Penicillin doesn't just kill the bad bugs. Gut flora is clobbered too. My bowels usually get unruly when I'm taking antibiotics. This occasion was all too average in that respect.
At the end of the course I added a probiotic supplement to my daily regime. Probiotic 10 from Holland and Barrett to be exact.
I have a happy gut again :-)
Showing posts with label supplements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label supplements. Show all posts
10 May 2011
23 April 2011
Supplements: doing me any good?
Are the supplements I'm taking really doing me any good? It's possible the positive effects I'm experiencing are just placebo, or follow from my healthier diet, or are due entirely to my exercise regime. Finding out if they are worth my money and time will involve an experiment.
Ideally I'd have a window into those alternate universes where I'm doing everything the same, except taking supplements. Lacking that window makes the determination of their effect tricky. Once I've hit my targets I could stop taking them, to see if anything changes; but that won't tell me if they're doing me any good right now. From the perspective of my personal experience I have no means of knowing whether the supplements I'm taking are helping, hindering, or having no effect in the pursuit of my targets.
So I have no choice: I must trust something other than my personal experience. The options I can think of are:
None of these sources are entirely satisfactory. The raw literature, when it is publically available at all, is generally written by professionals for fellow professionals: i.e. unreadable by us laypeople. Hence New Scientist and similar publications fullfill a vital role; but they are subject to the journalistic paradox; i.e. the most important news is rarely the most interesting. Suppliers and manufacturers of supplements have to be considered biased (and the more hyped the product, the more cynical I tend to be). Reviews by users are seductive, but caution: are they what they seem to be? Anecdotes from friends and colleagues are probably more reliable, if only because you have some knowledge of the opinionator.
In practice, I'm bumbling along using as many of these sources as happen to be easily available at the point of decision. It's a far from perfect approach...
Ideally I'd have a window into those alternate universes where I'm doing everything the same, except taking supplements. Lacking that window makes the determination of their effect tricky. Once I've hit my targets I could stop taking them, to see if anything changes; but that won't tell me if they're doing me any good right now. From the perspective of my personal experience I have no means of knowing whether the supplements I'm taking are helping, hindering, or having no effect in the pursuit of my targets.
So I have no choice: I must trust something other than my personal experience. The options I can think of are:
- scientific literature on the topic
- respectable science reportage (e.g. New Scientist)
- claims made by legally regulated suppliers / manufacturers
- claims made by supposed users of specific products
- anecdotes from friends and colleagues
None of these sources are entirely satisfactory. The raw literature, when it is publically available at all, is generally written by professionals for fellow professionals: i.e. unreadable by us laypeople. Hence New Scientist and similar publications fullfill a vital role; but they are subject to the journalistic paradox; i.e. the most important news is rarely the most interesting. Suppliers and manufacturers of supplements have to be considered biased (and the more hyped the product, the more cynical I tend to be). Reviews by users are seductive, but caution: are they what they seem to be? Anecdotes from friends and colleagues are probably more reliable, if only because you have some knowledge of the opinionator.
In practice, I'm bumbling along using as many of these sources as happen to be easily available at the point of decision. It's a far from perfect approach...
13 April 2011
Suplements: suppliers
Food supplements are everywhere these days. When I was a kid, the choice was cod liver oil (seen as old fashioned) and Haliborange (not as a range of stuff: just one product - seen as hip). The supermarkets now have a stack of shelves dedicated to supplements. Browsing our local Holland & Barrett shop made my head buzz. Researching online, where sites like Healthspan and SimplySupplements abound, was worse.
Lots of research needed, methinks!
Meanwhile, based on the Transcend book's advice, I've chosen a multi-vitamin, Lecithin, and fish oil as a base to build on.
Lots of research needed, methinks!
Meanwhile, based on the Transcend book's advice, I've chosen a multi-vitamin, Lecithin, and fish oil as a base to build on.
9 April 2011
Supplements are not substitutes
The laziest part of my quest is taking food supplements. Their promoter's promise much (too much, probably) for the simple effort of swallowing a pill. The nominally crowd-sourced reviews on their suppliers web sites invariably glow with claims of positive effect; so much so as to set my cynical synapses glowing too.
Hard science on the efficacy of these supplements is much harder to come by. On the other hand it is an established fact that mammalian metabolism changes as we age. We modify the diet of our pets as they age. There are certain foods that I disliked as a child that I now adore, and v.v. A few traditional herbal remedies, such as St John's wort, have been well researched. Others, such as ginkgo biloba, have credible, if controversial, reputations.
But which supplements to take, in what quantity?
Ideally I'd measure my nutritional input, have regular blood tests, and thus be able to make informed choices. But, as I have discovered, nutrition is a tricky subject: food labels generally don't include vitamin and mineral content, for example. Sites like NutriProfile help form a general picture of nutrition, based on statistics, but cannot tell me if I have a particular metabolic affinity or resistance for any specific substance. For that I need medical tests; but unlike supplements, they are not cheap. Package deals (e.g. here) are reasonable value as a one-off to establish a baseline. For monitoring purposes they are expensive overkill. If I was rich I'd do it; but I'm not, so I won't.
So what will I do?
I've decided to be pragmatic. The medication I'm on through the NHS requires an annual blood test. I'm entitled to a copy of the results for a nominal fee. Until I get around to arranging that, I will start taking such supplements as research shows to be safe, and probably better than placebo in effect.
Research has already revealed one glaring Truth, as expressed in the title of this post: supplements are not substitutes. The bad effects of gorging on burgers, sweets, and cakes, cannot be countered by any amount of supplementation. Without a healthy diet, supplements are a waste of money and hope.
Hard science on the efficacy of these supplements is much harder to come by. On the other hand it is an established fact that mammalian metabolism changes as we age. We modify the diet of our pets as they age. There are certain foods that I disliked as a child that I now adore, and v.v. A few traditional herbal remedies, such as St John's wort, have been well researched. Others, such as ginkgo biloba, have credible, if controversial, reputations.
But which supplements to take, in what quantity?
Ideally I'd measure my nutritional input, have regular blood tests, and thus be able to make informed choices. But, as I have discovered, nutrition is a tricky subject: food labels generally don't include vitamin and mineral content, for example. Sites like NutriProfile help form a general picture of nutrition, based on statistics, but cannot tell me if I have a particular metabolic affinity or resistance for any specific substance. For that I need medical tests; but unlike supplements, they are not cheap. Package deals (e.g. here) are reasonable value as a one-off to establish a baseline. For monitoring purposes they are expensive overkill. If I was rich I'd do it; but I'm not, so I won't.
So what will I do?
I've decided to be pragmatic. The medication I'm on through the NHS requires an annual blood test. I'm entitled to a copy of the results for a nominal fee. Until I get around to arranging that, I will start taking such supplements as research shows to be safe, and probably better than placebo in effect.
Research has already revealed one glaring Truth, as expressed in the title of this post: supplements are not substitutes. The bad effects of gorging on burgers, sweets, and cakes, cannot be countered by any amount of supplementation. Without a healthy diet, supplements are a waste of money and hope.
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