Naturopath Erin O’Hara on the risks of taking supplements – The Little Things

Naturopath Erin O'Hara has spent 20 years in the health and wellbeing space. Photo / Supplied

Supplements can be helpful to treat deficiencies short term but they don’t compensate for a bad diet, according to naturopath Erin O’Hara.

Holding a Bachelor of Science in physiology and a Bachelor of Natural Medicine, O’Hara has spent 20 years in the health and wellbeing space.

Joining Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey on the latest episode of the Herald’s health and wellbeing podcast The Little Things, O’Hara says we shouldn’t expect too much from multivitamins.

“I think people are quick to grab them off the shelf and be like, it’s my insurance policy for keeping myself healthy.”

Evidence on multivitamin use is mixed, with long-term research showing little difference between those who take multivitamins and those taking placebos.

Instead of relying on a one-size-fits-all solution, O’Hara suggests supplement use should be based on diet quality, health status and specific deficiencies.

“The question I would usually ask someone is, why are you wanting to take supplements? Are you looking at some sort of symptoms that you’ve got? Or do you have a medical condition you’re wanting some extra support with?”

She adds that taking supplements could put extra pressure on our liver and kidneys, which are responsible for processing and clearing them from our bodies.

O’Hara recommends getting basic testing on blood, liver and kidneys to see if there are deficiencies that need addressing, then looking at potential changes to diet and lifestyle before reaching for supplements.

Wasting money on something you don’t need and increasing the pressure on your organs aren’t the only risks of taking supplements unnecessarily.

O’Hara says it’s also important to know the effects of the interactions between different supplements you might be taking. This also applies to interactions between supplements and medications.

“Are [supplements] going to be helping the medications work better or are they actually going to be doing more harm than good, and maybe making the medication not even work? Which is not something you want to be doing if you’ve got a chronic health condition.”

While O’Hara has concerns about the needless use of supplements, she believes there is a place for them if required.

“Supplements should be something to create change in the body to bring you back to optimal health, rather than having a supplement plan... that you take for the rest of your life to stay healthy.”

Elsewhere in the episode, O’Hara talks about quality and labelling issues associated with supplements, what she believes to be outdated regulation in New Zealand, and her views on specific supplements including protein powders, collagen and electrolytes.

Listen to the full episode of The Little Things for more

The Little Things is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The series is hosted by broadcaster Francesca Rudkin and health researcher Louise Ayrey. New episodes are available every Saturday.