<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
NOTE: I am not a physician - just a celiac who has done extensive
self-study** of nutrition out of necessity. **In the scientific
literature, not just "fad" books.
IN GENERAL: Because there are probably many more toxins in our
environment today than we are evolved to handle (free radicals from
pollition, etc, etc) and detoxifying these uses up various nutrients
(antioxidants, etc.) many feel that increasing our supply of the relevant
nutrients by taking supplements is a good idea*.
SPECIFIC TO MALABSORPTION: The rate of absorption of a nutrient can depend
on many factors. Among these are: the concentration of necessary
enzymes, the total surface area of interface1 (gut epithelial membrane)
exposed to the nutrients, the total time of exposure, interactions with
other nutrients2, competition with microorganisms in the gut3, and
CONCENTRATION OF THE NUTRIENT (and other things). All other factors
being equal, increasing the concentration of the nutrient (by, for example,
taking supplements) will increase the amount absorbed (so long as there is
no point is the transport chain that is fully saturated).
In my case taking very large doses of B-complex entirely reversed severe
and long-standing B vitamin deficiencies in several days (and this was
when I was still very underweight (132 down from 164) and had only been
gluten free for several days - hardly time for the gut to regenerate!).
IMPORTANT NOTE: Most vitamins are very non-toxic. Some care must be
exercised with fat-soluable vitamins (E, A,D & K) as they may become toxic
if ingested in very large amounts for extended periods. More caution
should be exercised with minerals, some can be toxic (selenium, etc.).
Iron supplements should be treated with great respect as they 1) are
extremely toxic to small children - a small handful ingested as "candy" can
be fatal - this is one of the most common causes of fatal poisionings in
small children) 2) iron supplements are dangerous to adults with a genetic
tendency to iron overload (see previous post "warning on iron supplements"
(and celiacs can have this - I do!). Don't guess, get informed.
If you don't have time to do this yourself, consult with a qualified
nutritionist.
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* There has been some controversy about beta carotene supplements possibly
having a (very slight) adverse effect - but even this has only been shown
to apply to a very specific group of individuals (long term smokers who
take beta-carotene supplements while continuing to smoke and not eating
much food high in beta carotenes and experience a very slight increase in
lung cancer. Beta-carotene has been show to be benefical or harmless in
all other studies. The most likely explanation for this apparent
abberation seems to me to be as follows: The beta carotene is usually the
limiting factor (bottleneck) in a detoxification pathway for carcinogens in
tobacco smoke. Perhaps, as is often the case in detoxification pathways,
an intermediate product in the path is more toxic than the original toxin.
Usually this more toxic intermediate does accumulate enough to cause
problems. But if there is excess beta carotene, perhaps the next limiting
factor in the path is AFTER the toxic intermediate. Therefore the toxic
intermediate accumulates in large enough amounts to cause more problems
than the original toxin... MORAL: Don't depend on a supplemental
band-aid to solve problems generated by an unhealthy lifestyle!
1 This is one of the major problems in celiac - Since the villi are
shortened, the total surface area of membrane exposed to the nutrients is
greatly reduced.
2 (some nutrients compete with each other for absorption so that a high
concentration of one intefers with absorption of the other (Example: iron
& zinc), some nutrients assist each others absorption)
3 A microorgansim may absorb the nutrient before you do, making it
unavailable to you.
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