I have major misgivings about the “health food” industry, including …
(1) Many supplements sold in a “health food” store are placebos.
(2) Regular vitamin supplementation often leads to pH imbalances, allergies, or worse.
(3) The “health food” industry is rampant with hype, scams, hyperbole, disinformation, junk science, and hucksterism.
(4) The “health food” industry and holistic medicine are two-dollar knock-offs of the pharmaceutical cartels and mainstream medicine. Hello, good cop, bad cop. Hello, Mini Me, Dr. Evil’s mutant clone.
Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, 2008) wrote …,
“People who take supplements are healthier than the population at large, yet their health probably has nothing whatsoever to do with the supplements they take – most of which recent studies have suggested are worthless. Supplement takers tend to be better educated, more affluent people who, almost by definition, take a greater than usual interest in personal health – confounders that probably account for their superior health.”
Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957) wrote …
“The art of advertisement, after the American manner, has introduced into all our life such a lavish use of superlatives, that no standard of value whatever is intact.”
The same corporate racketeers who own the global agrochemical and pharmaceutical cartels control the “health food” supplement industry too.
Kevin Trudeau (Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About, Updated Edition, 2004) wrote …
“Keep in mind many food companies are directly or indirectly involved in the pharmaceutical industry through corporate ownership, affiliated business transactions, or by the officers and directors personally owning stock in the pharmaceutical companies. Food companies include the companies that actually manufacture and sell food directly to us but also includes fast-food restaurants and the suppliers of the food industry, the actual growers of the food.”
Ralph Nader (The Good Fight: Declare Your Independence & Close the Democracy Gap, 2004) wrote …
“In 1996, ADM [Archer Daniels Midland] plead guilty to one of the largest antitrust crimes ever. The company was convicted of engaging in conspiracies to fix prices, eliminate competition, and allocate sales in the lysine and citric acid markets worldwide. ADM paid a $100 million criminal fine – at the time, the largest antitrust fine ever.”
Vitamins and minerals are manufactured by agrochemical and pharmaceutical companies – and have been for a long time.
There’s a reason the FDA is named the Food ~and~ Drug Administration.
In “Vitamin Debunker,” Time, Mar. 30, 1936, Johns Hopkins’ Nutritionist Elmer Verner McCollum was described as …
“…a demi-god who enabled doctors and druggists to profit from the vitamin business.”
Adano Ley (Swami Nitty-Gritty) told us in the 1970s (at the Texas Institute of Reflex Sciences) vitamins are only manufactured by four or five corporations, including …
(1) Eastman Kodak,
(2) Henkle,
(3) Hoffman-LaRouche,
(4) BASF Corporation, etc.
In today’s era of global trade agreements, there’s many more.
From China alone, let’s add …
(1) Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Engineering & Metallurgy,
(2) Changshu Roe Chemical Co.,
(3) Chengdu Cross River Commercial & Trade Co.,
(4) Dongda Chemical, Hefei Petrochem Trading Co.,
(5) Qingdao Sun Chemical Corp.,
(6) Shaanxi Kangyuan Chemical Co.,
(7) Shaanxi Tianwei Biological Products Co.,
(8) Shangdong Medicines & Chemical Products,
(9) Shanghai Aino Chemical Corp., Sino Chem Liaoning Corp.,
(10) Sino Steel Group Anshan Research Institute of Thermo-Energy,
(11) Sjz Sinca Foods Co., Terio Corp.,
(12) Tianjin Huayang Ly Pharmaceutical Co.,
(13) Wuhan Kaidi Fine Chemical Industrial Co.,
(14) Wuhan Yuancheng Tech Deve Co.,
(15) Wuzhou Chemical International Trading Co.,
(16) Xi’an Bluesky Biological Engineering Co.,
(17) Yixing Jiangshan Chemical,
(18) Zhe Jiang Garden Biochemical High-Tech Stock Co.,
(19) Zhejiang New Donghai Pharm & Chem Co., etc., etc., etc.
J.E. Philips, D.D.S., said …
“Fortunately, most vitamin pills go through your body without dissolving.”
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'Supplements Are Not the Same As Implements' have 2 comments
January 6, 2013 @ 4:40 pm atomb
An Ayurvedic saying goes …
“If the diet is right then medicines are of no need. If the diet is wrong then medicines are of no use.”
January 7, 2013 @ 8:55 am Vera
Atom, you’re so right about this, but what can I do? For 7 days I stopped taking zinc + MSM + vitamin C, and I got flu.
Zinc for immunity and skin healing.
MSM (organic sulfur) for skin healing.
Vitamin C for immunity and because MSM “eats” all vitamin C in the body.
OK, my immune system is compromised with lupus reaction and herpes virus, but what can I do differently to avoid those supplements? I don’t know what should I eat and for how long to get 25mg of zinc daily and the same goes for any element.
We need some good information about amounts of real food.
And besides, one small bag of goji berries (2 cups) in my Chinatown costs the same as 10 grams of vitamin C which lasts 3 times longer. That is another problem..