Vitamins, Essential Oils, and Supplements

Vitamins are essential compounds that help regulate many bodily processes. Aside from vitamins D and K, which the body can produce small amounts of on its own, vitamins must be obtained through the diet. Vitamins A, D, E, and K can be stored for the long-term. These vitamins help with different processes in the body. For instance, vitamin A is important for color vision and helps strengthen bones, vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. Instead of being stored, vitamin C and B vitamins are circulated through the body for use before being disposed of through the excretory system. Vitamin C helps prevent scurvy and also boosts cardiovascular health and immune function. Many of the B vitamins are necessary for healthy carbohydrate metabolism and vitamin B₁₂ enables red blood cell formation.

Clearly vitamins play an important role in a healthy lifestyle, and it is therefore important to obtain the recommended dietary allowances (RDA) of them through the diet. However, vitamins alone will not make you immune to all diseases. For instance, it is commonly believed that vitamin C can help prevent or cure the common cold but it plays no role in preventing the virus. Similarly, many vitamins and minerals have been suggested to prevent COVID-19 despite a lack of evidence to back these claims up. Adequate intake of all the vitamins are essential for health, but will not make you impermeable against diseases like cancer and the flu.

Supplements and essential oils are very popular today, and seem to induce a similar feeling of invincibility in users. The issue with supplements is that vitamins and minerals are simply more effective when obtained naturally from food. In food, vitamins are often packaged with many other nutrients such as antioxidants that would not be found in a multivitamin. Additionally, many consumers are likely taking supplements for vitamins they already obtain adequate amounts of from their diet. For instance, one can obtain 100% of the RDA for vitamin C from less than half of a red bell pepper and nearly 100% from a single orange. Yet, based on the number of Amazon reviews for the “Emergen-C” supplement, consumers seem to believe that either they are not getting enough vitamin C, or that taking 1000 mg will make them especially resistant to sickness. Yet, even assuming the unlikely case someone doesn’t receive any vitamin C from their diet, 90% of the supplement will pass right through and be removed in the urine since the body cannot store this vitamin. Essential oils are another popular supplement that supposedly relieve headaches, inflammation and stress. However, there is simply a lack of research on humans that supports these health claims.