis, regulation of body weight, and vascular calcification.”

The same goes for so much widely popularized omega-3 or healthy fatty acids. The evidence from many clinical trials exploring different conditions, such as omega-3 effects on cardiovascular and heart diseases, strokes and heart attacks, impact on brain function and delays of age-related dementia, rheumatoid arthritis and quite a few others, is very unconvincing. The widespread assumption that fatty acids may help delaying onset of some heart conditions, eye degeneration, brain malfunction and prevent cancers has no strong scientific evidence. It was noted that people who lived far north and consumed mostly fish suffered less from the above mentioned conditions. It wasn’t taken into account that their physical loads may be way different or their environment might be almost pollution-free. Therefore, it was soon assumed (and that was based on the facts that human body does not produce omega-3 fatty acids, therefore they have to be consumed) that synthetically processed omega-3 might contribute to higher levels of absorbed omega-3 fatty acids. We know by now that more is not better. MORE SUPPLEMENTS that exceed the daily allowance for such doses can cause significant health risks. Omega-3 fatty acids interact with medications, as well. If you are taking fish oil, especially fish liver oil, vitamin D and vitamin E, you are at significantly higher risk for bleeding. When all these supplements are combined with blood thinning medications (anticoagulants) that many people take to prevent thrombosis or heart attacks, the outcome might be seriously bad because the blood clotting will be significantly affected.

None of the previously carried out clinical trials about benefits of supplemented omega-3 use has provided with statistically significant proof that such use is beneficial for any of these conditions, but healthy life style and consumption of omega-3 fatty acids from clean food sources is. Therefore, it is much more advisable to eat good food and stay away from supplements, unless your doctor has prescribed them. That might be a drug form that is different from the over-the-counter form and, therefore, it might work for you. Uncontrolled use of any kind of supplements when somebody is already on prescription medications can be DANGEROUS  and it CAN AFFECT THE WAY YOUR PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION WORKS. Always consult a doctor, assuming your doctor is aware of the newest scientific discoveries and follows up on developments in the area of synthetic vitamins and synthetic supplements.

US National Institute of Health publication

The truth is that synthetic supplements have a different chemical composition; it is not the same respective vitamin or mineral which we are absorbing from food. Therefore, the metabolism pathways and the way this supplement or vitamin act and behave in the body are not completely known. It is also believed that vitamins and minerals from natural sources work the way they do because food usually contains a set or combination of minerals, amino acids and vitamins in their natural form which is recognized by the body; and this recognition is due to the program which is set by our very individual DNA.

Next articles will review the problems with synthetic antioxidants, vitamin E (the only synthetic form which is available at pharmacies: alpha-tocopherol), vitamin C and some other supplements. If you do not know where to look for supplement and vitamin recalls (there are quite a lot of them), google Health Canada and FDA websites. Such lists are publicly available.



8 thoughts on “Healthy lifestyle habits that put you at risk for undesirable side effects

    1. Inese Poga Art plus Life

      Well, many people assume they are doing the right thing when it comes to supplements, but reality does not support this assumption. The biggest issue is that anything that is not naturally present in other live organisms is not recognized within a human body as a friendly or well-known substance. Synthetic vitamins are usually just fractions or parts of the real live substances.

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. Inese Poga Art plus Life

      I hardly ever used supplements because it was not the case in Latvia. We were practically either growing everything or buying from somebody who we knew, we never heard that the use of supplements was needed.
      I relocated 13 years ago to Canada, and I must admit the impact of this modified food had really bad impact on me, although, I did not realize it right away. I only later started to research production of different products. There was strange bitter taste to any dairy product, I couldn’t explain that at first. After years, it became obvious that bitter taste was coming from antibiotics fed to animals. I’m also blaming antibiotic resistance not that much to overprescibing this drug, as to the use of antibiotics in animals that were meant for human consumption, drinking water and contamination of open waters.
      Food is deficient, and the higher developed is country, the more pollution and contamination occurs in all natural resources: soil is in really bad condition, therefore they are trying to move everything to plants grown in artificial light and fed from tubes. I’m seeing no other way as to still grow something for personal consumption.
      Research in supplements has not discovered benefits of their use with over-the-counter doses. In clinically significant deficiencies, such doses are too weak, and in healthy people, there is no need for them due to unknown risks in any particular person because of their specific metabolism and alterations of nutrient metabolism pathways.


  2. It is a complex topic with many factors. I agree calcium is over-used, and doctors don’t necessarily understand how to use supplements or herbs properly. What I would like to see for a start is that the labels accurately reflect what is in the bottle. That will take legislation.


    1. Inese Poga Art plus Life

      Certainly, labeling is a problem. However, the biggest problem is the human metabolism of synthetic elements and nutrients. We thought it would be better just to use more, but due to completely different absorption, alterations in metabolism pathways, binding capacity to our cells and changes in chemical formula of that particular element, it is not assumed by the body to be the same element as the one that comes from natural source, from our food, either animal based food or plant based food. The closest theory is that the DNA has no program for synthetic cells and therefore, they are somewhat alien to our body.
      Synthetic calcium did not even make to the bones after age 40 or so. It did not decrease fractures and losses of bone mass and its mineral density. Instead it was found in soft tissue, especially on artery walls, which makes it bad since calcification of coronary or cerebral arteries causes heart failures and strokes. Synthetic calcium just like all other synthetic supplements did not follow the same route that calcium from our food does. The other synthetics are the same: absorption rates were very doubtful, and there was very large interpatient and intrapatient distinctions. That means, in different times, the particular person did not make use of the same element the same way and different people had huge distinctions in supplement metabolism.


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