"Vitamins and Supplements", Part II - by Dr. Saunders

Yesterday, Dr. Saunders shared about "too much of a good thing"

Today we bring you:

Part II: Inhibition of Mineral Absorption

Sometimes supplements interact with each other in various ways.  We take large amounts of one supplement which inhibits other nutrients in the body. 

Selenium showed great promise for preventing cancer in several studies so the "Nutritional Prevention of Cancer" trial was begun to see if it could prevent malignant melanoma.  It didn't seem to work for melanoma, but it did decrease all other cancers by about 50%. 

 However, one side-effect was that the incidence of diabetes was increased in those who were taking 200mcg of selenium daily.  What wasn't considered is that the daily supplementation of Selenium could inhibit other minerals from being absorbed, such as Chromium, thus increasing the risk of diabetes.

Other minerals compete for absorption. 

Calcium, taken in large doses daily, will inhibit magnesium.  Zinc taken frequently will inhibit copper. 

Thus, it's possible to cause deficiency diseases by taking daily mineral supplementations.  This may be why many people react to mineral supplements.

~ Dr. Saunders

p.s. Part III will discuss antioxidant vitamins…