Supplements, medicines and health products can be full of ultra-processed junk too. What ingredients should you avoid?

Is your medicine or supplement making you unwell? Nutritionist Laurentia Campbell deciphers the good from the bad and tells you to check the label and which ingredients to avoid.

By Laurentia Campbell, Nutritionist and Neuroscientist (mental health, polyphenols, diabetes/obesity, gut microbiota) academic, content writer, food waste warrior & science/healthtech/food/fmcg NPD(ideation-scale)

Supplements can cause illness too!!

A supplement should give you nutrients you are missing and help you optimise your general well-being. A medicine should fix illness. However they can be ultraprocessed and contain ingredients you would actively avoid in food and which detract from health such as high fructose corn syrups (HFCS), palm oil, artificial sweeteners, bulking agents, emulsifiers, artifical preservatives and fillers. You can also overdose as each person’s health requirements is personal to their own biology and biomarkers (markers of levels of biological chemicals such as vitamins, minerals, hormones and body and blood cell numbers). Make sure you don’t self-experiment and supplement without checking your biomarkers first to see if you need the supplement and if it will optimise or detract from your health. So what should you be looking out for and how can you avoid health cons?

Supplements should ideally contain just the missing biological chemicals in their most bioavaliable (ability to reach the site of action) form. So which ingredients in medicines and supplements should you avoid?

Some argue that many of these ultra processed ingredients appear in food supplements in such small quantities that it does not matter, but others say added up over time and, in many cases, layered on top of ultra-processed medicines and, perhaps, a largely ultra processed diet, can accumulate to cause illness. It is best if possible to avoid supplements and medicines that contain ingredients that you should avoid in food and drink. If you have the choice, go for the supplements and medicines (and foods) without…

1. High fructose corn syrups (HFCS) such as Maize syrup, Glucose syrup, Glucose-fructose syrup, tapioca syrup, isoglucose, corn syrup, which may disrupt our blood sugar, increase appetite and cause the overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut.
2. Sugar such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, dextrose. If it is in a tiny pill it will be in a miniscule amount, but a 5–15ml sugary syrup is 1–3 teaspoons of sugar. This can rapidly impact your blood sugar and again potentially promote the overgrowth of proinflammatory, illness promoting bacteria in the gut.
3. Artificial sweeteners like sucralose or aspartame which are thousands of times sweeter than sugar and wire our brains and taste buds to crave sweet things. These also have been shown in studies to potentially negatively impact the gut microbiota and to cause hypermania, increased Dopamine and Adrenaline brain chemicals and reduced sleep. The Suez et al 2014, Kuk & Brown, 2016 and Frankenfeld et al, 2015, studies found that Aspartame and acesulfame k may cause an imbalance in carbohydrate metabolism and gut microbiota dysbiosis.
4. Sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, ionositol which in excess can cause laxative effects.
5. Vegetable and seed oils such as palm oil, rapeseed oil which can disrupt the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in the body and be pro-inflammatory.
6. Bulking agents. These are the products that are added to the formulation of drugs, food supplements and other pharmaceuticals to add some weight to the product and hold the tablet together. Common ingredients include cellulose, glycine, gelatin, trehalose, stearic acid, dextran, magnesium stearate, dry starch, kaolin, salt (sodium chloride), rice flour. Magnesium presence can inhibit the absorption of other nutrients such as calcium, and so make sure you do not take a magnesium containing supplement with a meal or other supplements.
7. Emulsifiers which are used to help mix water and oil which naturally would separate. Polysorbate 80 (P80) is an example that is often found in food supplements but this has been shown to disrupt the gut microbiota and gut lining and may cause inflammation . They may be linked to Crohn’s disease, type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
8. Artifical preservatives. These are commonly used to increase the shelf life and quality of water-based or even oil-based formulations which are prone to bugs or oxidation. Examples of artifical preservatives include potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate. Look for natural alternatives including vitamin C, vitamin E or botanicals with strong antimicrobial action like rosemary. Choosing an alternative format like capsules, which effectively preserve the ingredients, is another way to avoid these additives. Nutritional oils can be preserved using nitrogen at the bottling stage avoiding the need for artificial additives.
9. Fillers such as titanium oxide and talc. These are used as a colourants to give supplements a bright white colour. Titanium dioxide has a number of potential health implications. Research has indicated that titanium dioxide has the capacity to be toxic, it can increase the amount of ‘free radicals’ in our bodies which circulate and cause various levels of trouble to our immune function, metabolism and nervous system to name a few. Free radicals are a type of unstable chemical that is made during normal cell metabolism (chemical changes that take place in a cell). Free radicals can build up in cells and cause damage to other molecules, such as DNA, lipids, and proteins. There have been studies suggesting that Titianium oxide could be carcinogenic, having exhibited an ability to damage cell structure. Talc is most frequently used as an anti-clumping agent to stop ingredients from sticking to machinery, thus speeding up manufacture. Would you chose to eat talc powder? No, so why eat it in your supplement or medicine!
10. Ethanol. Some tinctures (liquid supplements) contain a minimum of 25% ethanol depending on the properties of the herbs. Supplement companies will recommend to have few drops of this supplement, however some people drink a spoon or straight from the bottle. When you do this you are effectively having a 5–25cl pure alcohol shot, which (think alcohol hand gel), kills gut microbiota (healthy and unhealthy), disrupts sleep, focus, reaction times, mood and is pro-inflammatory. Also, be mindful of giving ethanol based tinctures to children.

Can you overdose?

How much of a vitamin or mineral you require depends on you and your own individual biological requirements. How much is too much depends on you and your body and lifestyle and the rest of your diet. You must look at how much of a mineral and vitamin a person already consumes in their diet and what form of the active ingredient (which form) is being taken to prevent overdose and side effects. Remember supplements should supplement meals and health, not be meals and not cause illness.

1. Too much vitamin A can result in significant organ damage, including the liver, bones, central nervous system, and skin. Liver fibrosis or cirrhosis may be irreversible. Bone abnormalities, such as reduced bone density or fractures, may persist even after discontinuing vitamin A intake.
2. Too much vitamin D can contribute to high levels of calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. Vitamin D toxicity might progress to bone pain and kidney problems, such as the formation of calcium stones.
3. Too much Omega-3 from supplements (and too much oily fish) can cause diarrheoa (increased bowel movement motility and frequency) and fatty deposits in stools. Certain types of omega-3 fatty acid supplements such as cod liver oil are high in vitamin A, which can be toxic if consumed in large amounts. Large doses of omega-3s lowers blood pressure and helps prevent blood clotting but this is bad for those on drugs such as Warfarin or Statins. It can also stimulate the production of glucose, which can contribute to high levels of long-term blood sugar levels, which can cause insulin resistance (where our blood sugar is raised for too long so we become less able to control it) and obesity. It can also cause fluctuations in sleep and mood.
4. Calcium overdose can suppress appetite, impair the functioning of the kidneys, increase the pH of the blood, and can cause nausea and vomiting, confusion or changes in thinking or mentation, itching, and in extreme cases irregular heartbeat. Calcium supplements may increase the incidence of constipation, severe diarrhea, and abdominal pain, though it depends on the type of calcium you take. Calcium carbonate (40% elemental calcium), Calcium citrate (21% elemental calcium), Calcium gluconate (9% elemental calcium) or Calcium lactate (13% elemental calcium). The most calcium is found in calcium carbonate and so is more often associated with gastrointestinal side effects, including constipation, flatulence, and bloating.
5. As collagen is a protein and protein is the most filling macronutrient, too much collagen can suppress appetite.
6. Too much whey protein powder depends on the type whey you take. Whey protein concentrate contains roughly 35–80% protein. It also contains lactose, fat, and minerals from milk. Whey protein isolate contains 90–96% protein. It contains very little lactose or fat. Whey protein hydrolysate however is more processed so this helps your body absorb it faster. As whey is a protein, excess, like collagen can also suppress the appetite. It can also cause constipation if you do not have it with lots of fibre rich foods as part of a balanced diet. Supplements should supplement meals, not be meals.
7. Too much iodine can affect the thyroid gland and increase metabolism. This may be good in the short term but is short-sighted as the body will balance thyroid requirements, resulting in a damaged thyroid and low future thyroid function.
8. Too much magnesium depends on the type of magnesium. There are many types, magnesium citrate, magnesium glycinate magnesium chloride, magnesium lactate, magnesium malate, magnesium taurate, magnesium sulfate and magnesium oxide. Magnesium glycine is Magnesium glycinate is a compound of magnesium and glycine, an amino acid and is well tolerated with minimal side effects. Magnesium lactate is a compound of magnesium and lactic acid. Magnesium malate is a compound of magnesium and malic acid. Magnesium citrate is absorbed better than magnesium oxide and magnesium chelate and has laxative effects in excess.
9. An iron overdose can cause include vomiting, diarrhea (which may be bloody or dark), or weakness. People with severe overdoses may develop coma, low blood pressure, liver failure, lung injury, and death.
10. Probiotic supplements overdose, or taking strains that you do not require, can cause digestive issues and the overgrowth of bad bacterial strains.

Overall?

Be mindful of what you take with your supplement or medicine. Check for surplus ingredients and chose a product with as few ingredients as possible. Check your biomarkers at your GP or with a qualified health team before self-prescribing, to ensure you do not overdose on vitamins and are only taking extra nutrients and biochemicals which will supplement health and help prevent or treat illness.

COPYRIGHT LAURA CAMPBELL

Did you enjoy reading my article? I am happy to send you the research behind any of the claims I make in this article (see references below). I am a scientist FOREMOST. Do you want me to write for you or to help you with new product development or nutritional advice? I go ONLY ON SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE and will not endorse products I do not believe in. I am vitriolic in my passion for preventing scientific misinformation based on unsubstantiated claims.

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Feel free to email me at laurentia.campbell@live.co.uk if you want to work with me or to connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracampbell007/

Hello from Laurentia (Laura) xxx

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