The best way to consume vitamins and minerals is through a healthy, balanced diet, but it's not always easy to eat foods that include all the nutrients you need. In certain situations you and your doctor may decide to add vitamin supplements to substitute for nutrition your diet cannot provide. If you are pregnant or nursing, or have any health condition that affects your organs or immune system, it is especially important to consult your doctor before adding any supplements to your daily routine.
Types
There are numerous nutritional supplements on the market, claiming to do everything from promoting weight loss to preventing cancer. While supplements are marketed to convince you they are safe and necessary, starting a vitamin regimen is something you should always discuss with your doctor and is not advisable for everyone.
If you have dietary restrictions, like being a vegetarian, or you simply don't eat a balanced diet, your doctor may recommend vitamin supplements. Multivitamins are commonly recommended for anyone who doesn't eat a well-rounded diet, and doctors may recommend an iron supplement for a vegetarian who is not consuming iron from red meat. Women who are pregnant are typically prescribed prenatal vitamins and may also be encouraged to take vitamins while nursing. Ask your physician if she recommends that you take vitamin supplements, and if so, what type.
History
Certain foods have been revered for their nutritional value for centuries, but it is only within the last 100 years that specific vitamin molecules have been isolated and named. In the process of investigating the effects of vitamins, scientists isolate nutrients from foods that we know promote good health, like fresh vegetables, in an attempt to discover the exact reason that vegetables are good for the body. Scientists hoped that removing individual nutrients, like vitamin C from tomatoes, would make it possible to get the health benefits of eating healthy foods like vegetables even if you don't actually eat them.
The problem is, with such a short history of nutritional knowledge, it is still unclear whether vitamins are beneficial when they are removed from the foods where they naturally occur. This is especially true of compounds like omega-3 fatty acids, which have only been studied since the 1980s, because scientific knowledge is simply incomplete at this point.
Benefits
Certain vitamins can be very beneficial if they are taken when there is a genuine need. Teenagers are routinely advised to take a multivitamin, because their diets are often lacking key nutrients and their growing bodies need proper nutrition. Similarly, young women are often encouraged to take a calcium supplement if they don't get enough dietary calcium. The Mayo Clinic deems calcium and vitamin D supplements a good alternative if your dietary intake alone is not enough, because low calcium intake can dramatically increase your chances of developing osteoporosis. In these cases, vitamins reduce the present risk of serious nutritional deficiency and are therefore worth including.
Expert Insight
The Special Report on Vitamins and Minerals, released by the Mayo Clinic in July 2009, discusses the benefits of vitamin supplements but also reminds consumers that scientific knowledge is not perfect. Vitamin E, for instance, is an antioxidant that scientists believe could help lower your risk of cancer and heart disease, and many people take vitamin E supplements based on this belief. However, the Report discusses recent studies that suggest that vitamin E supplements do not provide the same benefits as vitamin E consumed through food. In fact, studies suggest that high-dose vitamin E supplements may actually increase your risk of health problems or death, rather than lowering your risk of disease. The Report serves as another reminder to keep your vitamin regimen simple, and only take supplements that your doctor deems necessary.
Warning
Too much of a good thing can hurt you, and in this case there are certain vitamins you don't want to take in high doses. Overdosing on vitamin D, for example, can cause an abnormal buildup of calcium in your blood, leading to kidney stones, nausea and confusion. According to doctors at the Mayo Clinic, this condition is rare and should not develop if you take vitamins as directed, but you need to be cautious. If you do choose to take supplements, make sure you're not double dosing on any nutrients. For example, if your multivitamin includes your daily allowance of vitamin D, don't take a calcium supplement that also provides your daily vitamin D requirement. Your doctor or a pharmacist can help you verify that your vitamins contain safe amounts of each nutrient; if you take more than one supplement you should have a professional approve the combination.
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