I’d be curious of the makeup of that 7%. Very poor? Homeless?
If so, then expensive vitamins probably aren’t a solution. They might work but it does not seem ideal. Give them a decent meal.
To be a Dietician in Oregon you just need a bachelor’s degree in dietetics, human nutrition, food and nutrition, or food systems management from a regionally accredited college or university.
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Was your doctor saying that there was a potential for harm, or that they were just a waste of money?
With some vitamins and minerals, too much can be harmful. How much is “too much”? Way more than you’d normally get just in your diet, or from taking a single multi-vitamin supplement, but with supplements that contain large doses of any particular nutrient, you might have to worry.
Much closer to what your doctor says than to “knowledgeable” friends who urge taking a slew of supplements and claim the medical profession wants you to be sick.
The supplement industry as a whole largely is a scam, selling massively overhyped products and plagued with bad quality control and adulteration.
Permit me to be highly dubious that anyone is being hospitalized these days with a vitamin D level of zero.
Eat a decent diet including fruit and vegetables and you’ll get plenty of vitamins, plus all the useful phytochemicals that supplements don’t contain.
This is good advice and I don’t dispute it, but a 60-day supply of fruits and vegetables is typically going to cost you way more than a bottle of 60 multivitamins, so I find the advice to avoid supplements like a basic multi because they’re such a waste of money to be a bit odd.
There really is no more research to do here. Doctors and pharmacists and other health professionals have already done the research. Extensively. I see no reason to doubt them. Unless prescribed by your doctor, there is no reason to take any supplements, even if you have a crappy fast food American diet.
You are unique, just like everybody else. Most people don’t need iron supplements, but in 2022 I donated platelets or blood and or plasma on eighteen separate occasions, so I take a cheap iron tablet along with some vitamin C to aid in absorption. I’ve only got one working eye, and my retina guy saw some drusen in the macula of the working one, so recommended some AREDS-2 (Age Related Eye Disease) supplements, but probably there’s not more than a couple percent of the population that needs them.
A lot of these supplements don’t emphasize contraindications. The AREDS-2 formula, for example, is beta carotene free, because the original formula had beta carotene in it (because beta carotene is good for your eyes, right?), and it turned out to increase lung cancer in smokers or people exposed to asbestos.
If you are peeing out some of the multivitamin you take, then you are getting all that your body can take - and then some. You may or may not have used some of what you consumed. Good chance you used some of it. We are obviously not consuming the diet our bodies had evolved for on the plains of Africa over a million years…
I don’t know why everyone is hung up on “expensive”. I take the Costco multivitamins, about 300 in a bottle which work out to about 10¢ for a pill a day. As such, it’s cheap insurance. Vitamins are chemicals - there’s nothing magical about them being “organic” or plant-based or from special tropical plants or whatever. (I love watching the commercials for the weasel-words on how effective supplements are. If some study sees even a few percent improvement, they can claim it works. If not… my favourite is “this product is clinically tested…” without having to say what the test showed.)
I take blood pressure medication, for example, and one of them can reduce potassium levels. I suppose a few bananas a day could help counter that, but taking a pill with a minor amount of potassium (along with many other vitamins and minerals) also would work. Similarly, way back when, in school, the doctor said I was suffering from mild anemia. Never got tested as an adult, but again - a supplement can’t hurt.
What can hurt, obviously, is taking too much.
My anecdotal contribution - I used to get splitting headaches, maybe once every 2 months or so. Since I started taking multivitamin at about age 35, I can’t recall ever having a headache in almost 30 years. Possibly I was deficit in something, living a bachelor life where I was just grazing at the refrigerator. YMMV.
As noted before, fruits and vegetables contain phytochemicals (and fiber) that vitamin pills don’t have. Vitamins won’t make up for a poor diet. And lots of people overdo vitamins, which can pose a risk of toxicity and even cancer.
A multivitamin a day with the suggested RDA should be no problem. But it’s not a cheap shortcut to good health.
As for taking a raft of supplements daily as was suggested to the OP - a waste of money and potential health hazard.
Indeed, there’s no question that eating a balanced diet, with plenty of fruits and vegetables, is better/healthier than taking a supplement. I just take issue with the people who seem to be saying that it’s cheaper.
I tend to follow the advice of people with an MD over that of “knowledgeable friends” - unless one happens to be an accredited, professional dietician. Which aren’t as common as they should be IMO. So if your doc OK’d those, or recommended them, go ahead but stick to whatever guidelines the doc gave you, don’t go overboard because past a certain point more is NOT better.
C and D are the two people are most likely to be deficient in when it comes to industrialized/developed nations. You can avoid C deficiency by eating fresh fruit and vegetables (which have other vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals, and, very important, fiber). Now, if for some reason you can’t get fresh fruit and vegetables, or frozen fruits and vegetables (freezing retains the vitamins, cooking degrades C), or can’t eat them, vitamin C supplements make a lot of sense. The good news is that any C you don’t need your body will dump into the urine. You really have to work at it to get enough to induce diarrhea (which is definitely a sign you need to stop supplementing that one). I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables so I see no need to spend money on something I will literally piss away. But it is cheap and easy to get, and very hard to overdose.
Vitamin D is a bit more problematic. The further north you live (or south, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere), the darker your skin, and in winter you’ll have more trouble getting enough from sunlight. If you compulsively wear high SPF sunscreen it will also prevent you from getting it from sunlight (and some people do need such sunscreens for health reasons). The end result is that some level of deficiency is not uncommon, particularly in winter. But this should be tested by an actual doctor or other qualified medical professional and if needed there should be a plan for the supplement because too much vitamin D can make you sick..
There are some very specific instances where a particular supplement is useful for a particular medical condition - but, again, this should be done via a knowledgeable, medical professional for a specific condition.
Yes, a typical multivitamin you pop daily is unlikely to hurt you (but if you have certain medical conditions it might - which is why “ask your doctor” comes up a lot in these discussions. Here is a link to a thread about the time my own doctor warned me off standard multi-vitamins). But you’d be far better off spending the money on real food, especially fruits, vegetables, and whole grains but also quality sources of protein and mineral from food. Maybe the feeling of “insurance” is important to some people and it’s no worse (and arguably better) than getting something from Starbuck’s every morning.
But your friends recommending 20-30 supplements a day? I think they are foolish (and I’m being polite in my choice of term). First, again, that money would be better spent on real food. Second, it is possible to overdose on certain vitamins and minerals.
A Too much vitamin A can make you sick, cause organ damage, or even be fatal (although that latter seems mostly associated with doing things like eating polar bear liver).
B Scroll down on this link to find the effects and interactions of B-12 when you get too much.
C Effects of too much calcium
D One more time, too much vitamin D
E Scroll down for too much vitamin E, which includes “gonadal dysfunction” and increased risk of prostate cancer
… and, honestly, I’m getting tired of googling, so let’s skip to the end:
Z Too much zinc can make you sick. Too much can also interfere with copper absorption and medication for various diseases/conditions.
The above is not to scare you, it’s to point out why simply taking bunches of supplements is not a good idea. It’s expensive, you may get too much of some things where more is NOT better, and you’d be better off spending the money on, again real food. Probably even one of those “food prep” services for folks who don’t cook/won’t cook/want someone else to do the cooking. Also, throw in some moderate exercise and avoid too much booze and/or drugs, quit smoking, etc., etc. you’ve heard it all before.
The medical industry certainly can suck the money out of your wallet. The supplement industry definitely is on the take. Want to know how to avoid either of those pitfalls?
- Eat a healthy diet composed of real foods and not fads
- Only supplement if it is medically necessary
- Get at least moderate exercise several times a week
- Avoid unhealthy habits whether that’s tobacco, alcohol, overeating, driving without using a seatbelt, etc.
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In addition to Jackmannii’s excellently correct input, here’s what the evidence-based medicine community tells the public about vitamin supplements, from UpToDate.com
Should I take vitamin supplements?
You probably do not need to take vitamin supplements if you are generally healthy and you eat a good diet. Experts recommend that most adults get their vitamins from food rather than from supplements. That’s because eating vitamin-rich foods has other benefits besides getting you the vitamins you need. Still, there are some cases in which vitamin supplements can be helpful. For example, people who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant soon should take certain supplements. There are also some groups of people who might benefit from vitamin supplements. These include:
●Adults age 65 and older – Older adults might benefit from taking 600 to 800 units of vitamin D a day. This might help strengthen bones and prevent falls.
●People with vitamin deficiencies – A vitamin deficiency is when a person does not have enough of a particular vitamin for good health. People with vitamin deficiencies often need to take vitamin supplements. If you have a vitamin deficiency, your doctor will tell you which supplements to take and at what dose. You might even need to get vitamin shots.
●People who have had weight loss surgery – People who have had weight loss surgery often can’t get all the vitamins they need from food. If you have had weight loss surgery, ask your doctor if you need supplements. They can tell you which ones are best for you.
●People who do not eat any animal products (called “vegans”) – People who do not eat meat, eggs, milk, or other foods that come from animals might sometimes need supplements. If you follow a vegan diet, ask your doctor or nurse if you should take any vitamin supplements.
Are there any vitamin supplements I should not take? Yes. Here are some vitamins supplements that can cause problems:
●Vitamin A – In places where people have good access to healthy food, such as the US and Europe, doctors recommend against taking vitamin A supplements. That’s because vitamin A supplements might increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, and bone fractures. In pregnant people, taking too much vitamin A can harm the developing baby.
●Vitamin E– Doctors recommend against taking vitamin E supplements. Studies suggest that vitamin E supplements might increase the risk of dying or developing prostate cancer.
What’s the best way to get the vitamins I need from food?
The best way is to eat a diet that includes a lot of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and not a lot of meats or fatty foods. Some vitamins are found only in food that comes from animals, such as meat or eggs. But overall, fruits and vegetables have the highest concentrations of vitamins. Fruits and vegetables also have lots of fiber and other ingredients that generally promote good health.
Out of respect for the fact that this is FQ, I’ll just offer that:
- We really don’t have a definitive factual answer on this one – an answer that applies consistently to the masses
- We really don’t have a definitive factual answer to this one – an answer that applies well to every individual
With that out of the way, IMHO, taking a “high quality” multivitamin supplement probably won’t hurt you 
I’m a little skeptical. Two months is pretty long for a hospital stay, particularly for an apparent situation in which the diagnosis is unknown. Especially since a blood test can check for vitamin D levels, and I would expect that they performed the standard blood tests upon admission (or even before admitting her as an inpatient).
Thanks everyone especially Broomstick. I just saved about $100 a month…I was already leaning towards my MD’s advice but these replies are very convincing.
All I can tell you is she was quite sick when she left and was gone for two months. When she returned she told us her vitamin D story, and I’ve been taking vitamin D ever since. I now live in a place where there is limited sunlight in the winter and it’s too cold to be outside anyway. My PCP says my vitamin D levels are right where they should be. If she made up this story to impress us it didn’t work. She never came across as someone who would lie about something like that. Believe whatever you want, it’s a free country.
Nobody is calling her a liar.
But there’s a lot missing from this story, and I have no hesitation calling bullshit on the claim that “…she had no Vitamin D in her body”.
The risk these days from hypervitaminosis D might rival those of deficiencies.
“Currently, if you search for “vitamin D” on Amazon, you’ll see a plethora of potentially dangerous high-dose options — from 2,000 IUs to 5,000 IUs per pill — before getting to anything below Sfeir’s 600 IU figure. Moseley also notes that vitamin D may exist in other supplements you already take, from beauty supplements to energy pills.”
“In one high-profile example, published last month in the medical journal BMJ Case Reports, a British man was hospitalized for eight days — just a month after beginning a regimen of 150,000 IUs of vitamin D per day.”
I’ve taken a daily multivitamin for years, with my doctor’s approval, as cheap insurance.
Then, at the blood bank they started rejecting me sometimes as a donor because my blood iron (hemocrit) level was too low for men ( >13). Puzzled, I read the label on the multivitamins and discovered that, no, it didn’t supply any iron. I checked the labels on other multivitamins. It turns out, that if they supply iron they prominently mention that fact on the label. I switched to “multivitamin with iron”, and my hemocrit’s been stellar, >14.
The lesson (for me) is that multivitamins can cover deficiencies in my diet; I just needed to watch for deficiencies in the multivitamins.
I skimmed this thread so apologize when what I say was already said.
Vitamins that your body does not use may be water soluble, in which case they make fancier urine. Or they may be fat soluble (such as vitamins A,D,E,K), meaning excess amounts are stored, and so with large amounts you can overdose.
I think a daily vitamin tablet is reasonable, but with a good diet and some sun exposure one does not need to take them. I agree they are fairly inexpensive, but this is not so when taking excessive doses of them individually. Vitamins don’t really replace whole foods. The concept of vitamins dates from the first beneficial compounds found in food during the 1920s and later. We now know healthy foods contain many important chemicals with positive effects. Coffee has perhaps a hundred helpful chemicals. Taking just one of them as a tablet deprived you of both delicious coffee and dozens of other helpful molecules.
In medical school, we learned a third of the nerves in the body supply the gastrointestinal tract. So it is not that surprising that what you eat affects your brain function (neuronutrition). We don’t know enough about this and the gut microbiome to pick the most helpful things, so better to eat colourful foods and the occasional delicious Skittle.
Supplements are a more interesting discussion. People usually take glucosamine to help with arthritis. A couple recent fairly large, fairly long studies suggest glucosamine likely reduces stroke risk and all-cause mortality. Surprise! But many studies suggest that glucosamine still does relatively little to help arthritis.