Should You Be Taking Vitamins?

Taking a daily vitamin supplement could be quite enticing to the average consumer. Offering benefits such as improved digestion, increased energy, healthy skin, and even disease prevention. Although vitamin companies like to make big claims, do their products live up to their expectations?

According to the John Hopkins Medical Center consumers spend over $12 billion per year on vitamin and mineral supplements, in the United States alone. The high price tag has been justified by users due to the long list of benefits on each colorfully marked package. However, many doctors and health care professionals are skeptical of whether or not taking vitamins supplements can actually help to improve one’s health. Doubts stem from the fact that there has been very little research done to prove the claims vitamin companies make. Some also worry that if vitamins are taken too frequently they can cause symptoms such as nausea, hair loss, and mild nerve damage. Researchers at the John Hopkins Medical Center concluded that multivitamins do not reduce the risk for heart disease, cancer, or cognitive decline. They also stated that a prior study showed that vitamin E and beta-carotene supplements can actually cause harm, especially when taken in high doses. Currently there is not a sufficient amount of research done on vitamin supplement to know if they beneficial or even completely safe to use. Another issue many health care professionals have with the use of vitamin supplements is most are FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved, meaning they are not regulated to be used for medicinal purposes.

Vitamin supplements are often used as a way to get nutrients that one is not getting in their daily diet. But in reality most multivitamins contain vitamins and minerals that are not needed and end up just going through the body to be excreted in the urine. Basically meaning that vitamin users are not receiving any benefits by taking supplements daily. Many health professionals have noticed that supplement supplements are possibly more beneficial psychologically rather psychically, as stated in an article titled Vitamins don’t provide provide health benefits posted on the U.S. News. According to Marion Nestle, nutrition, food studies and public health professor at New York University “Vitamin supplements are powerful placebos,” Nestle says. “People feel better when they take supplements in the belief that taking more vitamins will improve health. Most evidence shows that they do not.” Although taking vitamin supplements may help users feel as though they are better their health in reality, they are not proven to have any benefits. 

Although most supplements won’t do too much harm the best way to get your daily dose of vitamins is by choosing to eat the right foods. Eating a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables is the best way to ensure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs to keep you going. Plus not having to spend money on expensive supplements is proven to benefit your wallet!