The Medical Advisor

A 2021 survey  indicates that 80% of Americans are using supplements — a drastic increase from the 52% reported in a 2012 JAMA repor t, a statistic that had remained stable since 1999. While at that time the use of multivitamins had decreased somewhat, from 37 to 31 percent, the new survey indicates that 75% of supplement users now use multivitamins. The use of vitamin D and omega-3 supplements have continued to rise through all these years as well. In 2012 vitamin D use jumped from just over 5% to 19%, and fish oil supplements increased from just over 1% to 12%. In 2021, however, a whopping 52% of Americans were taking vitamin D, with zinc and vitamin C also being popular, at 22% and 40%, respectively. Some of the other more popular supplements are probiotics, omega-3, multivitamins, vitamin C, turmeric, calcium and magnesium.3 In all, Americans spent an estimated $21 billion on nutritional supplements in 2015.4 By 2019, that number had doubled to $42.6 billion.5 While dietary sup...

When health-focused consulting agency SPRIM recently surveyed1 more than 1,000 North American consumers about immune function and maintenance, it found not only that 57% of respondents professed concern over immune health thanks to COVID-19, but that fully 61% of those who’d purchased a supplement in the preceding 12 months either began doing so or increased their purchase frequency specifically to boost immunity in the pandemic’s wake. None of which should surprise any supplement-industry insider who’s witnessed—often with unabashed glee—the shot in the arm that COVID-19 gave the immune-support sector. Nor should it come as a surprise that those same survey respondents ranked vitamin C, vitamin D, B-complex vitamins, zinc, and probiotics tops amongst their preferred immune-support ingredients. But what’s surprising is the fact that despite the big-five’s dominance, a whole host of emerging actives—some familiar; others less so—are vying for ground in the crowded immune-support categor...

The science is loud and clear: The correct balance of fatty acids is essential if you want to be the healthiest you can be. That means that maintaining a healthy ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is important for optimal health. Ideally, you want to maintain a 4-to-1 ratio, or less. However, studies show that most people are consuming as much as a 12-to-1 ratio, which can be attributed to the consumption of too much α-linolenic acid (ALA), the primary sources of which are vegetable oils such as soybean and canola.1 It’s unfortunate that most people have been fooled by a decades-long fad promoting vegetable oils as the key to good eating and a long life when, in fact, it is a road to ill health and chronic disease. History shows that our lopsided consumption of ALAs began in the early 1900s, when people were discouraged from eating natural animal fats such as butter and lard.2 We now know that refined vegetable oils are among the worst foods to consume, and that we need to limit ALA consumpti...