JustCare

Tag: Supplements

  • New study finds no benefits to Vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplements

    New study finds no benefits to Vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplements

    A new study that looks at the value of taking vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplements supports earlier findings that routine use of these supplements has little if any value for healthy people. You should try to get your vitamin D naturally, such as through exposure to sunlight and eating fatty fish and mushrooms

    Specifically, this VITAL study found that people who took 2,000 IU of vitamin D, often in addition to other supplements, did not reduce their risk of bone fracture over five years. Among the 1,551 who took either a vitamin D supplement or a placebo, the likelihood of getting a bone fracture were about equal. In other words, fracture rates were similar.

    The study also looked at omega-3 supplements and whether they helped with people’s bone health and physical abilities and found no benefit whatsoever. People taking the omega-3 supplement and people taking the placebo had similar bone mineral density, “bone strength, cortical thickness, and polar stress strength.” The omega-3 supplement also did not appear to affect people’s physical abilities. including the strength of people’s grip, the speed at which they walked and their balance, among other abilities.

    This study found no benefits of taking these supplements on reducing your risk of cancer and heart disease.

    In short this study finds no important preventive effects from vitamin D and omega-3 supplements. Put differently, taking these supplements is likely a waste of money.

    The study authors said they could not generalize, based on the study, to older adults.

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  • How best to get vitamin D in your diet?

    How best to get vitamin D in your diet?

    Are you taking vitamin D supplements? If so, you might be better off not taking them. There are often other better and less costly ways for you to keep your bones healthy, such as through exercise and sun exposure.

    First things first, there is no good evidence to suggest that vitamin D helps to ward off Covid-19. That said, vitamin D has been found to reduce your likelihood of a respiratory infection because it leads to several antiviral responses. Vitamin D helps your lung cells to combat viruses and bacteria.

    Vitamin D also reduces your risk of inflammation and keeps your immune system from acting up in unhelpful ways. For example, your COVID-19 symptoms could be more grave if your body’s immune system responds too much to the virus and harms tissues that benefit you.

    How to get vitamin D through sun exposure: All you need to do is be in the sun without sunscreen–your face, your arms, your legs, your back–for 15-20 minutes a day. That said, keep in mind that older adults do not make as much vitamin D from sun exposure as younger adults.

    How to get vitamin D through healthy eating: Generally, milk is fortified with vitamin D, as are many fruit juices and cereals. You can also get your vitamin D from fatty fish, mushrooms and eggs. Smoking reduces your ability to create vitamin D.

    How to get vitamin D through exercise: Active adults are more likely to have higher blood levels of vitamin D.

    If you have enough vitamin D in your system, there is not a single study showing that you benefit from taking a vitamin D supplement. A recent study of 25,000 people with appropriate blood levels of vitamin D published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people who took 2,000 IU of vitamin D every day did not reduce their risk of cancer or heart disease as compared to people who took nothing.

    And, a 2018 meta-analysis of 81 studies published in The Lancet suggests that taking vitamin D supplements to increase your level of vitamin D might not be beneficial. The analysis did not find that vitamin D helped prevent falls and fractures in older adults.

    One meta-analysis of 25 studies, involving 11,000 people, of the effects of vitamin D on respiratory infections found that taking a vitamin D supplement of 800 IU to 2,000 IU every day lowered your odds of getting at least one respiratory infection. People who had the least amount of vitamin D in their blood benefited most from taking a supplement.

    Other studies show that vitamin D keeps your bones from weakening. And, still others show that without enough vitamin D, you could be at greater risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke. But, should you take vitamin D supplements? Talk to your doctor. The FDA does not oversee supplements, so they can contain dangerous ingredients and otherwise be harmful.

    For sure, there is evidence that excessive amounts of vitamin D–4,000-10,000 IU’s a day–reduces people’s bone density.

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  • Five reasons to eat avocados

    Five reasons to eat avocados

    Avocados are in season and there’s every reason to eat them. CNN reports on five health benefits of avocados that you likely did not know. And, there are so many great ways to enjoy them.

    Here are some nutritional benefits of eating avocados

    • Omega-3: You can get a good amount of omega-3 fatty acids from an avocado. Omega-3 is great for reducing your LDL cholesterol level. LDL cholesterol can cause your arteries to harden and restrict your blood flow, which in turn can lead to blood clots.
    • Potassium: Potassium is a mineral that is good for regulating nerve function. It allows for nutrients to go into cells and removes waste, including sodium. In the process, it helps fight high blood pressure.
    • Monounsaturated fats: These fats also help reduce your LDL cholesterol and does not touch your good HDL cholesterol.
    • Fiber: You don’t need to eat Grape Nuts for your fiber. Avocados deliver lots of fiber without the sugar. And, the fiber helps to fill you up, reducing your hunger level and keeping you from overeating if you’re on a diet. That said, a 3.5 ounce avocado portion is 160 calories!
    • Folate: Skip the vitamin B supplement and get the vitamin naturally from your avocado. It helps with good brain function.

    How might you enjoy the health benefits of an avocado? Slice one in half, top it with lemon juice and a little salt and pepper, then eat it straight from the skin. No muss, no fuss! Or, scoop it out and mash with a little garlic, a little lime juice, salt and some red onion for quick and easy guacamole. Use it as a mayo substitute. Dip slices in egg and breadcrumbs and fry them up. Or, add an avocado to a smoothie for a creamy healthy drink.  Avocados can also go in a soup or a dessert for extra creaminess.

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  • Avoid supplements, no matter how enticing they might be

    Avoid supplements, no matter how enticing they might be

    There’s a common, often mistaken, view that supplements can help build muscle, trim fat, sharpen thinking, enhance memory and provide all sorts of other benefits. Some supplements may do no harm. And, some supplements for some people with particular conditions are necessary when diet cannot address nutritional needs and the doctor recommends them. But, there are so many supplements that contain harmful ingredients that, unless your doctor recommends them, you should avoid them, no matter how enticing they might be.

    Consumer Reports writes about tianeptine, an ingredient in some supplements, that is particularly dangerous. Tianeptine is not FDA-approved. It has an effect similar to an opioid and is highly addictive.

    There are many other ingredients in supplements that can be dangerous either taken in isolation or taken in conjunction with other ingredients in other supplements. Consumer Reports lists the following supplements as containing ingredients that can be dangerous.

    • Fastin-XR contains methylsynephrine
    • NeuroPill contains piracetam,
    • Noocamilon contains picamilon,
    • Green Stinger contains acacia rigidula,
    • Friction contains isopropyloctopamine,
    • Anesthetized contains phenibut,
    • pH Balancer Plus contains cesium chloride
    • Milletov-X contains DMHA,
    • Thermosculpt Original contains BMPEA,
    • Adipropen Ultra contains DMAA

    For 15 ingredients in supplements that could endanger your health, click here.

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  • More than one in three older adults could be taking inappropriate drugs

    More than one in three older adults could be taking inappropriate drugs

    Should you be taking all the medications you are taking? With medicine, sometimes less is more.  Judith Garber writes for the Lown Institute on a new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, which finds that more than one in three older adults could be taking inappropriate drugs.

    At least once a year, you should take a bag with all your medicines, prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and supplements, to your doctor’s office to confirm that you should be taking them all. Or, in this time of Covid-19, take photos of all the bottles and share them with your doctor in a telehealth checkup.  Medicare covers telehealth. You might find that your doctor says you no longer need one or more of them or that there are some potentially harmful interactions from taking all of them.

    The data show that older adults often are taking a lot of medications that jeopardize their health. Most older adults take five or more medicines, including supplements and over-the-counter medicines. This increases the likelihood that they will end up in the emergency room or hospitalized.

    Researchers looked at the drug intake of 218 million older adults over a four-year period and found that more than one in three were prescribed a potentially inappropriate drug. There are a large number of possibly inappropriate drugs for older adults, including benzodiazepines, sedative hypnotics, skeletal muscle relaxants, and first generation (sedative) antihistamines.

    The researchers further found that certain types of people were at greater risk of taking potentially inappropriate drugs, including women, people with lower incomes, people with chronic conditions and people with poor mental health.

    Doctors should consider deprescribing certain medicines that can be particularly harmful to older adults. They include anti-cholinergic drugs, benzodiazepines, and proton pump inhibitors. If you are taking any of these medicines, talk to your doctor about whether you should continue to take them.

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  • FDA is hiding information on supplements that are dangerous

    FDA is hiding information on supplements that are dangerous

    The FDA regulates dietary supplements, including beauty products, sexual enhancement products, and workout supplements. But, it does not make a determination about the safety or efficacy of these supplements before they become available to the public. Because these supplements can literally kill people, the FDA is supposed to disclose reports of harm from supplements. Why is the FDA hiding information about supplements that are dangerous?

    To protect Americans, the FDA has a database, CAERS, that is supposed to include information on supplements that are reported dangerous, including product complaint reports. CAERS is open to public scrutiny because Americans should know when a supplement is dangerous.

    But, Consumer Reports has found that the Trump administration is not disclosing information about many supplements that are dangerous; prior administrations have also not done so to the extent required. According to Consumer Reports, the CAERS database does not disclose the names of hundreds of manufacturers of products that have been reported to cause harm. Rather, the FDA is giving many manufacturers an exemption, putting the businesses of manufacturers ahead of the safety of Americans.

    The FDA has always exempted a small class of products from being reported for public view (<5 percent) in an effort to encourage manufacturers to report consumer complaints to the FDA. The FDA appears now to be applying this exemption far more broadly, counter to FDA policy.

    With products that cause death or hospitalization, a manufacturer must let the FDA know. And, the FDA is supposed to make that information available to the public. Also, when an individual or a physician submits a report about a product, the product’s name is supposed to appear in the CAERS database.

    After analyzing documents released because of a Freedom of Information Act request, Consumer Reports found that the FDA exempted more than 400 supplements, even though they were reported to have caused hospitalizations or deaths. The FDA is now saying that these reports were “mislabeled,” acknowledging that the products should have been disclosed.

    The CAERS database came into being in 2003 to make consumers aware of safety issues from supplements. But, in 2015, the FDA began exempting 15 percent of product names from public view. During the Trump administration, those exemptions have doubled to more than 30 percent of product names.

    Millions of Americans take supplements on a daily basis. And, many swear by them. But, there is little scientific evidence that they provide benefits in most cases. And, lots of evidence that they can cause serious harm.

    On top of the failure of the CAERS database to disclose information critical to the health and safety of Americans, the CAERS database is hard to search. The FDA also operates a FAERS database in which adverse events related to drugs are reported. That database is easily searchable.

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  • Coronavirus: Taking supplements poses risks

    Coronavirus: Taking supplements poses risks

    If you’re thinking there’s a vitamin supplement you can take to fend off the novel coronavirus, think again. As a general rule, for otherwise healthy people, vitamin and herbal supplements offer greater risks than benefits. Still, the New York Times reports that millions of people right now are spending money on supplements, believing that supplements will improve their immune systems.

    Based on independent evidence from Cochrane.org and other sources, there’s no reason to believe that most supplements offer most people any meaningful benefits. You can read here about vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, and fish oil supplements.  And, you can read here about 15 ingredients in some supplements that pose particular health risks.

    One serious issue with supplements is that they are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. So, they can have additives that are dangerous to your health. Another issue is that they can interact in harmful ways with other drugs you are taking, both prescription and over-the-counter. So, it’s best to speak to your doctor, before taking supplements.

    The safest and most effective way to boost your immune system if you are otherwise healthy is to eat healthy, drink a lot of water, and, exercise. Exercise is your best bet for bone health, not calcium or vitamin D supplements.

    What about zinc? Zinc helps our immune systems fight off bacteria and viruses. Right now people are buying large amounts of zinc. The best way to get zinc in your system is from eating red meat, poultry, shellfish, beans, nuts, chickpeas, lentils.

    If you take zinc supplements, be careful. The National Institutes of Health says that taking too much zinc can be harmful, lowering your immunity, and it warns you should take no more than 40 mg a day. It recommends that adult women get 8 mg of zinc a day and men 11 mg. Cochrane has found evidence that zinc supplements have helped prevent pneumonia in children aged two to 59 months. But the quality of the evidence was “low.”

    People are also buying elderberry supplements and echinacea. Cochrane finds that the evidence does not show echinacea fights the common cold, but it says echinacea could offer a “weak benefit.” As for elderberry supplements to prevent flu, the National Institutes of Health reports that  the evidence is weak.

    And melatonin? People are also struggling to sleep because of stress and anxiety. So, they are buying melatonin because they believe it can help them sleep better. Cochrane finds evidence that melatonin is “remarkably effective in preventing or reducing jet lag,” and says short-term use appears to be safe. But, it has not studied its effect on sleep more generally. The NIH reports that there is not enough strong evidence to show that melatonin helps or is safe for people with chronic sleep problems. Again, there are possible adverse interactions with other drugs. So, talk to your doctor before taking it. Here are some tips for sleeping well without drugs.

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  • Legalization of marijuana without safeguards creates large public health risks

    Legalization of marijuana without safeguards creates large public health risks

    Medical marijuana is now legal in 33 states and Washington D.C. Recreational marijuana is legal in 11 states and Washington D.C. And more than 37 million Americans use marijuana. Without safeguards, marijuana legalization creates large public health risks, writes Rosalie Liccardo Pacula for Stat News.

    States benefit significantly from legalizing marijuana by way of increased tax revenue. And, legalizing marijuana creates more jobs. Americans who use marijuana, in turn, don’t have to fear criminal prosecution in their states.

    But, there are also considerable risks for Americans. Marijuana can be harmful. Like vitamin supplements, most marijuana products are unregulated, so drug safety is a serious issue. The Food and Drug Administration does not ensure their safety, unless they are prescribed. In fact the federal government still considers possession and use of marijuana products a crime.

    States are left to oversee the safety of marijuana products. And, for the most part, they have neither the skills nor the resources to do so, even if they have the will. Lack of oversight can present serious problems.

    Already, four states have recalled marijuana products found to be unsafe. They contained dangerous pesticides. We don’t know how many other marijuana products are unsafe.

    People using marijuana legally in their states are increasingly ending up in hospital emergency rooms. Their ER visits have doubled. They may experience uncontrolled vomiting or acute psychosis. And, some develop vaping-related lung injuries, such as burns from butane hash oil.

    Americans need greater protections in states where marijuana use is legal. One way to protect Americans from overuse of marijuana products would be for states to establish non-competitive markets, permitting the sale of marijuana only from government or non-profit agencies, rather than for-profit businesses.

    States could then better guarantee the safety of marijuana products. States could control their marketing and promotion, reducing their overuse. Today, businesses selling marijuana products are focused on driving revenue and not on public health or safety.

    States could also set stiff financial penalties on producers, dispensaries and companies that provide inaccurate information to people about marijuana products.

    Given the cost involved, it’s unlikely that states will step in to ensure accurate labeling of marijuana products or that they are tested for safety, though states should. (States don’t generally do testing for vitamin supplements, even though several have been found to be unsafe.) States might, however, prevent the sale of high potency waxes and oils.

    States could also require that marijuana dispensaries have someone on staff who can advise people accurately about products. New York, Connecticut and Minnesota require this.

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  • One in seven older adults experience harmful drug side effects

    One in seven older adults experience harmful drug side effects

    More than nine in ten older adults take at least one prescription drug; And, half of all older adults take four or more prescription drugs, some of which they may not need. On top of that, many take over-the-counter medications and supplements. Kaiser Health News reports that more than one in seven older adults experience harmful drug side effects. Talk to your doctor about all the drugs you’re taking, why you need them, and whether you can stop taking one or more of them.

    Good primary care doctors and geriatricians oversee their patients’ drug use and try to “deprescribe,” reduce the number of prescriptions their patients are using, eliminating those that are unnecessary or inappropriate. Often, with drugs, less is more. Hundreds of new drugs are harmful or ineffective. And, one in three recently approved drugs may have harmful side effects.

    The most common side effects from multiple medications are dizziness, confusion and falls. But, some side effects are life-threatening. Here is a roundup of Just Care posts on commonly used prescription and over-the-counter drugs, as well as supplements, that have been linked with serious side effects.

    Keep in mind that FDA approval of a drug does not mean that it is safe, only that the clinical trials pre-FDA approval showed that the drug offered a clinical benefit. If possible, stay away from drugs that have been on the market fewer than ten years. Typically, it takes 4.2 years from FDA approval for detection of a new risk for a novel drug. But, it could take ten years after FDA approval for popular drugs to be pulled from the market.

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  • Avoid brain-boosting supplements

    Avoid brain-boosting supplements

    Brain-boosting supplements, much like weight-loss supplements, are extremely popular. But, as all dietary supplements, they are not well regulated and they can have dangerous ingredients. Elizabeth Cooney reports for Stat News on new research out of Harvard Medical School that should give anyone thinking about taking brain-boosting supplements pause.

    Dr. Pieter Cohen studied five different brands of brain-boosting supplements. As he reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, they all contain piracetam, a drug which is not FDA-approved and cannot be sold in the US. Cochrane looked at 24 studies of piracetam and found that there was not sufficient evidence to show that it improved people’s memory, or their ability to learn or to understand.

    A standard dose of piracetam has been found to cause anxiety, agitation and depression. People who take supplements with piracetam have no way of knowing the dosage they are taking. It could be way more than the standard dose. And, it could be dangerous to their health.

    But, the FDA is doing nothing to stop its sale. Moreover, the FDA is doing nothing to warn the public about the dangers of piracetam. However, the federal government’s dietary supplement law prohibits companies from selling supplements with piracetam, because it is considered unsafe.

    The FDA has limited resources for oversight. And, it is not using those resources to monitor supplements to the extent needed. Instead it is proposing a new rule that would require dietary supplement manufacturers to notify the FDA of all their products.

    For now, you are better off eating a healthy diet and avoiding supplements.

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