Are vitamins a waste of money?

[bama20]

try them for about a month and see if you can tell a difference in the way that you feel. but, during that month, try to do the same thing you did while taking and not taking the vitamins. that is the best way to see if they will make a difference in your body.

[asha]

Originally Posted by cercis

You should look to vegetable sources of calcium. Your body absorbs it better than dairy calcium.

this is 100% incorrect. The oxalates and phytates in vegetables bind the calcium and make it very poorly absorbed. Dairy calcium is extremely well absorbed because of the phosphate and other minerals in it that aid absorption. I think its really impt not to give uninformed medical advice on the internet.

Vitamins are important if there is a deficiency. Iron is a mineral but impt to replace if a deficiency but excess iron can mediate free-radical oxidative damage and be bad for you. The jury is out on whether big doses of vitamins are good for you but it seems not.
I take them anyway because of the anti-oxidant effect, more than anything.

[Broken Arrow]

My personal anecdotal experience has been that taking them indeed gives me an energy boost. This is especially true when my recent food intake has been poor. That's when I do take one as a supplement. I think that averages out to about 2 or 3 times a week.

[shengmei]

You can always get a pill splitter and cut them in half. You don't need a whole vitamin a day. Half would be sufficient.

Also, check your local health food store. Many of them have baskets of free samples. My hubby gets mad at me because I always get one of everything everytime I go there. LOL.

[tgavin71]

I too notice a difference if I forget my multi-vitamin. May be just the placebo effect I don't know. I buy mine at Aldi for $3.50. The kids I buy for $13. Aldi doesn't have kids vitamins.
My daughter doesn't eat vegies and hardly any fruit. So they are good for her.

[Roupey03]

I have always been told by my doctors to take a multi-vitamin. So if spending the extra money on a vitamin will help me with my health even if it is something small I am all for it.

Well, first of all i had asthmatic bronchitis in jan. and was on antibuiotics, anti inflammitories, and an inhaler, and that pretty much took care of it.
I have been having alot of coughing and my throat is very irriated. It doesn't feel like a sore throat it is just irreated.
I have a dog that sleeps in my bed and I am around 2nd hand smoke alot and my mom told me that it runs in our family.
The other day I have a coughing attack and I coughed so hard I could not breath and I blacked out and fell to the floor.
When I came to I did not remember what happened. It really scared me and I am not for sure what to do. Has anyone ever passed out from an asthma.
I was wondering if maybe i have allergies?
What is the pill from asthma? And where to buy online?

[rizzmo]

Vitamins are a waste of money! I have been unable to find any non-bias, properly conducted studies that have shown that a healthy person benefits at all from taking vitamins ... there are actually a few studies that show, inconclusively, taking vitamins may undermine health. The only people who stand to benefit from vitamins are people who have a medical condition that either blocks absorption or depletes their body of specific vitamins and minerals. The only other exception, maybe a person suffering from bad nutritional habits (think very unbalanced diet) or malnutrition, but even then vitamins will only increase health to the point of being at the same level of health they would be at had they eaten a balanced diet in the first place. I have a few friends who believe taking vitamins increases their immune system, wards off illness, and makes them some how better, health wise, than other people. In reality it seems to add between $15 - $100 to their monthly bills. Also, vitamins and supplements are the hot new product pushed by many of the MLM scams, err I mean legitimate companies.

[webcontacts00]

Not all vitamins work. And not all are good. But I have seen iron supplement working. I have also seen Zinc supplement increasing immune power of the body. Husband had wart. Nothing helped. Many treatments. Finally he took zinc supplement for a month and wart it gone. Before he took he tried all sorts of treatment for almost 5 years. It kept on coming back.

[Johansen8]

Originally Posted by abowers

I don't think so. I've had low iron before (I found this out while donating blood) Just adding a once - a - day women's vitamin (including iron), in addition to the iron I already get from food, has helped me to maintain higher iron levels.

Not to mention I have no desire for osteoperosis, so I drink lots of milk and the multi vitamin also gives me more calcium.

Precisely! ferrous sulfate has been helpful in improving my iron count and I am looking and feeling better now I heard iron and vitamin c should go together though

[cschin4]

Many of these supplement companies are NOT regulated. How do you even know what is in much of this stuff? Could be rat poison for all we know. We now see that China and many other countries and unscrupulous manufacturerers are not below putting anything and everything into this stuff just to make a buck. So, I for one am not going to take any supplements or spend on them. I can see taking a multivitamin made by a reputable company. But, I have friends that take all kinds of expensive shakes, supplements, etc. They are not any healthier than we are who don't.

[mnpqrd]

Ten years ago I took vitamins for about 5 months then stopped and didn't notice a difference. Since then I didn't take any at all. I try to eat healthy food and stay active. I rarely get sick, even when season changes I rarely get cold and I don't get flu shot either.

[Echoguy]

Are vitamins a waste of money?

1. You are what you eat. Recent studies at Rutgers University have shown mineral deficient vegetables which were selected randomly from your market shelves. As compared to the beginning of the last century, the nutrients or minerals found in today's vegetables are considerably reduced, even organics. ww.becomehealthynow.com/article/dietgood/318/ (You'll need to add another w to this link when you copy & paste it into your search bar as they wouldn't allow me to post links.) This study shows you'd have to eat massive quantities of vegetables to get the nutrients you used to get at the beginning of last century. It turns out that after you grow crops on the same ground for 80+ years, the ground becomes trace mineral deficient. Depleted soil used to mean you couldn't grow on it anymore; but with nitrogen fertilizers, we've been able to grow beautiful looking vegetables on the outside but nutritionally depleted on the inside. The Federal Government finally recognized that the average American adult needs to consume 5000 healthy calories/day to get the adequate nutrition needed.

To answer the question: "Are vitamins a waste of money?":

2. Only if: they don't contain what they say they contain. The FDA closely monitors pharmaceuticals (medications) to make sure that their contents are EXACTLY what is in the pill. Vitamins are, on the other hand, considered by the FDA to be food and therefore what is in the pill must be on the label but what is on the label does not need to be in the pill.

3. Only if: they don't dissolve in water. Pharmaceuticals are closely monitored by the FDA and must dissolve within 15 minutes or less in water. Your common Advil and Tylenol dissolve in less than 5 minutes. This insures that the ingredients are available to the small intestine and colon quickly. My old vitamins didn't dissolve after 72 hours!! I was mad!! This is easy enough to test-- just place your multi vitamin in water and set it on the counter. If it doesn't dissolve within 20 minutes you may consider chewing it.

4. Only if: it's not bio-available or efficacious (effective). Pharmaceutical companies are required to undergo randomized double blind studies in human trials which test the effectiveness of the ingredients. Few vitamin companies offer randomized double-blind human trials. These multivitamins can be classified as nutraceuticals. Many thousands of randomized, double-blind studies have been performed by universities and teaching hospitals proving the effectiveness of vitamins. Check out this independent study done at UC Berkeley: ww.angieupnorth.wordpress.com/2007/10/27/uc-berkeley-landmark-study-published-cnn-and-others-to-air/ (You'll need to add another w to this link when you copy & paste it into your search bar as they wouldn't allow me to post links.)

Clearly vitamins are NOT a waste of money if they are quality vitamins.
Hope this is helpful; great question.

[DebbieL]

Originally Posted by marla

I've always taken my daily vitamins, but I have a friend that says that there is no proof that vitamins help. Am I just wasting money buying them?

For me they are a waste of money. I've never bought into the whole vitamin thing. I eat a balanced diet with lots of fruit/veggies and I'm as healthy as a horse. I very rarely even get a cold (I had one this winter, but before that it had been years). I haven't taken vitamins since I was a kid (I'm 38 now).

I suggest a well balanced diet. If you have poor eating habits, or your doctor has suggested them for another reason, then of course vitamins are better than being deficient. I just always prefer to get my nutrients from the source.

[myrdale]

Originally Posted by marla

I've always taken my daily vitamins, but I have a friend that says that there is no proof that vitamins help. Am I just wasting money buying them?

Well it depends. How many are you taking?

I watched my cousin take her "daily vitamins" a couple months ago. She takes 6 separate pills. That is a waste IMHO!

I take a single multi vitamin. One A Day Active. It has pretty much any and everything wrapped up in a single pill.

Additionally, I personally would spend the extra $2 for the named brand verses a knock off.

[deadgoon]

If your doctor recommends that you take vitamins, you probably should. Otherwise you get all you need from your food unless you're eating nothing but ice cream or Cheetos all day.

[cschin4]

I don't take vitamins. I hate to take pills of any kind. And, with all the stuff coming from overseas, who even knows what is really in those pills you are taking?

[Aleta]

There is no way that we can receive the vitamins and minerals from our foods because of the way our food is grown. The only way to make sure you're getting what you need is by taking a supplement.

I have gone off of vitamins for a while and eventually felt the difference. Too many doctors take multiple vitamins for me to be concerned about them not being important.

I do worry about where they are coming from and espeicially the Vitamini C. If taken properly they can be a big boost to your health.

[boosami]

I grew up taking a multivitamin every day. These days, I still take a brand-name multivitamin each morning. I occasionally forget to take a supply with me when I travel, so I'll miss several days or a week. However, I have never noticed any difference when I take it versus when I don't take it.

In general, I think the people who could benefit from vitamins are the ones who don't get an opportunity to take them. Extremely poor and malnurished families are not going to think of taking multivitamins, for example.

If you eat a mostly balanced diet and a sufficient amount of food, you don't need to take a multivitamin. If you are undereating, skipping meals, or eating junk all the time, taking a multivitamin might fill in some of those gaps.

Why do I take them? They aren't doing me any harm, so I take them just in case they could help. Even if you piss 99% of it out, you are still getting something out of it. It also costs pennies a day, so it's not expensive.

[boosami]

Where's DS on this post? It'd be interesting to hear a physician's perspective.