Senior expert frowns on dietary supplements

Senior expert frowns on dietary supplements

By Aloysius Unditu

JAKARTA (JP): Dietary supplements are very popular with
Indonesians who can afford to buy what they believe will help
them stay young to better enjoy their worldly goods.

Experts are alarmed by the public's lack of knowledge about
nutrition, and concerned about the motives of manufacturers who
aggressively promote their food supplement products.

They argue that consumers should seek information on the
advantages and disadvantages of products before they buy them.

Manufacturers claim that their dietary supplements make people
more energetic and slow down the dreaded aging process.

Critics say that the wealthy are spending far too much money
on food supplements which are "unnecessary" because the
substances they contain can be obtained in an intelligently
organized daily diet.

Ascobat Gani, Dean of University of Indonesia's School of
Public Health, shares his views on the issue in an interview with
The Jakarta Post.

Question: Can you explain what exactly dietary supplements
do?

Answer: Generally speaking, the human body needs dietary
supplements. Some dietary supplements do not stay long in our
body so we should consume them more frequently, albeit in a very
limited quantity. We can take food supplements which contain
vitamins C and B more frequently than some others because they do
not stay long in our bodies. They are released through our urine.

But supplements containing vitamins A and, or E, for example,
are not good for our health because they can accumulate longer in
the body's fat.

Basically, dietary supplements are not beneficial to our
health if they are taken too often.

Q: Are you saying that dietary supplements are unnecessary?

A: We do not really need them. But we see many popular articles
in newspapers and magazines saying that dietary supplements are
good for people because they're able to boost their endurance,
make them look much more attractive and so on. And some papers
even claim that they can slow the aging process.

Such publications are only useful to middle- and high-income
earners who are more concerned about their health.

Q: Why are more and more people taking food supplements?

A: Right, it's a trend. Producers know it and they grab it as a
business opportunity. Actually we do not need to consume dietary
supplements because our daily food already contains all the
substances that are provided by food supplements. It is enough
for us to have a balanced daily diet.

But in some cases, like when a pregnant woman experiences
bleeding for instance, a dietary supplement is needed, in this
case one which contains iron.

Our daily food already contains the calories, proteins, fats
and vitamins needed by our body.

I think it is a waste of money when middle- and high-income
earning Indonesians buy these products.

Q: They are expensive, aren't they?

A: Yes. You can imagine how much money is spent each month on
them. Each pill costs more than Rp 1,000. Suppose someone takes
one tablet a day. It means that they have to spend at least Rp
30,000 a month. That, to some extent, is a waste of money.

Q: What has happened to our society?

A: You know that people have their own lifestyles. They think
that consuming dietary supplements shows that they are upper
class. With the number of wealthy Indonesians growing it is
becoming a trend. It is indeed a pity.

And for a country like Indonesia, it is also a great loss
because so many people still live in absolute poverty.

Q: Will things get worse now with the monetary crisis?

A: Even before the monetary crisis bit, spending on health had
increased to 18 percent per year. This expenditure has been
increasing because Indonesians has not realized it is important
to prevent illness rather than wait until it is too late.

If we take a curative rather than a preventative approach we
will spend more on health. The U.S. government, for example,
allocates about 12 percent of its gross national product to
health care programs. Americans are not as healthy as the Swedish
or the Japanese.

Indonesia has to spend more money every year on health.

Q: Do you thing the preventive approach should be promoted during
the current economic crisis?

A: Precisely. The government should allocate more funds to
preventive programs. I mean the government should not scrap
subsidies for preventive and promotional programs like the family
health care and immunization program, no matter how expensive
these program are.

Q: Staying healthy sounds complicated...

A: No. It is very easy. Actually our daily diet provides all the
substances offered in dietary supplements. What is important is
how we balance carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins.

Rice contains protein. If we cannot afford to buy fish and
meat, don't worry because the cheaper soybeans contain proteins
too. Soybeans provide fat needed by the body. While vegetables
contain the vitamins and minerals needed.

You know living healthy is so easy that people many people
don't know they are doing it.

Q: Is there something wrong with our society then?

A: Exactly. There is a growing trend of consumerism among the
middle- and upper-income groups in Indonesia. They no longer
think about satisfying their basic needs and they are after
prestige and foreign brand names.

Q: You mean our society overly glorifies foreign brand names?

A: Well, no, but what the upper-income earners need is self-
actualization. Having dinner or lunch in a cozy cafe is one way
of doing it and so is consuming global products.

Q: Do you think it has gone beyond being just a health problem?

A: Yes, and businesspeople will turn this social trend into a
huge business opportunity.

Q: What needs to be addressed now?

A: If the media can educate the people properly they (the people)
might be able to live a healthy life without consuming too many
dietary supplements.

You know that newspapers have the power to influence the
public. So those who control information can influence people's
lifestyles.

Q: Can you suggest any other mechanism for doing this?

A: Maybe the government should create a code of ethics to prevent
businesspeople from promoting their products too bombastically,
so as not to harm the public. A code of ethics is needed to
protect consumers from over-the-top promotional gimmicks.