Professor Tim Spector, an expert in genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, said people should eat ‘real food’ instead, the Daily Mail reported.
He also advocates for a predominantly plant-based diet with minimal, if any, highly processed foods. Spector says most supplements are made in Chinese factories and studies have shown they don’t work at all.
“These supplements are run by the same company… They are going to be the new giant food company of the future,” Spector was quoted as saying.
“Their budgets are huge. They’re not these artisanal little people behind a shed in Somerset making a fantastic organic supplement. They’re all made in huge factories in China and you have no control. [over] It is – and 99 percent of them have been shown not to work
“So we pay whole mugs of that money for supplements when we should be spending it on real food,” the scientist said.
He adds that the only supplement with any benefit is B12 for vegetarians who don’t eat as much iron-rich foods as they should.
Spector said that while it is “impossible to completely eliminate all unhealthy foods,” people need to be educated on how to identify them.
Real food, he said, “can greatly increase the life expectancy of the poor and our health”. Spector also said that switching to a plant-based diet would prove beneficial for the planet, claiming that giving up meat is more effective than not driving and taking flights abroad for vacations, the report said.
