Book Review
Vitamania: Our Obsessive Quest for Nutritional Perfection
Narrated by Erin Bennett
Are you getting enough Vitamin C? Do you need St. John's Wort for depression? Are you making sure you take a daily multivitamin? Curcumin for inflammation? What about your fish oil for your Omega 3s?
The list could go on... and on... and on...
There are tens of thousands of supplements on the market and the supplement industry makes billions of dollars every year selling products advertised to increase health, wellness, and longevity. But the hard thing to swallow (besides some nasty tasting potions) is that we know so little about vitamins and minerals and how they function within our bodies.
Price addresses this in her book Vitamania, discussing the surprisingly recent discoveries of vitamins and nutrient deficiency diseases. The human body is so complex that the more we learn about how it functions, the more questions we have and the more convoluted the answers become as scientists forge a path through the data. Scurvy is cured by Vitamin C. Vitamin C also helps with wound healing but rubbing it on your skin will not provide that function; it comes from its assistance in making collagen within the body. And while the debate still rages over taking Vitamin C to combat a cold; taking megadoses only leads to wasting money as the excess is excreted in your urine without being used at all. This happens because it is a water soluble vitamin, meaning extra amounts are flushed out of your system with hydration. Other vitamins are fat soluble, meaning they add up in your system and are stored with in fatty tissues which makes them easier to overdose on as they are not processed and used as readily as water soluble ones. Question: do you know which is which?
If the mystery surrounding the function of vitamins within your body isn't enough to make you pause and think, consider the vocabulary that lumps our 13 vitamins into a category that often includes minerals. And is utilized in marketing platforms under the umbrella of supplements. And supplements can mean an incredibly wide variety of chemicals, plant derived matter, and even placebos.
Price goes on to delve into the murky waters of vitamin, mineral, and supplement regulation. Of which there is so little oversight into quality control that it frightens me to think of the what I may have ingested with any company's "proprietary blend". Legislation has been a back and forth battle with the consumer caught in the middle. While our medicines undergo rigorous testing, quality control checks, and monitoring, a survey of supplements might have you discovering that the capsule of all-natural sexual health medicine you are taking actually contains half a pill of Viagra. Or that your St. John's wort works against your antidepressant medicine canceling out the benefits of both and potentially interacting with many other prescription medications.
Additionally, no warnings or interactions are required to be on labels. Most often what you will find is a statement along the lines of "This product is not intended to diagnose or treat any illness" but no further safety information to go along with the grand claims of the potential (but not proven) benefits. There are court cases going back decades fighting over the rights of the supplement companies to market their products with impunity versus the cases of individuals whose lives were destroyed or ended by misleading claims and little knowledge of side effects or interactions.
Price takes this very controversial topic with a very shady history and breaks it down into its component parts to learn more about individual aspects as well as the subject as a whole.
If you do or have thought of taking a supplement, even one recommended by a doctor, this is an excellent book to read to learn about what and who to ask to take hold of your wellness. Knowledge is power and knowledge is health.
Note*: I read this by audiobook and the narrator, Erin Bennett, was wonderful. She has as mellifluous voice that is soothing without being soporific meaning she has a lovely voice that won't put you to sleep so you can enjoy the content of the book.
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