Should You Take a Daily Complete Multivitamin?

Daily Complete Multivitamins Are a Significant Part of the Nutritional Supplement Industry, but Do These "Health Products" Really Offer Us Any Benefits?

"Take your vitamins!" It's a mantra we've heard since childhood, and undoubtedly some of the fuel behind the rapid growth of the nutritional supplement industry. Multivitamins alone are a four billion-dollar-a-year business. Recently, much of the dietary health product buzz has focused on
 the nutritional supplement of choice for children and adults alike: daily complete multivitamins. Multivitamin brands like Centrum tout not only the benefits of multivitamin supplements, but how scientifically advanced their products are. But nutritionists and scientists don't understand nearly as much about vitamin supplements as the makers of Centrum, One-A-Day, and other daily complete multivitamins would have you believe. Nor do they want you to know that, as we learn more about how the body absorbs and uses vitamins, evidence increasingly points to daily complete multivitamins being, for most people, merely a waste of money.

Before deciding to supplement your diet with a daily complete multivitamin regimen, there are three areas of multivitamin information to consider. The first pertains to whom specifically multivitamin supplements are a benefit, according to the latest research; the second, that there are little-understood differences between manufactured multivitamin supplements and natural vitamins that may be significant; the third, that taking medically-unsupervised daily complete multivitamins does carry some risks.

- Evidence suggests that most people don't benefit from daily complete multivitamins.

A bombshell in multivitamin supplement news has been the recent findings of a few studies--namely, that people taking a daily complete multivitamin as a nutritional supplement are no healthier than those who don't take one, nor do they live longer. This is particularly notable considering that even though daily complete multivitamin consumption has steadily risen in the U.S., so have the rates of all major diseases.

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Like anything guys use them in moderation personaly i only use them after a particularly heavy drinking session of after a vigarous gym session and also on a 5 days of every 30 cycle.

Posted on 03/25/2009 at 7:03:35 AM

Here is a reference to the NIH stand on Multivitamin use. The final conclusion was that there was insufficient evidence to recommend for or against take multivitamins. http://consensus.nih.gov/2006/2006MultivitaminMineralSOS028Statementhtml.htm

Posted on 11/12/2008 at 8:11:17 AM

Wow, did any of you check this person's credentials before swallowing this article hook, line, and sinker? I suggest you check other sources before believing things you read here. Where are the sources for the "facts" in this article? What proof do you have for any of the information here? If there is such assurance that vitamin supplementation is bad for you, why are so many universities doing research on vitamins as therapy? Duke University, Johns Hopkins, and many other University hospital programs are including alternative medicine as part of their treatments. Check your facts.

Posted on 11/12/2008 at 8:11:16 AM

This is an excellent article and I 100% agree with you. It's really unbelievable how doctors and medical 'professionals' tell you to take multi vitamins, like centrun, etc.. and it should be common sense that ingesting any chemical substance even if it is labeled as a vitamin will have negative consequences. It really isnt about our health, its about the money, we have been too trusting.

Posted on 10/10/2008 at 8:10:54 AM

I'm just a natural un-healthy person. I believe all those vitamin products are forced on us via TV-ads as if we need them but in realtity we don't. Taking some fruit or eating greens is much cheaper. We seem to agree on this subject E. Great article!

Posted on 04/28/2008 at 9:04:46 PM

Great article!

Posted on 02/16/2008 at 8:02:36 AM

I can tell the difference when I take my supplements, but they're from natural sources.

Posted on 02/10/2008 at 6:02:24 AM

Wait they aren't a magic pill and I still need to eat a balanced diet? Geez next you will be tell me that I have to workout and eat less to lose weight.

Posted on 01/16/2008 at 11:01:56 PM

How dare you impugn the integrity of the medical industrial complex!

Posted on 12/15/2007 at 5:12:56 PM

I take vitamins every once in a while. When I'm sick, I'll take garlic oil pills (especially if I can feel a sickness coming on) and sometimes vitamin C. If I take any multivitamins, I probably take one of those children's tablets. It's been awhile since I've even done that.

Posted on 12/12/2007 at 9:12:21 AM

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