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I have been at a continuing education seminar this weekend and one topic that came up was the issue of people who come in to the offices of healthcare practitioners who have researched natural health and remedies extensively on their own and have already self-prescribed many remedies that they take on a regular basis.  I and others at this seminar have had the experience of dealing with patients who are taking 10, 15, sometimes even 20 or more supplements/remedies. 

Oftentimes, people read an article or find something online that says that this vitamin or that herb is wonderfully healthy or “good” for a certain condition that may be a concern for that person, and rather than trying something new in place of something they were already taking, they simply add the new product to their list of stuff to take.  While I am less concerned by the patient who takes 20 different supplements each day than the people I see who take 20 prescription drugs per day (this is not an exaggeration - I have seen patients who take this much medication), taking that many supplements is definitely not ideal and can be detrimental in the long run.

While natural remedies are, on the whole, much safer than medications, you can certainly overdose on certain nutrients, and herbs, particularly when you are simultaneously taking several products that have similar biochemical effects.  And even if you don’t technically overdose on any one thing, simply pumping more products into your system can place an undue load on the body in terms of processing high quantities of nutrients.  After all, the body is designed to get it’s nutrition from food, not from concentrated nutrient sources, so it can only handle a certain amount of any given nutrient at one time and convert it into what it needs.  Very rarely is a nutrient used in exactly the same form in which it is ingested - the body converts it into a number of other things for use in various functions.  Such conversions are limited by the presence of other nutrients and the speed of various chemical reactions.  At best, an excessive intake of nutrients is wasteful (the body will typically eliminate what it can’t use right away), and at worst, it is unhealthy (for example, excessive Vitamin A intake can damage the liver). 

While it is certainly good to be informed about your own health and about ways you can help yourself, I recommend that you avail yourself of the advice that experienced holistic/integrative health care providers can provide.  This will help you to narrow down the supplements/remedies you take to just what you really need, which will not only help you to stay healthy, but will also save you a considerable amount of money in the long-run.

Stay tuned to my blog for more about a healthy lifestyle.

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