{"id":135686,"date":"2024-11-18T14:24:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=135686"},"modified":"2024-11-20T14:31:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T18:31:06","slug":"should-you-take-supplements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/should-you-take-supplements\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Take Supplements? Mostly &#8220;No&#8221; and a Little Bit &#8220;Yes&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Should you take supplements? Do whole foods provide better nutrition than supplements? What nutrients might you need to supplement a plant-based diet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nutrition experts emphasize the importance of getting nutrients from whole foods rather than supplements. Their research reveals that isolated nutrients often fail to provide the same benefits as those found naturally in foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to discover why you can skip most supplements and which ones you might actually need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-should-you-take-supplements\">Should You Take Supplements?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Plant-based whole foods provide many nutrients and microbes. So, should you take supplements? It might seem that supplements can replicate the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/benefits-of-a-whole-food-plant-based-diet\/\">benefits of whole foods<\/a>, and it can be tempting to eat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-is-food-processed\/\">processed foods<\/a> and try to compensate with supplements. While the food industry promotes supplements and often fortifies processed foods with isolated nutrients such as calcium or vitamins, several researchers contend that this approach misses the synergistic benefits of eating whole plant foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Extracting specific compounds from their whole-food context ignores the myriad relationships and factors within intact foods that collectively contribute to health impacts<\/strong>. For example, in <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/how-not-to-die\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>How Not to Die<\/em><\/a>, Michael Greger cites research showing that <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/how-not-to-die\/part-1-5#how-not-to-die-from-blood-cancers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vitamin C supplements don\u2019t provide the same benefits<\/a> as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/eating-whole-foods\/\">eating whole foods<\/a> with vitamin C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/in-defense-of-food\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>In Defense of Food<\/em><\/a>, Michael Pollan echoes this sentiment, asserting that <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/in-defense-of-food\/chapter-3#the-curious-case-of-antioxidants\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>how<\/em> you digest antioxidant-rich food<\/a> impacts its absorption, and digesting antioxidants in a whole food appears to be most beneficial. This may be because there are several types of antioxidants within each fruit and vegetable. In one leaf of thyme, for example, there are dozens of antioxidants, and <strong>there\u2019s no way to determine which one, if any, helps the body and whether that benefit is an isolated or compound effect<\/strong>. An interaction with fiber or another compound could be what activates or promotes antioxidant behaviors. By eating whole foods instead of supplements, Pollan says, you can receive the benefits even without knowing how it works physiologically.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-china-study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The China Study<\/a><\/em>) also caution against supplements, arguing <strong>they\u2019re poorly regulated, and you don\u2019t always know what you\u2019re getting when you buy them.<\/strong> They may have <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-china-study\/part-iii#principle-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unforeseen side effects and some can even cause harm<\/a>. For example, many researchers caution against taking beta-carotene supplements because they\u2019ve been shown to increase lung cancer risk, and vitamin C supplements can <em>promote<\/em> oxidative stress.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-exceptions-to-avoiding-supplements\">Exceptions to Avoiding Supplements<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Though they generally advise whole food sources over supplements, the Campbells and Greger acknowledge that <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-china-study\/part-iii#principle-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vegans and vegetarians may require a B12 supplement<\/a>, as this vitamin is found only in animal products. Greger also suggests that you <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/how-not-to-die\/part-2-6#supplements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">supplement a few other nutrients if you\u2019re on a plant-based diet<\/a>: vitamin D (due to lack of sunlight exposure in winter for those in northern latitudes), iodine, and omega-3s (via algae oil or yeast products to avoid mercury and other toxins in fish oil).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Should you take supplements? Do whole foods provide better nutrition than supplements? What nutrients might you need to supplement a plant-based diet? Nutrition experts emphasize the importance of getting nutrients from whole foods rather than supplements. Their research reveals that isolated nutrients often fail to provide the same benefits as those found naturally in foods. Keep reading to discover why you can skip most supplements and which ones you might actually need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":135696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[1665],"class_list":["post-135686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-health","tag-the-master-guides-eating-to-improve-physical-wellness","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Should You Take Supplements? Mostly &quot;No&quot; and a Little Bit &quot;Yes&quot; - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should you take supplements? Discover why you can skip most nutritional supplements and which ones you might actually need.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/should-you-take-supplements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should You Take Supplements? Mostly &quot;No&quot; and a Little Bit &quot;Yes&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Should you take supplements? Discover why you can skip most nutritional supplements and which ones you might actually need.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/should-you-take-supplements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-18T18:24:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-20T18:31:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/man-looking-at-nutritional-supplements-in-the-store.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1344\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/should-you-take-supplements\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/should-you-take-supplements\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Should You Take Supplements? 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