A recent study found that 81% of adults in the US between the ages of 35 and 54 take supplements, and 76% of all Americans take some type of vitamin or mineral. Dietary supplements are big business – the industry is valued at $ 40 to $ 50 billion a year, with the average American investing between $ 50 and $ 60 a month in a range of tablets to help with everything from Brain health to hair loss to anxiety and the healing of COVID.
The nutritionist and author Dr. Marion Nestle says there is no scientific evidence that dietary supplements “make healthy people healthier” unless there is a medically determined deficiency. Most people, Nestle says, need relatively few essential nutrients to be healthy, but there is no doubt that people feel better about taking supplements. Nestle says we should be skeptical of any medical claims made by these products, but recognize that psychology is important to our health.
Nestle joins Jonathan Bastian to delve deep into the natural supplement industrial complex. When asked why so many of us take dietary supplements with no scientific evidence to show that they’re going to work, Nestle says it’s more about their strong placebo effect: “They’re not about science, they’re about belief systems.”
“Let us ask Marion: What you need to know about the politics of nutrition, nutrition and health” by the nutritionist and author Dr. Marion Nestle. Photo by Bill Hayes.
