Erin O'Hara: Naturopath and wellness expert on the benefits and drawbacks of multivitamins

The effectiveness of multivitamins has made headlines after the release of a new study. 

The research found multivitamins didn't help people live longer - and found a link between daily usage and increased mortality.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explained that multivitamins have a little bit of everything, which could introduce the body to ingredients it doesn't need.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'b.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Multi vitamins have been in the news a lot this week.
So joining us now for our wellness segment is Eron
O'Hara Natropath. Good morning, Good morning. Are there any benefits
of taking a multivitamin?

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Yeah, there's been an interesting study that came out and
this was a cohort study and it compiled a whole
lot of research on nearly four four hundred thousand adults
on taking multi vitamins and multivitamins are taken every day,
and whether that had any long term benefit, and the
study came back that it had no benefit at reducing
cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality, which is a really interesting

(00:48):
thing because a lot of people take a multi vitamin
on a daily basis thinking that it's going to be
their insurance policy for keeping them healthy and well. And
longevity is a big thing as well.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
So from the woman who's just recovering from the cold
that killed the dinosaurs, does it help with immunity?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Well, no, Like a lot of people take multi vitamins,
and I think people think nature path They think, oh,
multi vitamins. But actually, to be honest, I'm not a
huge fan of multi vitamins. The best way I would
describe a multi vitamin is a little bit of everything,
not much of anything, probably not exactly what your body needs.
And that's the difference is that when you're taking a
multi vitamin, it's got a little bit of everything in it,
But without doing the right testing, is that what your

(01:27):
body really needs, or whether you are you just hopping
up on nutrients that your body actually doesn't need and
you're just making the kidneys if the water soluble vitamins
process them and detox them out. And so I think
that really when it comes to supplementation, it's about looking
at what does your body actually need, and without doing
some testing, you don't actually know, and a multi vitamin

(01:48):
is not going to be the thing that's going to
cure all. So I think it's about looking at what
does your body need. There are essential vitamins that we
do need to get through our diet or whether we
need to top the RT through supplements. That's where there's
a place for supplements, But there's also the risk of
if we are taking supplements like fat soluble vitamins, they

(02:08):
actually load in the body and they store in the body.
So we want to be careful what we're taking and
that we're not overdoing it. The other big thing with
taking excess supplements, especially zinc is a big one for
this is getting nausier. So when you take too much
zinc you're taking you think, oh, feel really sick. Something's
not right with me. Usually it's from the zinc. Also,
some vitamins will cause things like birth effects if you

(02:30):
overdose them when you're pregnant. So being really cautious what
you're taking and don't just grab bottles from your chemis
warehouse or your supermarket and then think, oh, this will
boost me up and not knowing what's in it. I
think looking at what is in it and what does
your body needs?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Okay, so is there every time when multi vitamins can
be helpful.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, when it comes to a multi vitamin, I think
if you know that your diet's a little bit lacking,
then you might like to top it up, or if
you're pregnant or breastfeeding, good place for a multi vitamin
to top up a few extra nutrients. The other thing
is if you are vegan or vegetarian, looking at maybe
you're missing a nutrients from your diets. If you know
your diet is a bit restricted, then maybe you want

(03:10):
to top up on some nutrients. But first go to
your doctor, maybe orth naturopath, get some testing done, see
what your body needs, and those are the things that
you need rather than just a general multi vitamin that
might not be that.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Beneficial to you. Love it, Thank you for wrapping that
up erin very much. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
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