Hear What This Doctor Thinks of Vitamins and Supplements!

Scott: Doctor, how important is diet and supplementation when it comes to preventative medicine?

Dr. Lena Edwards: 150%.  You could make the argument if we all ate the way we were supposed to, had normal stress levels, went to sleep when we were supposed to and exercised, we wouldn't have to take supplements and we probably wouldn't have all the health problems that we have.  So, very, very important.  Supplements... I guess... the conventional thought is supplements are a really good way to make expensive urine... is how it's been put to me before.  And in a perfect world, you're right, we wouldn't need to take supplements because we should be able to do everything we need to do without it.  But because of the situations in which our bodies are placed these days, obviously supplements are usually an important adjunct to diet and exercise and sleep.  But I've been doing this for 15 years, and if a patient doesn't do the things they need to do with respect to their diet, and their exercise and their sleep and their stress, you can give them all the supplements you want and it's really not going to make a dent in the problem, because those things also have to happen. 

Scott: So a lot of people think 'I don't eat that great, but if I take supplements', it will...

Dr. Edwards: ... that's right...

Scott:  ... it will even out the scale... but that's not the case.

Dr. Edwards:  Thats's right, that's right.  And that's part of the reason I can't practice conventional, internal medicine anymore.  Because I'm not giving up Frisch's Big Boy, give me my Lipitor, and I'll be on my way.  And I just can't do that.  And again, you can supplement, you can substitute a supplement just as easily as you can a drug.  The solution isn't just to cover things up.  I think people need to take responsibility for their behavior, and their health.  And very, very prominent and very real changes can happen just in doing those things, with respect to diet, exercise, etcetera.