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ANH-Intl eAlert No 310 | 20 July 2016 |
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e-ALERT |
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Wonky vitamin supplement rationales in the EU and UK |
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Having just returned from 2 days in Holland, it’s been interesting to gauge the sentiments of some of the people from another EU nation that is itself considering its future, either inside or outside the EU. Most of the scientists and consumer freedom advocates I met felt a referendum held in Holland would yield a very close result, not unlike that of the UK’s. When it’s close, it can of course go either way.
While some are still forecasting doom for the UK thanks to its population’s decision, there are few who are brave enough to predict a guaranteed rosy future for the EU. Instability and uncertainty are probably the only things we can be sure of in the coming years. Ignoring those who are voicing their deep concerns, disgruntlement or dismay over how their futures’ might unfold when more and more of our lives are being controlled by Brussels is a dangerous business.
This week we look at two issues on vitamins. The first story involves the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) decision to call a consultation on how it might adjust the guidance it gives companies on applying to get new nutrients onto ‘positive lists’ of permitted ingredients. We’ve of course responded. The previous guideline that continues to apply has been both opaque and onerous. It’s also been a huge barrier preventing many tens of thousands of people in the EU getting the vitamins or minerals they want or need. Will EFSA and the European Commission listen to concerns, including our own or are they just going through the motions of looking democratic as has so often been the case in the past?
The second story is about the UK and advice to pregnant women. In a nutshell, the leading medical society of obstetricians and gynaecologists is saying don’t take commercial pre-natal food supplements. They’re either dangerous or a waste of money, it reckons. Backed up by an anonymous scientific paper, pregnant women in the UK are being in told to take inferior NHS vitamins. This isn’t science, it’s politics and economics and it’s certainly not about acting in the public interest.
One last thing: for those in northern Europe who’ve benefited from the recent warm spell, don’t forget to dose up on the sunshine vitamin. As Dr Reinhold Vieth, one of the world’s foremost vitamin D researchers, has long recommended, 20 minutes in the midday sunshine with 80% of your body exposed is all you need to yield about the same circulating vitamin D level you can achieve by taking around 25 times the amount in the NHS’s Healthy Start vitamin pill for pregnant women. Ummm….
In health, naturally
Rob Verkerk, PhD
Founder, executive & scientific director |
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