Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagle welcome back to the nutrition

divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous

kassie recently wrote to me with a question about herbal supplements.

You know, things like St. John's Wort, which is sometimes recommended as a natural treatment

for depression.

I know you aren't a big fan of vitamin supplements, she writes, but what about herbal supplements for specific disorders?

Cassie's right. In general, I find Vitamin Supp supplements to be of limited value.

There are a few exceptions.

For example, as I discussed in a previous podcast, it can be difficult to get enough vitamin

D from foods alone. That's because we're not really designed to get most of our foods alone.

That's because we're not really designed to get most of our

vitamin D from foods, but rather from exposure to UV radiation or sunshine.

And depending on your diet, it might also be helpful and appropriate to

take fish oil or calcium supplements. And these are both topics that have also

discussed at length in other podcasts. And if you had some sort of medical condition that could otherwise lead to nutrient

deficiencies you might need some targeted supplementation to compensate

but for most of us

assuming we're eating a reasonably healthy diet,

downing handfuls of high-potency vitamins and antioxidant supplements every day,

is simply a waste of money.

Sometimes it can even cause problems.

Herbal supplements are a bit of a different case.

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