THIS a sad day for the millions of people in Europe who regularly use vitamin and mineral supplements. It’s an infringement of our rights to have a diktat that compromises consumers’ choice .

It’s definitely right that we should have a proper education campaign so that people know what is a safe amount of vitamins and minerals to take. That should come from impartial bodies such as the British Nutrition Foundation and from private practitioners such as dietitians who have no financial incentives to recommend products. There also needs to be widespread media coverage of the issue so that consumers have information at their fingertips and can make the right decisions.

I’d like to see the evidence that suggests that supplements may re-present a threat to public health. Certainly, it’s possible to overdose on vitamin and minerals, and I’ve come across people — perhaps half a dozen or so out of the thousand or more clients I see each year — who, either as a result of obsessive behaviour or, more worryingly, incorrect advice given in health food stores, have suffered bad effects. Too much vitamin C can result in mouth ulcers; you can get kidney stones from too much calcium; digestive problems, including an increased risk of bowel cancer, can be caused by too much iron; and there can also be toxicity of the liver through taking too many fat soluble vitamins — such as beta carotine and vitamin A.

I can understand the EU wanting to address this situation, but instead of banning supplements we should be getting the right information to people. It’s also important that we improve primary care: a major reason why people take supplements is because they’re don’t get adequate attention and care from regular doctors and so resort to self-treatment, often without the correct advice.

There is also currently no proper regulation for nutritionists. Anyone can set up a practice after taking a simple course — so a lot have poor training and overprescribe, a situ-ation that must change with the help of a well-respected professional body such as the Health Professions Council, which currently regulates dietitians.

There are clinical instances where people need vitamin and mineral supplements: women at risk of osteoporosis who cannot get enough calcium from their diets; people, from young children to women with heavy periods, who suffer from iron-deficiency anaemia; older people who don’t have a good diet or get out in the sun often and therefore need additional vitamin B because their bodies don’t manufacture enough on their own; and in general those people whose diets are generally deficient in nutrients simply because they’ve lost their way with healthy eating.

Much of the information about how much we need is poor. It’s a common misconception that we need up to 2,000mg of vitamin C a day when, in fact, the body only needs 60mg. There is also a lot of hype suggesting you can’t fulfil your body’s nutritional needs from your diet. The way food is produced has changed significantly — there’s a long delay, for instance, between when fruit is picked and when we eat it, which does affect vitamin content — but in general a supermarket diet, as long as it’s well-balanced, should suffice.

There will not be any public health crisis as a result of this ban. Most supplements aren’t affected, and most people taking those supplements that will be banned will be getting as much of them as is therapeutically necessary from a rich diet.

Zinc picolinate, for instance, which has been hailed as a libido-boosting nutrient and has benefits for the immune system, can be found in oysters, crumbly cheese, all kinds of seafood, nuts, lean red meat, and wholegrains. Calcium supplements, one of the most widely taken by women to combat osteoporosis, can also be replaced by a sufficient intake of dairy produce, as well as figs, green leafy vegetables, curly kale, small-boned fish, such as sardines and anchovies, and white bread.

Part of the reason for the low intake of calcium is the literature supporting soy and suggesting dairy is bad for you, which is rubbish.

• British Nutrition Foundation: 020-7404 6504. Health Professions Council: 020-7582 0866.

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