“Eat You Vitamin Pills” was Pres Nelson’s catch phrase when he was talking about all the changes happening in the church. The implication was that we need to take vitamins to live longer so we could see all the marvelous changes he would be making.
While this was obviously said partly in jest, I wonder if he as a physician knows that vitamins offer no benefit to healthy people, and in fact can be harmful. With Utah being the headquarters for dietary supplements, and made easier by Senator Hatch’s 1994 bill that kept them unregulated, is it any wonder that Pres Nelson would remind people to take their vitamins?
Most physicians and nutritionist will tell you that instead of spending money on vitamins, spend it on fruit, grain and nuts. Sounds a little like the Word of Wisdom.
All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground
D&C 89:16
Maybe if Pres Nelson had said “Please follow the Word of Wisdom as outlined in D&C 89, and not as we enforce it” it would actually let us live longer, and get to see what new things he is going to “restore”!
Wheat & Tares 
The link you provided did not actually find that vitamins in general “can be harmful.” What is said was, “Some of the studies they looked at found that vitamin E could be dangerous in large doses and that beta-carotene could actually increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers.
While vitamin deficiency is a major source of preventable disease in certain parts of the world, the authors focused on normal, healthy adults in the U.S., where there is little evidence of micronutrient deficiency. The doctors noted that people with celiac disease or other health problems that interfere with absorption of micronutrients can benefit from multivitamin use.”
So if you are not taking large doses of vitamin E and you are not smoking, there is no risk and in fact there can be significant benefits, particularly with vitamin C and D in larger quantities as a preparation for Covid-19.
I would probably emphasize the jest part of what he said, but I see what you’re saying.
I’ve heard or read about so many conflicting studies about vitamins over the years that it really is difficult to know what to believe in reliably. I know many vitamins can’t be absorbed without complementing minerals to allow it, so some companies have started combining the two to very promising results.
The very latest study I read about said that fish oil didn’t do anything for your body and may even be harmful in the long run. It would be hard to convince my dad–whose knees hurt so bad he could barely walk prior to taking fish oil and is now nearly fine– that fish oil is not beneficial. I felt it went way beyond placebo. I’ve taken it skeptically from time to time and felt better as well.
It seems like WoW “As is vs. enforced” gets brought up often on this blog. It’s always easier to enforce a “don’t” than a “do” and the “dos,” despite mostly universal application, have so many more factors involved. This would include genetics, the engineering of wheat over the years post Section 89, and the evolution of meat preservation (more related to a “don’t” I guess), among others. I still believe that while the Church may list or enforce some specifics largely open to debate with respect to content and presentation, it trusts that knowledge-seeking members will come to a conclusion not too far removed, but also adapted to the world we live in.
There may be two opposing forces at play w Pres Nelson. One is that he’s a doctor and probably sees the value in a hard line stance that comes with a list of “don’ts.” On the other hand he seems to understand the value of teaching correct principles and letting us fill in the details. I think the list of don’ts will remain.
On a personal note. I made a goal of eating vegetarian meals 90% of the time this year and I’m at 93% as of this morning. I leave some wiggle room when I must eat meat or else annoy a friend or family member. I’m approaching 50 soon but feel healthier than ever. Did my first full Ironman last year (which paradoxically is definitely NOT healthy). I tend to think if we all ate less meat and skipped the alcohol, smoking, and drugs our health and environment would be better for it.
I’m a proponent for scrapping the WofW and replacing it with a new health guideline that is easily understood. I believe the original wording is so vague it’s what’s causes the confusion in the first place.
Cachemagic, valid point on the reference. I should have emphasized that a the harm done by vitamins is rare and due to over consumption, which really could be said about any food!
Eli, I guess I was too subtle, . but the point I was trying to make was it would have been better for Nelson to say “Eat your fruits and vegetables” rather than your vitamins. It would have been a rare emphasis of the “do’s” of the WofW, and we don’t get them enough. But, saying “eat your fruit and vegetables” wouldn’t have got the laugh, and been played up in the church media as much as what he said. Also, I liked the irony of the unintended connection between of him pushed supplements and Utah’s large supplement industry.
“The implication was that we need to take vitamins to live longer so we could see all the marvelous changes he would be making.”
I took the implication to be a metaphor, not about literally taking vitamins at all, and that members should be spiritually healthy and ready to accept changes in policy and procedure. It didn’t seem like most people had hard time accepting two hour church, though. Lol.
Bishop Bill,
No, you weren’t too subtle. It took me a lot longer to wake up today than I realized and reading your post was one of the first things I did (I always look forward to them Sunday morning whether or not I agree with them). I can’t argue with fruits and vegetables nor an opportunity to emphasize a do, but just wanted to point out that although not all vitamin supplements are created equally, they don’t always seem that bad if used properly and some can probably be very beneficial. Because of that, I also felt I could look past the irony of Utah’s supplement industry with President Nelson’s background and enjoy his comment for what it was.
On the topic of real vitamins and absorption, Eli talks about complimentary minerals and conflicting studies… There may also be conflicting minerals, such as calcium and iron.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21462112/
So calcium supplements (typically to promote bone strength) seem to inhibit iron absorption. But women are frequently at risk for both osteoporosis and anemia, which requires both, suggesting supplements should be timed so as not to interfere with each other, perhaps. And iron supplements are not nearly as effective as … Wait for it… Red meat. But red meat is almost universally panned by people who get their nutrition advice from popular media. And yes, there are probably conflicting studies on the subject.
I guess I’m saying that nutrition is complicated, and there is no one size fits all answer.
Right-on, Toad: amend or scrap it. Prohibitions re: tobacco & alcohol have been historically useful but the rest is either completely and I mean COMPLETELY ignored (meat infrequently & in moderation) or makes no sense (our de-facto substitution of Diet Coke for coffee/tea, both of which are health-positive). Over the decades the Brethren have felt free to monkey around w/ this SCRIPTURE – for instance enforcing selectively re: TR interview. This is poor practice to say the least. Pres Nelson, w/ a strong background in health science & open conduit to the Almighty, is the man.
Toad, you said “On the other hand he seems to understand the value of teaching correct principles and letting us fill in the details.” Well, a great opportunity to do that would have been a few months ago when instead the Church chose to release a statement that called the WoW a “healthcode”, which is of course ridiculous. The statement then went to the trouble to enlighten us about the evils of green tea. So no, I don’t really see President Nelson teaching us correct principles and letting us govern ourselves.
Not holding my breath, either, Josh, but I guess we’ll see. Hope springs eternal.
Registered Dietitian here.
Ideally, the key to a healthy diet is moderation and variety.
If one’s diet is limited in variety, then a multi-vitamin might be considered.
But it is better for people to take a single dose multi-vitamin pill than taking multiple individual supplements. The single multi-vitamin typically isn’t going to have excessive amounts of any particular vitamin, whereas single vitamin supplements often do contain excessive levels which can interfere with other nutrients—or in the case of water soluble vitamins will just end up in one’s urine.
Look at the label and see how much of the daily value the supplement contains for each nutrient.
I just took it that we’d have to have lots of energy to keep up. I look forward to the excitement.
Geoff is right about needing “lots of energy to keep up.” But for me, most of the changes have been a big yawn. Maybe, the coronavirus will require real change. Lois is absolutely right about about vitamins. Skip the vitamin fads.