Susan Carmack wrote:
> Hi Paleoish Eaters.
>
> Since supplements was brought up, I thought I would mention Judith 
> DeCava's book, The Real Truth About Vitamins and Antioxidants.
> She warns against synthetic vitamins:
>
> Synthetic Vitamin A can cause calcium deposits in soft tissues, 
> insomnia, liver damage, cancer and birth defects.
> Synthetic Vitamin D can cause calcium imbalance.
> Sytnthetic E complications include high blood pressure, clots, sore 
> breasts and severe fatigue.
> Synthetic B vitamins can cause symptoms of pellagra, a deficiency of 
> B3 and side effects including nervousness, convulsions, headaches, 
> water retention and heart irregularities.
> B3 or Niacin's side effects include diarrhea, headaches, skin 
> problems, high blood sugar, insomnia and liver damage.
> B6 can be toxic to the nervous system.
>
> All these are added to fabricated foods and infant formula.
> I found this book review in the Summer 1996 edition of the Price 
> Pottenger Nutrition Foundation.
All of the listed symptoms can be caused by the natural forms of the 
vitamins, although in some cases it is difficult if not impossible to 
get enough of the vitamin from whole foods to cause the problem.

Supplementing is rather like baking. It is possible to add too much of 
something or too little of something and muck the whole thing up. 
Proportion is really the key.

It is likely that paleo people were deficient in things some of the time 
and got too much of things other times. Our bodies evolved to handle 
these natural fluctuations pretty well. It is sustained excess or 
sustained deficiency that causes problems. This is one of the reasons 
that I advocate cycling both foods and supplements (If needed). Some 
people like a seasonal cycle. I prefer just to buy different food each 
week without paying particular attention to the season. The food I buy 
is usually all paleo, but I, for instance, buy different kinds of fruit 
or veggies each time and different cuts of meat or meat from different 
animals.