Do We Really Need Vitamins?

Post date: Mar 21, 2017 12:23:2 PM

Published 3/21/17

By Jack Samuels, '22

There are hundreds of vitamin and mineral supplements for sale at stores. Advertisements make it seem that we need to take them to be healthy. But do we really need them? Jack Samuels // The Chatterbox

On television, there is a fairly regular stream of vitamin and mineral supplement advertisements. These companies try to make it seem like taking their supplements will make you healthier and help kill your cold. But do these things really help you, or are they not beneficial at all?

The American Heart Association and Harvard Health Publications say that the key to being healthy in terms of what you ingest, starts with eating the right food and not taking a mass amount of supplements.

“Foods provide many bioactive compounds and dietary fiber that typically aren’t found in supplements. And some supplements don’t allow for full absorption of vitamins,” Penny Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D, said. So taking a cocktail of multivitamins and supplements may not help you.

Other scientists point out that there is no evidence that supplements are harmful. Because of this, taking the supplements cannot do anything but help you. However, since some are so expensive, the cost may beat the relatively small benefits.

It is hard to say whether the supplements on the market today are worth the money. There are very divided professionals on both sides, so until more studies come out showing the drawbacks to life on supplements versus the measurable benefits of a multivitamin, it may be best to not spend an exorbitant amount of money, and take vitamins in small quantities.