vitamin supplements: good or bad
What can we help you find? Disclaimer: One a day supplements make you believe that they are all you need. © 2010 - 2021 Harvard University. We need a variety of nutrients each day to stay healthy, including calcium and vitamin D to protect our bones, folic acid to produce and maintain new cells, and vitamin A to preserve a healthy immune system and vision. Without vitamins, she would have a “bad” day 80-90% of the time at school. Irregular and long menstrual cycles linked to shorter life, Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Before you take any supplements for disease prevention, it's important to know whether the potential benefits outweigh the risks. Actually, it's not vitamins that may be bad for you - it may be too much of a good thing in the form of vitamin supplement pills. High doses of vitamin E may lead to stroke caused by bleeding in the brain. The Harvard Medical School 6-Week Plan for Healthy Eating, Improving Memory: Understanding Age-Related Memory Loss, A little-known factor that boosts heart attack risk, Dangers of heavy drinking if you have atrial fibrillation. For example: High doses of beta carotene have been linked to a greater risk of lung cancer in smokers. Getting our nutrients straight from a pill sounds easy, but supplements don't necessarily deliver on the promise of better health. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Dietary supplement is an umbrella term that includes everything from vitamins and minerals to botanicals and biosimilar products (such as so-called "natural male hormone"). Because observational studies may not fully control for dietary factors, exercise habits, and other variables, they can't prove whether the treatment is responsible for the health benefits. For instance, some research has shown that folic acid and B-complex vitamins may reduce the risk of stroke. Knowing your cardiovascular risk can help you decide to make healthy changes. Over-the-counter dietary supplements are big business — more than 90,000 products generate about $30 billion every year in the United States. The truth is that you need the above antioxidants, essential fatty acids from omega 3 fish oil, and extra vitamins and supplements like vitamin D and probiotic floras for a healthy gut. Fears about statin side effects: Often unfounded? Even a single large dose — over 200,000 mcg — can cause: 1. So why do so many people take supplements if the health benefits are negligible or nonexistent for the average, healthy person? Vomiting 3. We've heard a lot of encouraging news about supplements. ... sometimes vehemently – that it was a good thing. Dosage is an essential factor to consider when taking multivitamins. If you find them, don’t buy those supplements. When choosing a supplement the form of the vitamins and minerals does matter. Seriously. These 15 potentially dangerous supplement ingredients can cause … By Anastasia Stephens. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Many brands claim to be the best, but we want to arm you with the knowledge you need to read supplement labels correctly, so you can quickly and easily tell if your supplement … More than half of American adults take vitamin and mineral supplements. Although vitamins and nutrients are essential in maintaining good health, increased content of the same can be troublesome for kidneys. If you take a multivitamin and also get the same nutrients from the food you eat each day, you could be exceeding your recommended amount. "Supplements can appear on the shelf without having to prove they offer any benefits," says Dr. Manson. Research finds our plates lacking in a number of essential nutrients, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins A, C, and D. It's no wonder that more than half of us open a supplement bottle to get the nutrition we need. Instead of having an entrée sautéed, ask for it to be broiled or steamed. A series of studies hailed vitamin D as a possible defense against a long list of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, depression, and even the common cold. The incidence of lung cancer increased by 16% in the group given vitamin … Bone thinning 2. Maybe it’s all the junk in vitamins and minerals that leads to the studies questioning whether they actually help us.