Do vitamins work? Do mineral supplements work? Learn 5 key truths today
Do vitamins work? Can taking vitamin supplements have real health benefits? What about minerals, do mineral supplements work? We’ll examine these important health questions today.
Do vitamins work? Do mineral supplements work? These are simple questions that nobody seems able to answer definitively. I’ll throw speculative conclusion into the ring by saying this, gun to the head answer yes or no only, the answer is no. Unfortunately that answer given under duress would only be the best fit answer to a very complex question. It would seem the answer to whether vitamin and mineral supplements work has to be asked for every single vitamin and mineral individually.
Then it needs to be asked again for each personal condition that individuals have. If we quickly do the math on this, it means that out of a population of 8-billion, we need to ask this question 8-billion times, multiplied by each vitamin and mineral. And this is why the answer we hear time and time again is something like “well it depends”. Well it depends is hardly convincing or satisfying, but it’s also the truth about the science and the efficacy of most nutritional supplements.
Over 90,000 nutritional supplements are on the market in the United States.
The truth about vitamin supplements, ZOE
Megadosing Risks
Studies are showing risks associated with megadosing. The trend of nutritional supplements being made available in doses far larger than recommended daily values has become more common in the market over the past 10-years.
Consumers who view supplementation as a quick and easy fix for their various health ailments tend to view megadoses as “more of a good thing” with little or no risks. Researchers are warning that these substances are not inert. There are significant risks associated with many megadoses of vitamins and minerals.
Where is the scientific proof to answer the question do vitamins work?
The unfortunate reality is that for most vitamins the answer is there is no scientific proof that answer the question do vitamins work. Most just don’t work at all. For many, vitamin supplements simply do what the old joke says, they help your body to make expensive urine.
According to an article posted by Penn Medicine, “…most studies suggest that multivitamins won’t make you live longer, slow cognitive decline or lower your chances of disease, such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes”. Now that alone doesn’t entirely answer the question do vitamins work. Maybe your daily dose of vitamins is having some other health impact that is positive?
One truth above all stands out however. Nothing is better than eating a nutritious diet that includes a wide variety of dense nutrients in their original, natural form. No supplement, no pill can possibly be as effective, or as safe. Safety has grown to be a major concern for health professionals that examine the impact of vitamins on human health. We’ve seen through systematic testing of vitamins that many common brands have doses that are completely different from what is advertised on the package.
What should we eat instead of asking do vitamins work?
One thing we know for sure, is that vitamins do work, when they come packaged in their natural format. Possible reasons that vitamins from whole foods work whole vitamin supplement often do not includes:
- How our digestion is better able to assimilate nutrients when they are bundled in their natural state.
- The role of fibre in slowing down digestion and better enabling assimilation of vitamins.
- The wider variety and varied doses of natural vitamins contained in whole foods.
According to most sources, the total number of vitamins and minerals that the body needs regularly number around 30. There are more of course the list can grow larger if we include certain trace minerals, but if we’re able to obtain these 30 key nutrients regularly from our diets, we’ll be in a good position to avoid any serious deficiencies and also in a good position for the body to manage all it’s repair functions.
Test your knowledge of vitamins
Would you like to test out your knowledge of vitamins? Take our free Vitamin A test to discover how well you understand the very first vitamin on the alphabetical list.
So do vitamins work? 5 key truths
- Vitamin supplements will never work as well as eating whole foods that contain a wealth of vitamins and minerals in their natural form.
- Vitamin supplements come with risks including taking the wrong dose due to manufacturing errors.
- Megadosing is a dangerous trend where people are taking many times the recommended doses of a particular vitamin or mineral because of a perceived health benefit.
- People who eat a nutrient dense diet will almost never face any significant vitamin or mineral deficiencies due to the spectrum and diversity of nutrients contained in whole foods.
- Most people who are eating even moderately nutritious diets do not suffer any significant deficiencies that would be helped by a vitamin or mineral supplement.
SOURCES
The truth about vitamin supplements | Professor JoAnn Mason and Dr Sarah Berry – YouTube
