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.