Taking Multivitamins and How Do Supplemental Vitamins Actually Work?

Hi, there if you're like me you grew up being taught that taking your vitamins was an important part of a balanced healthy life the alternative is to eat exactly the right amount of foods to supply your body with the recommended daily value of nutrients and who wants to do all that work when you can just swallow a pill or even better chew on a block of sugar shaped like your favorite cartoon character. But our supplemental vitamins actually helpful does a vitamin a day truly keep you healthy to play well first let's get a simple understanding of how vitamins work they're really just small molecules that our bodies need to carry out certain reactions, unfortunately, our bodies don't make vitamins themselves so we need to eat food that contains these important molecules sixty years ago the first multivitamin became available on the American market. Basically this is a pill that contains at least ten vitamins and ten minerals to supplement our diet now millions of adults and children devour these pills every day spending twelve billion dollars a year on them if you don't have the time to gather fresh fruit vegetables and grains every day then you're probably taking multivitamins but several recent studies have shown that there are some negative effects to be aware of when taking multivitamins. For instance, less than half the multivitamins sold in the United States and Canada actually contain what their labels say sometimes they'll have too much of a supplement like a children's vitamin that had 216 percent the amount of vitamin A listed now that my friends are just the multivitamins that are mislabeled some experts believe that we don't always gain benefits from vitamins unless they are absorbed into our body along with the other compounds found in their natural form. So maybe vitamin C doesn't really work unless you digest it with orange also supplement research is really difficult to gauge because each of us eats an incredibly broad variety of foods that could either help or hinder the absorption of vitamins not to mention that the Food and Drug Administration doesn't require these supplements to go through the same scrutiny for safety and efficacy that it does for saying medicine or drugs the more we look into it the more it seems that multivitamins have no substantial health benefits or their benefits are too small to make much of a difference. Let's look at a few examples of how this plays out starting with folic acid this is one of those supplements originally thought to protect the heart and prevent cancer now based on a 2008 study out of Harvard it turns out that too much folic acid may instead promote prostate and colorectal cancer and because food companies add it to grain products most of us already are getting our daily values worth but what about vitamin C you know the one we're supposed to take when we get sick. Well if you eat foods that are rich in vitamin C it can lower your risk of heart disease and cancer but if you simply take it in pill form it seems to have no benefits another vitamin that supposedly prevented heart disease and cancer is vitamin E but again that's only in its natural form in nuts seeds and vegetable oils where it can also strengthen the immune system as a supplement there's no evidence that vitamin E provides any of its natural benefits vitamin A. It's very similar in that it doesn't actually prevent lung cancer as it's advertised in fact large doses actually increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers now most of us are already getting plenty of vitamin A anyway in eggs whole milk dark leafy veggies and orange or yellow fruits B vitamins were originally thought to help people with Alzheimer's disease or even raise your energy levels but the trial results have been disappointing with no real evidence that it does either. But B12 is one of the vitamins that can help supplement an unbalanced diet it's good for strict vegetarians who aren't getting everything they need from animals derive food but otherwise you don't really need it unless you're pregnant or facing macular degeneration from old age finally let's look at vitamin D you know the one we get from the Sun there's still hope they can help with osteoporosis but the data is inconclusive since everyone gets different amounts of sun exposure. If you're already getting a decent amount of mid-day sun exposure and regularly consume foods like a fish eggs and fortified dairy products you probably don't need a D supplement perhaps in the future with a little forward thinking we'll be able to just pop a pill personally tailored to our nutrition but as it stands today your best bet is still just to eat a balanced diet. However, this doesn't mean you should run home and pour all your multivitamins down the toilet just do a little research on what your body needs and whether the pill you're taking is actually necessary with so much evidence stacked against vitamin supplements: Why do you think we still take them all the time?

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