Myth 10: Foods are always superior to supplements

How often have you heard the claim that whole foods are better than supplements? It’s been repeated so often that the word “natural” has a positive connotation whereas “synthetic” or “chemical” has a negative one.

The truth, of course, isn’t so clear-cut. Some compounds are more effective in supplemental form. One example is the curcumin in turmeric, which is often supplemented with piperine (a black pepper extract) or taken in liposomal form to increase its otherwise low bioavailability.

The same goes for vitamins. For instance, phylloquinone (K1) is tightly bound to membranes in plants and so is more bioavailable in supplemental form. Likewise, folic acid (supplemental B9) is more bioavailable than folate (B9 naturally present in foods), though that may not always be a good thing.

Many supplemental vitamins have natural and synthetic forms. This makes them accessible to more people. For example, if B12 could not be synthesized, it would be prohibitively expensive as well as unsuitable to vegans.

The Truth: With regard notably to vitamins, foods are not always superior to supplements.

Myth 11: Supplements are superior to foods

Unlike its opposite, this myth is seldom voiced out, yet it is often assumed and acted upon. One argument is that intensive agriculture has led to soil depletion, so that natural foods (vegetables and grains and the animals fed on them) fail to provide enough vitamins and minerals. Another argument is that foods are a mess of unknown compounds, in addition to known “poisons” such as the dreaded saturated fat, cholesterol, gluten, and FODMAPs. And to top it all, sticking to a low-carb or low-fat or high-protein diet with only foods is a daily challenge.

No wonder that more than one-third of North Americans take a multivitamin. Better cover one’s bases, or so the thinking goes. Alas, there is no evidence that taking a multi will increase your life expectancy, and while it may support your health in some ways, it could hurt it in others.

Fact is, multis are seldom well conceived. Due to cost and space considerations (people willing to take one pill a day may balk at taking ten), multis are often rich in micronutrients abundant in a healthy diet and poor in others you are more likely to need. You are usually better served by focusing on what you actually need — such as vitamin B12 if you are vegan or a senior, or vitamin D if you seldom see the sun.

In fact, many foods you’ll find at the supermarket are already fortified with the micronutrients you’re most likely to lack. Milk, for instance, is frequently fortified with vitamin D, whereas salt is iodized, and enough foods are fortified with folic acid that you’re as likely to get too much as not enough. In that light, many of our foods also act as supplements; it is therefore tempting to take the next step and live on meal replacements, with all the necessary vitamins and minerals added in and none of the aforementioned “poisons”.

That could work — if we actually knew “all the necessary”. We learn a little more each day, but there’s still much we ignore about food components and their interactions with different systems in our bodies (and with different people). So until we reach a perfect understanding of the human body and its nutritional needs, you’re safer eating a varied diet of little-processed foods than ingesting the same meal replacement day after day after day. And it’ll taste better.

The Truth: Supplements have their use. You can benefit from supplementing specific vitamins or minerals, and a protein powder can make it easier to increase your daily protein intake. But supplements should complete a healthy diet — not replace it.