- Interesting news from Scotland – why they’re dishing out free vitamin pills
- Why does the media love to hate vitamin supplements?
- The worrying ingredient inside your vitamin pills – why these drugs don’t work
So it has come to this…
FREE vitamins!
Well…
For some people in Scotland anyway.
The Scottish government has announced that those who are shielding will get a free four-month supply of vitamin D supplements to boost their immune systems this winter.
An NHS letter even suggested that ALL Scots should take a daily supplement.
“In Scotland we only get enough of the right kind of sunlight for our bodies to make vitamin D roughly from April to September,” said the NHS.
Whether you live in Scotland or not, this is important news.
It shows just how confident politicians and scientists are that vitamin D is our most powerful natural weapon in the fight against coronavirus.
And not only the virus, of course.
But it helps protect us from all those nasty respiratory infections and flu strains that cause havoc in winter.
This plan to ‘dish out the vits’ could be heading south of the border, too.
At the beginning of last week, David Davis, the former cabinet minister, urged the Prime Minster that we should use vitamin D supplementation in England to bring down infection levels.
He said: “There have been dozens of studies over hundreds of countries which show, or imply anyway, that this could reduce the infection rates by half . . . and the case death rates by half again.”
What he was referring to was most likely a recent study of Spanish patients with coronavirus.
A massive 82% of them had insufficient levels of vitamin D, compared with 47% of a comparable population that didn’t have the virus.
Some new UK research was published last week, too…
Scientists at Imperial College found that people who took vitamin D supplements were less likely to suffer from respiratory problems in general.
So this story is really gaining traction now!
It’s pretty much official policy that people should consider vitamin D this winter – particularly older people, overweight people, and black and Asian people – these are all the groups who struggle to absorb and retain high levels of vitamin D.
They’re also the groups with the highest risk of getting seriously ill with Covid-19.
And, while I often disagree with official policies, I am onboard with this one.
So why are people still reticent about it?
Well, there’s a problem…
The media loves to hate vitamin supplements
The mainstream media is constantly publishing anti-vitamin articles, suggesting that they don’t work and are a waste of money.
This means that people are confused.
They worry that they’re throwing away money on vitamins in a time when they need to tighten their belts and control their spending.
Is it really all a waste?
Well, here’s where I can help.
Let me assure you of one thing – the idea that supplements don’t work is total nonsense.
When even the government, the NHS and GPs are giving away vitamin supplements in a desperate attempt to solve a public health problem, you can be sure they believe that these supplements work.
So why the regular media battering?
Well, the journalists are actually correct that many vitamin supplements are a waste of money.
Poor quality commercial vitamins are everywhere.
Many contain toxic ingredients and are contaminated with heavy metals from raw materials sourced from questionable places.
These cheapo supplements are adulterated with non-medicinal ingredients like binders, fillers, flow agents, disintegrants, colouring, and preservatives.
Here are some of the things you never want to see in your pill or capsule:
- Magnesium silicate, a filler that can cause health issues when ingested
- Magnesium Stearate, a binder that is considered by some experts to be unsafe for human ingestion
- Titanium Dioxide, a colourant that has been linked to some cancers
- Carrageenan, a thickening agent that can inflame the digestive tract
- Potassium Sorbate, a preservative that can cause sensitivities or allergies
Our bodies tend to react badly to foreign, non-biological substances like these.
What’s more, many of the commercially available vitamin tablets aren’t easily absorbed by the body, and just end up going right through you.
Buying supplements at online retailers like Amazon and eBay can be even more risky, as there are lots of knock-offs and dodgy imports on sale.
So yes, the media is PARTLY correct when it challenges these products.
But in order to get a compelling, clickable, emotive article for the newspaper, these journalists usually fail to distinguish between different types of supplement.
They group them ALL together as one thing.
But this isn’t the reality.
The supplements that REALLY work
There are supplements on the market that aren’t filled with non-active ingredients and that don’t come from toxic sources.
And they come in forms that are bioavailable – which means that your body can easily recognise, absorb, and use them.
In general, the best quality supplements are those which come in powder or vegetable capsules, rather than tablets.
To find them, search online for reviews of multivitamins from reputable companies who use careful manufacturing processes.
Seek the supplements which are made from natural whole food sources, and also look for ‘GMO-free’ or ‘Organic’.
For example, Together Health are one of the best companies out there when it comes to supplements.
They’re dedicated to using organic, vegan, whole food sources for their vitamins, which helps them become more quickly absorbed by your body
If you’re interested in trying them out, we’ve got a 25% discount offer on a 6-month immunity boosting pack of Together Health vitamin C and D:
- Together Health Vitamin C is a whole food complex with naturally occurring bioflavonoids to help absorption. Derived from oranges and lemons this non-GMO, vegan whole food supplement is gentle on your stomach.
- Together Health Vitamin D comes from a lichen sourced from a sustainable site. This plant-based, vegan vitamin D3 is the body’s preferred active form. There is added coconut oil to further enhance absorption. It’s non-GMO and gentle on the stomach.
For more information, check out our page here: 6 Month Immune Boosting Pack But there’s even more I want to tell you about this vitamin story.
Including one common supplement that often has the WRONG type of vitamin in it – I’ll explain all on Sunday, so look out for that in your inbox!
