DVD!A question from a facebook fan, prompts a response from Sally. Since I just did a blog post on a webcast on Children’s Health and Supplements today, thought you’d like to know the WAPF advice on the subject!
Q:
OK So do you take supplements? What companies are recommended by W.Price? I can’t find like a list or anything on their website. I guess if you eat right you won’t need any but I am not there yet. I am still studying and trying and I still need to take supplements. I was taking standard process but still lacked the energy and they don’t have the amounts of anything in their supplements listed and it mostly comes from cows. I know they are supposedly great but i had to constantly be reassessed by a chiropractor to purchase them etc. I have just been taking Nature’s Way and have more energy actually. I need to know a supplement company for the common man (where you don’t have to pay for chiro. visits in order to order them) that I can trust. Also, can you recommend a site for osteoarthritis. My chiropractor says that I have this in my neck far beyond my years. I am trying to do research on it but not getting very far. Chiro. isn’t helping. I did not have any of the arthritis symptoms until I had a baby so it seems hormonal related but not according to my research findings. Hope you can point me in a good direction on these 2 issues. Thank you!!! michelle
A:
Dear Michelle,
The Weston A. Price Foundation promotes nutrient-dense foods and hopes to see the day when supplements are not needed. What we do recommend for everyone is cod liver oil, which is not actually a supplement but a nutrient-dense food.
Of course, many people have been helped by “supplements” such as natural vitamin C and B12 (both of which I take myself). But any heavy use of supplements should be done with the help of a holistic practitioner.
For more of interest, visit http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/superfoods.html
Sincerely, Sally Fallon Morell
Sally Fallon Morell
Sally Fallon Morell is a nutrition researcher, and President of Weston A. Price Foundation a nutrition education non-profit with 11,000 members, and 400 local chapters. Local chapter leaders are volunteers who help people in their community find sources of farm fresh, locally produced food. She is the author of the bestselling cookbook, Nourishing Traditions and Publisher of Wise Traditions, Journal in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts.
9 Comments
This response doesn’t seem very helpful.
Living in this modern American world, there are some key issues that might be difficult to address without “supplements” (and I think Sally’s differentiation of a supplement vs a “nutrient dense food” is not how the majority of the world looks at it. I dare you to make salad dressing with fermented cod liver oil.)
If you live in the midwest and eat locally grown food, you have a high risk of dangerous iodine deficiency. Adding kelp to your diet, or adding an iodine supplement, may be extremely beneficial for a host of health problems. See Dr. Davis’s Heart Scan Blog for a series of informative articles.
If your work causes you to eat at restaurants more often, it is extremely difficult to avoid the excess omega-6 fats commonly in use today, and adding some omega-3 fat supplements are very effective at ameliorating the otherwise deleterious effects. See Stephan Guyenet’s brilliant Whole Health Source blog for a fantastic education on this issue.
Unless you spend an unusual amount of time outside, you are likely vitamin D3 deficient. Not by the ridiculously low bar set by our federal nutrient standards, but by the standards of optimum health. Vitamin D3 is virtually non-existent in foods, even cod liver oil has a very small amount relative to our optimal needs. A supplement here has a huge impact on your immune system, brain and especially cancer incidence. See the Vitamin D Council’s web site for a breakdown.
In short I think Sally’s response is unfortunately dismissive of the reality of modern life and misses an opportunity for helpful information and discussion.
I have to agree with Ed. We don’t get enough of the right UV rays in most of the United States to give us enough vitamin D via sunlight anyway. And we also have no clue about the nutritional content of even natural, whole foods. Soil depletion is a very real hazard anymore.
I just do the best I can, which is all anybody can do. Supplements do make a difference in how I feel and function. I have particularly needed to supplement vitamin A since I have yet to convince myself to eat liver and wasn’t getting enough from egg yolks and the like. But I get it sourced from fish liver oil, rather than synthesized in a lab. I have also known for years to look for vitamin E that’s labeled d-tocopherol acetate instead of dl-, which is the synthetic vitamin. And I’m still learning, always learning.
I think the page that is linked out at the WAPF offers some good advice. Cod liver oil is an excellent source of both vitamin D and vitamin A. I believe the Real Food Media does link to good sources of fermented cod liver oil (which boosts the vitamin content). I used them when I purchased my Cod Liver Oil.
It’s difficult to make broad spectrum recommendations on supplements without offering a program in nutritional health. For those who do have specific questions, a naturopath who is also schooled in traditional foods is an excellent resource. There are too many variables to try and address every issue on a blog or even online.
.-= Bonnie´s last blog ..Maybe We’re Blaming Ourselves for Things That Aren’t Even Proven. =-.
Vitamin D and A work in tandem. Chris Masterjohn has a fantastic blog where he discusses these issues as well as D’s relationship to Vitamin K (just google him). He has also written well researched pieces for Wise Traditions on the subject. The Spring 2009 issue of “Wise Traditions,” Weston Price Foundation’s premier journal, features 3 articles on cod liver oil that are really worth reading,- one by Chris – “The Science of Cod Liver Oil.”
Excess doses of Vitamin D can result in hypercalcemia, kidney stones and when K2 is lacking, calcium deposits in soft tissue. It appears that cod liver oil is the best natural winter source of these vitamins. Chris says that the ratio should be 10 parts Vitamin A to 1 part Vitamin D.
I hear you I am new to this and breastfeeding, I feel that I need a supplment to. I took new chapter prefect prenatal thinking it was good. I am now taking cod liver oil and high vitmin butter, but still feel i need a vitmin because i can’t seem to eat the recommed amount of food. Some it it is just to expensise,out of reach or just can’t stand to eat like cocunt oil. I am also confused as to why the weston a price foundtion does not use cocunt butter? julianneortiz@ymail.com
Michelle:
Not an expert, but just from reading Weston A. Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, your case sounds like something he covers in his book. It may be that childbirth, or breastfeeding, depleted certain of your natural nutrient stores and that you need to replenish them, leading to arthritis symptoms. My guess is thad cod liver oil is essential for you, as well as high vitamin butter oil, which Dr. Price recommended together. Nutrient-dense foods such as raw milk (organic, grass-fed), liver, animal fats, eggs from free-range chickens, seafood, lacto-fermented vegetables would be important to eat during pregnancy, and really all the time. I know that eating these things have helped me manage my arthritis, regain my energy and a few more things. Good luck.
Tito Farias
Cool discussion! I am still studying and trying and I still need to take supplements. Thanks!
All supplements have different function for our body. But iron supplement is urgent for red cell division and develop.
Iron
is a co-factor to oxygen as they work hand in hand. Iron is responsible
for attracting oxygen to the body and carrying oxygen to all systems,
tissues, and organs. Iron combines with other nutrients to produce
vital blood proteins and is involved in food metabolism. Without iron
the body cannot survive long since the metabolism would decrease and
atrophy. Iron functions in the body: Ensures oxygenation of blood,
Converts hematin to carry oxygen to cells, Improves circulation,
Augments tissue oxidation, Attracts oxygen to the body.
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