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Please Understand That Vitamin Supplements Are Generally Not Good For Anything But Making Money

Here is a thing you might not have known: bombing your body with antioxidants is almost certainly not good. This is not the dominant narrative in the year 2012; “good source of antioxidants” is a food/nutrition industry mantra. Superfoods, innit. Free radicals are the root of all your body’s evil and by flooding yourself with purifying antioxidants, you can cure all that will ever ail you. It will be great and taste great and maybe you’ll even have better sex. This has been the plot for as long as I can remember (I’m 31). I don’t recall once hearing in any sort of popular media anything all that much more nuanced, let alone suggesting that it might be altogether wrong. No matter that good science…

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 Surprise! Most of Your Vitamin Supplements Do Nothing

Yep, that’s right. The most common vitamin supplements have been shown to do nothing for reducing cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart attack, or just generally prolonging life.

 Vitamins & Supplements Linked to Higher Death Risk? This New Study Has Us All Scratching Our Heads

Shocking, right, considering that vitamins are supposed to make you healthier. Here's what the researcher had to say: "Most supplements contain high amounts of specific compounds, and high doses could be toxic," explained the lead researcher. "If you combine several supplements, or a multivitamin with supplements, then you reach even higher potentially toxic doses." The takeaway here is that vitamins are not harmless. They can be harmful if not taken carefully. And since we're in an age of rampant self-medicating with supplements, we have to be even more careful about telling our doctors what pills we're popping in the name of health.

Articles of Interest

Can vitamin supplements do more harm than good?

Are we wasting our money on vitamin supplements as a result of misleading consumer information?

Kids’ vitamin gummies: unhealthy, poorly regulated and exploitative

In our opinion, these products are unhealthy and exploitative. Their high sugar content may appeal to young children, but they’re not a good introduction to a healthy diet.

New vitamin supplement study finds they may do more harm than good

Taking supplements is very different from eating whole foods. Complications or health problems due to nutrient intakes are virtually always due to taking supplements, not eating foods. When you concentrate on one vitamin, mineral or nutrient in a supplement, you miss out on the other phytonutrients found in plant foods that contribute to overall health.

Take Vitamin Supplements with Caution: Some May Actually Cause Harm

Advice on vitamin and mineral supplementation is constantly changing. Over the past few years, well-conducted research has found that some supplements previously thought to be beneficial for disease prevention may not be helping — and some may actually be causing harm. This research includes the Iowa Women's Health Study, which tracked the supplementation habits of more than 38,000 women 55 and older for nearly 20 years. Among the findings, taking a multivitamin appeared to increase risk of premature death. Interestingly, the people who took multivitamins actually had better overall health habits than those that didn't.

Taking vitamin D is unlikely to prevent falls or fractures. Here's what it does

Vitamin D and calcium supplements offer no "net benefit" for the prevention of falls or fractures in older adults, according to a draft recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of experts who reviewed all of the existing scientific evidence on the supplements.

Vitamin D, Miracle Drug: Is It Science, or Just Talk?

Imagine a treatment that could build bones, strengthen the immune system and lower the risks of illnesses like diabetes, heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure and cancer. Some research suggests that such a wonder treatment already exists. It’s vitamin D, a nutrient that the body makes from sunlight and that is also found in fish and fortified milk. Yet despite the health potential of vitamin D, as many as half of all adults and children are said to have less than optimum levels and as many as 10 percent of children are highly deficient, according to a 2008 report in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Vitamin Pills: A False Hope?

Ever since the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Linus Pauling first promoted “megadoses” of essential nutrients 40 years ago, Americans have been devoted to their vitamins. Today about half of all adults use some form of dietary supplement, at a cost of $23 billion a year. But are vitamins worth it? In the past few years, several high-quality studies have failed to show that extra vitamins, at least in pill form, help prevent chronic disease or prolong life.

Vitamin Pills: A False Hope?

Ever since the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Linus Pauling first promoted “megadoses” of essential nutrients 40 years ago, Americans have been devoted to their vitamins. Today about half of all adults use some form of dietary supplement, at a cost of $23 billion a year. But are vitamins worth it? In the past few years, several high-quality studies have failed to show that extra vitamins, at least in pill form, help prevent chronic disease or prolong life.

Vitamins: Friend or Foe?

The truth to vitamin supplements. I don't know about you, but I grew up in a vitamin-happy household. My mom used to lovingly arrange a tiny army of pills next to our orange juice glasses on school mornings: the chalky white circles were vitamin C; the weird little bubbles contained vitamins E, A and D; and the uncomfortably large, speckled tablets were multivitamins. And to give my mom credit, I've always had very good health. But is it just a coincidence?

What the Science Says About the Health Benefits of Vitamins and Supplements

“The popular belief is that a supplement is going to be helpful for promoting health,” says Fang Fang Zhang, a professor at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She has found that people who use supplements more frequently are also more likely to have a higher level of education and income, a healthier lifestyle, and a greater likelihood to eat a healthy diet and exercise. “So those who are taking supplements are more health-conscious overall,” she says. But if you’re already healthy, most supplements may not do much to improve your health or stave off death. “There’s no clear evidence to suggest benefits of dietary supplement use for many popular or common health outcomes,” says Zhang.

What the Science Says About the Health Benefits of Vitamins and Supplements

“The popular belief is that a supplement is going to be helpful for promoting health,” says Fang Fang Zhang, a professor at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She has found that people who use supplements more frequently are also more likely to have a higher level of education and income, a healthier lifestyle, and a greater likelihood to eat a healthy diet and exercise. “So those who are taking supplements are more health-conscious overall,” she says. But if you’re already healthy, most supplements may not do much to improve your health or stave off death. “There’s no clear evidence to suggest benefits of dietary supplement use for many popular or common health outcomes,” says Zhang.

Who’s checking if your vitamins and supplements are safe?

Alice arrived in Wonderland and promptly downed a vial that said “drink me,” and we can probably all agree she was being a bit of an idiot. Magical land or not, she’s a child, she has no idea where that conveniently placed tube came from, and come on—“drink me”? That’s in the textbook definition of “gullible.” But if we’re being honest, is taking a supplement you bought at the drug store any smarter?