How to Overcome Your Doctor’s Objections to Using Supplements

Here is what you can say when your physician says “No”

I can’t tell you how many patients have told me that when they tried talking to their doctors about using supplements, they were met with condescension, laughter, or belittlement.

So how do you get your doctor to work with you and help you incorporate vitamins and supplements into your daily health regimen?

Here are some of the most common stumbling blocks patients encounter when discussing supplements with their physicians—and suggestions for countering them.

• Supplements are unproven without scientific evidence
• Using supplements is dangerous
• If supplements work so well, why aren’t all doctors using them?
• You get all the nutrients you need from a good diet

Objection #1: "Supplements are unproven without scientific evidence."

This is simply not true. Every year, thousands of studies are published on the use of vitamins, minerals, and other supplements in the prevention and treatment of disease.

There are textbooks and periodicals on this subject, and thousands of well-referenced books. Our own government’s National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements maintains a huge database of bibliographic citations and abstracts from published international scientific literature on supplements. And if you search the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s website, you’ll find tens of thousands of abstracts on nutritional supplements.

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Objection #2: "Using supplements is dangerous."

Supplements are exceptionally safe—in fact, they’re infinitely safer than prescription drugs. In a typical year, more than 100,000 Americans die of adverse effects from medications used exactly as prescribed.

Guess how many die from “dangerous” supplements? Zero.

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Objection #3: "If supplements work so well, why aren’t all doctors using them?"

Just because conventional physicians aren’t widely using supplements doesn’t mean they aren’t effective. Doctors are trained in the use of pharmaceuticals, not nutrients, so many of them are unaware of the benefits of supplements. Others are simply biased against them.

Then there’s the profit factor.

Vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, and anything else found in nature cannot be patented. If they could be patented, they’d have been claimed by the pharmaceutical industry and marketed as expensive drugs long, long ago. Because natural therapies have no patent protection, there is no financial incentive for them to be picked up by drug companies—so they never make it into conventional medicine.

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Objection #4: "You get all the nutrients you need from a good diet."

As I’ve noted, the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey reveals that most Americans are deficient in one or more essential nutrients. Daily multivitamin and mineral supplements engender health by helping to protect against nutritional deficiencies. Targeted supplements are used in therapeutic doses to treat specific health conditions.

Remember: Although it may be reassuring to have your physician’s approval, you don’t need his or her permission for using supplements. Your health is your responsibility, and you control what goes into your body.

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More Dr. Whitaker Advice on Nutritional Support

• Why taking vitamins is essential
• How safe are supplements?
• Factors that increase your risk for nutritional deficiencies