Thread by @TheAmirImani

When pts ask me why I'm skeptical of #supplements by default, I give examples to highlight the lack of regulation+data. I wrote some here.

Title: “Some reasons I'm cautious with supplements and would rather you get the nutrients in your diet"

Rolls off the tongue, I know.🧵

1) The largest trials of antioxidant 💊showed they don’t ⬇️risk of cardiovasc events, diabetes, cancer, or cognitive decline.
Some showed ⬆️hemorrhagic stroke and prostate cancer, but it’s inconsistent.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17698683/

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19066368/

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

2) Vitamin C pills failed to ⬇️ the risk of getting a cold in trials of the general population. Starting it AFTER you get a cold doesn’t seem to help.
But if you take it regularly and get a cold, it might be 8% shorter 🎉

cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.10…

Kids might be another story tho

3) Y’know Prevagen, the memory supplement that keeps getting FDA complaints?

Their original (small) trial failed to improve any of their 9 cognitive tests. They ended up going back and doing >30 (!) post hoc analyses to torture the data and find something.

ftc.gov/system/files/d…

cspinet.org/news/prevagen-…

4) Fish oil supplements - Data from North America and New Zealand has shown that large percentages of them are oxidized and/or rancid before their listed expiry:

nature.com/articles/srep0…

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

There’s more examples of course, and If anyone wants to chip in with their favourites, I’d love to see them. I learned a lot of these in school, some were stolen from:

@jonathanstea @CaulfieldTim @gorskon @skepticscience @DavidJuurlink @AlanLevinovitz @DrJenGunter

Honourary mentions that I won't go into now:
- Calcium supplementation in men and cardiac risk
- Multivitamins and how we waste money
- Cannabis products and cardiac risk (and inconsistent THC/CBD content)
- Vit D as a negative phase reactant