Not necessarily, but you should have an annual discussion with a trusted doctor.
A research review of nine clinical trials, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, looked at 182,000 participants and found annual checkups did not improve health and often led to harmful or unnecessary tests. In fact, having an annual checkup did not appear to reduce the risk of hospitalization or disability, referrals to a specialist, or time missed from work.
Sometimes when you’re looking for a tractor in a haystack, you find a needle. In other words, even though you’re typically being screened for “big” issues at a checkup, sometimes your doctor will find a small issue that you might then feel compelled to treat. Often, the benefits do not outweigh the negative side effects of treatment.
This is why some cancer screening tests (prostate, breast, and thyroid, for example) are more controversial now. Let me give you an example: You go to the doctor for some complaint or maybe for an annual checkup. She notices that your PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels are elevated, so she orders a biopsy. Then, she finds a small tumor in your prostate and now you’re completely stressed out and anxious.
You opt for treatment and endure significant side effects, including incontinence and erectile dysfunction. But it’s very possible that the tumor, although malignant, would never have been fatal in the first place because they don’t always grow to be life-threatening, and you would have been perfectly fine without treatment. In cases like these, the treatment is worse than the problem.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should never be tested for these cancers; screening saves lives. It just means many Americans are being overtested, which can lead to unnecessary procedures, prescriptions, and supplements. However, I am a fan of personalized risk assessment for anyone who’s concerned about cardiovascular disease (see Chapter 2), so talk with your doctor about that.
“How do I know if a supplement will help or hurt me?”
People come up to me at lectures or in the clinic all the time to tell me that they read something negative about a supplement they’re taking and are concerned but don’t want to stop using it. One of the best ways to get to the bottom of any potential issue is to stop taking the supplement and see what happens. I call this the guinea pig effect. Likewise, one of the best ways to figure out if a supplement could help a condition is to start taking it at a low dosage.
The Supplement Handbook - Mark Moyad
