Is there any chance that people will stop buying over the counter vitamins?

Or the supplement market will thrive as we are forced to live off of Top Ramen and Hot Dogs.

The same could be said for at least half of the items sold anywhere.

Except, people ostensibly take vitamins “for their health”, and, they tend to be expensive and completely unregulated.

I don’t think that they will ever go away. I for instance, am always near lethal levels of potassium because I hate potatoes, and bananas, and force myself to drink orange juice. I will eat broccoli, but I am also a very light eater. So, I have to see the doc all the time about that, along with my coumadin levels and vitamin k levels.
I see what you mean about a balance diet, but some people are allergic to certain foods, that are vital to thier diet, and need suppliments to help them out with being balanced. Hope this helps.

As an herbivore, I don’t eat a healthy, balanced diet. I try pretty hard but I sure appreciate that I can make up for the paucity of iron and B vitamins with one pill. Am I being duped?

Some people have difficulty getting certain nutrients through their regular diet because of food allergies. I hope for their sake—er, my sake—that the supplement market does not evaporate. Same goes for vegetarians, as mentioned by nikipedia. There are also various assorted conditions for which supplements are useful. My dad has to take a pretty big potassium supplement. Sure, he could eat nothing but bananas and he would get enough, but then he wouldn’t be getting anything else.

There are many people who are contious about their diet but still, they need multi vitamin suplement because their body simply could not produce the necessary product. Bear in mind that some vitamins cannot be obtain through food consumption. Also, nowadays peoples lifestyle are very hectic and I have a feeling that sooner or later scientist would create a pill containing all the required nutrients for people to consume instead of having people to consume their 3 meals a day.

By the way, thanks for the reminder. /takes vitamins

I think some of you are misunderstanding the question. Certain things, like potassium supplements for people taking diuretics, prenatal vitamins for women, iron for anemics, vitamin D plus calcium for osteoporosis are medically necessary, and will never go away.

What I am referring to is the huge assortment of vitamins that people purchase (on what basis I don’t know) with the thought that the vitamin will help them in some way. My point is, taking vitamins in excess is not only not helpful, but may actually be dangerous. The truth is, otherwise healthy people who eat a Western diet DO NOT need any vitamins, period.

@shilolo
Are speaking specifically of general purpose multivitamins, then?

Yes, taking a multivitamin is completely and utterly unnecessary (I should add, so is taking a huge number of specific vitamins A, B, C, E, K, Q, etc. etc.).

I see what you are saying, that would be a good idea, for those that are trying to depend on the vitamin industry to keep them healthy. Yes I agree, I wouldn’t mind seeing that go away, because there are so called vitamins out there that can indeed be harmful, and the shame in this is the FDA doesn’t monitor all of these things, they say it is o.k., and then there are things that are added to the vitamins that can indeed make you ill. Great point.

I know a few people that pretty much live off of Taco Bell and snack foods (I included myself in this group). Are you suggesting that they shouldn’t be taking a multivitamin?

Yes. I. Am.

I’m surprised to hear someone speak out about taking a multivitamin at all… I read through the article you linked to and for the most part, it just lists how a specific vitamin was not proven to help a specific condition. And in several cases, it’s not even that a connection was found, they just didn’t find a benefit. I’m not trying to gloss over that several found elevated levels of a vitamin had adverse effects as well, increasing the occurance of serious diseases.

As for there never being any data as to the benefits, even that particular article mentions three or four times that there are benefits to certain vitamins for certain groups. And it’s an article written to illuminate the dangers… the supplement industry didn’t develop overnight.

I believe the vitamins you’re talking about sell because honestly, how would I know if I’m deficient in something specifically? Do I wait for symptoms? If I don’t get enough leafy greens, does a warning light go on? I honestly don’t know until I get sick (which the root cause of is rarely the focus of treatment) or I stumble upon something that contains what I’m missing and also paying enough attention to notice the benefits.

A multivitamin at least helps me make sure I’m getting the minimum levels of what I need. If my wife is anemic, she gets iron, if I’m not getting enough calcium because I don’t drink milk, that makes sure I get some… it’s not a cure all, it’s preventative.

If there’s a simple way to tell what I’m deficient in, without encountering symptoms, I’d love to try it. And then I would alter my diet to compensate for that or take just the things that I need as a supplement. Unfortunately I don’t know if there is a such a thing, when I go to the doctor for a checkup, they essentially come back, say I’m healthy, and that’s the end of it. If I don’t have symptoms, I must be fine, right?

It seems if there is something in the supplement industry to rally against it would be the items intended to fill a specific need with no science or study behind them. Those could be truly dangerous and should be tested and regulated.

I’m getting long-winder here and I apologize, it’s important to say that I understand that this is your area of expertise and it is not mine, so I respect what you say. I’d just like to understand the alternatives.

Shilolo, are you a doctor, I think I read somewhere that you are. Cool if you are.

@tiggersmom. Yes. I. Am.

@Funkdaddy. Your post has lots of ideas in it, but, to summarize, if you eat a Western diet, you are, for the most part, taking in all the vitamins and minerals that you need. Will your body tell you if you are deficient in somethin? Actually, yes. Furthermore, while deficiencies in some vitamins (like A, C, D, K) can and do actually lead to symptoms (night blindness, scurvy, rickets, bleeding, respectively), those entities are exceedingly rare in normal, healthy people. Mineral deficiencies are also extremely rare in Western cultures, so, I will return to my initial point which is to say the vitamins are an unnecessary expense and, essentially, a giant racket.

I too believe that, and which vitamin is the one to help with night blindness, I am so blind at night. This way, if I can get it in my salad, I will eat more of it. I love salad. You sound like a very confident person in your medicine. I am impressed, no I am not a doctor, but have always had great interest in medicine, and in forensics.

Honestly, the “unnecessary expense” thing isn’t going to convince me. I have a bottle of 300 multivitamins that cost me about $4. Even for a “poor college student,”* that’s nothing, especially when the issue is health.

I would need a medical reason to stop taking vitamins. I’ve seen studies that argue both sides of this. How am I to know what to believe? And how am I to know whether my diet is providing me with all of the right nutrients? Will I only find out about deficiencies when long-term effects set in? You mentioned a couple of things like scurvy and rickets, but what about long-term concerns like cancer and Alzheimer’s?

*(The quotes are simply because the phrase itself is oxymoronic. I’m in college, so I’m not poor by any other than the most shortsighted standard.)

@tiggersmom
It’s Vitamin A.

What percentage of primary care physicians would you say recommend a daily multivitamin? Often times I’m asked specifically if I take a multivitamin when the doctor (or nurse, or form I’m filling out) is getting a history.

I suppose that could be for possible interactions, but more likely it rules out vitamin deficiency as a cause for whatever ails me, correct?

I think as long as doctors recommend the vitamins, they will sell to those they are recommended for specifically and probably for those they aren’t as well. If that changes, then you may see the industry start to reduce rather than grow every year.

My life completely changed once I started taking a vitamin B supplement. Apparently, according to my doc, my body has a problem absorbing vitamin B. I had such fatigue and many digestive problems before I started taking the supplement. Some people actually experience a positive difference once they begin taking supplements. Maybe supplements should be regulated as drugs and
prescribed by a doctor.

Oh, good grief; not more regulation! It’s hard enough to buy some cough syrup and a box of Sudafed when I get sick.

Hey, I don’t agree, but if the doc says it’s dangerous…

I agree with your frustration. I’ve never taken a multivitamin, though I do supplement vitamin C in the winter time. I think the issue is twofold. One, many people are dumb and do what advertisements/friends/pop culture tell them, without doing any research. Or they’ll research and find research showing its beneficial, but not realizing that the drug companies paid for that research. This issue extends to many other areas. Two, I imagine some people figure, “well I’ve never heard of anyone dying by taking vitamins, so I might as well take them!”. Which is weird logic for sure. Hopefully articles like that NYT one will help people start thinking for themselves….... or at least rethink vitamins.

I agree that sometimes it seems unnecessary, but as people have pointed out here, there are a lot of good reasons for the large supply of vitamins. If someone really wanted to make their diet solely based on protein powders and vitamins (based on the idea that they’re only taking the required daily value) then I don’t have a problem with it.

Personally, I don’t see why you’re bothered by the large vitamin market. If you don’t want vitamins/supplements don’t take them. Why worry about what other people do?

I heard that vitamin B12 helps with tension issues with some people can that be true, because my brother in law gets b12 shots for something like this. Is is worth it?

@aidje. Why would you need a medical reason to stop? What was your reason for starting, other than the unsubstantiated notion that vitamins are helpful to you?

In terms of regulation, I would be 110% (I’ve always wanted to be more than 100% in favor of something) in favor of regulation in the supplements and vitamins market. It would put the whole market out of business, I think, if the makers of those pills were forced to put their products up to the same kind of scrutiny as medicines.

As far as regulation of cold medicines, the reasons are that people use the compounds in there, like pseudoephedrine for making harder drugs, like methamphetamine. More importantly, it was recently shown that many of those drugs are actually harmful to children, and can no longer be sold that way.

@funkdaddy. I don’t know what percentage of primary care physicians recommend multivitamins, but I do know that it is not part of any formal medical training or advisories put out by medical groups. A recent NIH panel concluded that there is no benefit to multivitamins, but of course, hedged by saying that more research is needed.

@Perchik. I’m bothered by the vitamin and supplement market because it takes advantage of peoples’ fears, and lack of understanding of the (lack of) evidence for their benefit. Many people waste hundreds of dollars on a variety of random treatments (vitamin E, coenzyme Q, this, that, the other thing), money that could be better spent elsewhere. I also think it deludes people into a sense of health. Lastly, I am concerned that there is potential for harm for large doses of vitamins (if you’ve ever looked at say a Vitamin C pill, it says you are taking 1000% of the recommended daily allowance).

@shilolo: I think the real question you’re trying to ask is, “Is there a chance that, in general, people will start looking for scientific research to back up hunches/rumors/opinions/advertising before they act on them?”

…and I think we all know the answer to that.

shilolo said: I’m bothered by the vitamin and supplement market because it takes advantage of peoples’ fears, and lack of understanding of the (lack of) evidence for their benefit.

Yes! I completely agree with this sentence. The problem is, you can easily replace “vitamin and supplemental market” with many other markets that take advantage of a consumer’s fears, or otherwise exploits their emotions, for the market’s personal gain. While regulating the market might fix the vitamin issue, it does not address the core issue – that It seems many people are predisposed to ignoring or not investigating evidence. I believe that if we address that base issue, more people will think skeptically, and will come to the same conclusion we have about vitamins.

@dynamicduo. I agree 100%. Of the many flaws in our eduction system, one of the biggest is the failure to teach people critical analysis. That said, we do regulate medicines, for they have the potential to help and to harm. Likewise, I think that regulation of vitamins, minerals and supplements should be introduced (the NIH agrees). This would allow for medical uses (like for people with pernicious anemia caused by B12 deficiency, or for prevention of osteoporosis with Vitamin D and calcium).

So, b12 doesn’t affect the tension/anger/aggression levels for people and mellow them out?

I agree with regulating vitamins, minerals, and supplements. Causing companies to go through science to prove their claims can only be good for not only the consumer, but for mankind’s advances of knowledge. Companies that sell empty promises will cease to exist and consumers who might have been tricked by them are thus protected from their own stupidity. Sadly that last option doesn’t help with the critical thinking, but it’s hard to instill that anyway.

I just looked up to see how Canada takes this on. It’s not good. According to Health Canada’s Natural Health Products webpage, 71 percent of Canadians take one of the three regularly. Furthermore it seems that the only criteria for selling these is to make them safe for over-the-counter vending. The Food and Drug Regulation guide includes regulations for vitamins and minerals inside of certain types of food, but they don’t regulate people popping these same minerals in much higher amounts on their own!! How ridiculous is this. I’m a bit saddened by these results. In light of the research coming out now, perhaps I will look into discussing this issue with my government.

@tiggersmom. I am unaware of any evidence for using B12 for that purpose. Lots of people request B12 shots as a sort of “pick me up”, and people do need it for certain specific illnesses, but I’ve never heard of it being used as a mood stabilizer.

shilolo, All people are doing is looking for an easy solution to their problems. There will always be a market for snake oil salesmen. The pills might be doing nothing. Most people don’t know.

Getting sick too often? Just take this pill. Buy my solution and you won’t need to actually do any work like exercising or eating a balanced diet. It’s as easy as taking this pill…

I started taking multivitamins because my mom said that when she started taking them, she got sick a lot less – and the same thing happened to me, too. I try to eat a balanced diet, but I’m vegan – so there are things I need to supplement with vegan vitamins – and I eat in a college dining hall, whose selection isn’t always great. On the rare day when all I can find to eat is cereal in soymilk, I take heart in knowing that I still got my nutrients for the day. I also take a calcium and vitamin D supplement, as my mom (who is a licensed medical professional) told me I ought to.

Then there’s my grandmother, who takes cinnamon pills and too much vitamin B.

@shilolo: I think also it might be a problem of access to information. The scientific consensus on some issues is unclear, or the public may not know how to access it. It would be amazing if a few committed scientists got together and built a website that put popular myths to rest in plain English.

@azul. I assume you are taking calcium and vitamin D at the suggestion of your mom as prevention of osteoporosis. If you are a woman, the best thing you can do at a young age (like as a college student) is to do weight bearing activities to strengthen your bones. Calcium and vitamin D might help, but building tougher, thicker, more calcified bones at a young age will definitely help prevent osteoporosis.

@shilolo Hmm. I do need to get more physical activity, in general. What activities count as weight-bearing activities?

That is part of the reason I’m taking calcium, although the other is that I don’t always get my daily recommended value of calcium. (My life is going to be so much better once I have the time and resources to cook for myself…) I also assume my bones are pretty healthy because I drank milk like a fiend until I became vegan this summer.

EDIT: The vitamin D just comes with the calcium.

Oh, and yes, I am a woman.

@azul. Here is a partial list of weight bearing, high impact activities from a good osteoporosis website. Here is another website that provides the the rationale for starting early.

Basically, the earlier you start, the stronger your bones will be as you age and the bone naturally deteriorates. If you start with healthier, thicker bones compared to an age and weight-matched woman, and both of you experience the same rate of bone decline (starting in your 30s), then clearly, having thicker bones to start will result in a lower likelihood of osteoporosis or fracture.

Thank you shilolo, that cleared some things up. You really sound like you are a good doc. I think that there are many factors that should come into play when taking vitamins, and yes, they should be governed by the FDA so that people aren’t being harmed by these ones that are full of nothing but garbage.

I have switched to taking vitamins from a company called Biotics. It is the first vitamin I have ever taken where I notice a difference. My back doctor suggested trying an adrenal glad supplement from them and suprisingly it helped my lower back. I have since moved to taking thief multi everyother day and drinking thier cell renewal drink daily. Everything has improved. My mood, my energy, my sleep, my concentration, etc. I feel like I am 22 again. I have tried over re counter vitamins after switching my diet a few years ago. I never noticed anything until now.

@shilolo
“Why would you need a medical reason to stop? What was your reason for starting, other than the unsubstantiated notion that vitamins are helpful to you?”

I did need a reason to start. You’re ignoring the fact that I’m already past the point of getting a reason to start using multivitamins, and therefore am now at the point where I require convincing in order to stop. I have researched this subject. I realize that my conclusions are different from yours, but please realize that there are studies that support both sides of the argument. I don’t take supplements such as the vitamin C pills that have 5000% DV. All I do is take multivitamins at times when I know my diet isn’t providing all of the nutrients I need. Also, I take calcium on a fairly regular basis, because it’s hard for me to get enough calcium in my diet.

“As far as regulation of cold medicines, the reasons are that people use the compounds in there, like pseudoephedrine for making harder drugs, like methamphetamine.”

I’m aware of the reasons. The reason that I object to such regulations is summed up pretty well on this page:

12. I have chronic sinus problems. Will I be limited from getting the amount of pseudoephedrine I need? Answer: Yes

Sidenote: If pseudoephedrine is ever taken off the market, I’ll be in a bit of a pinch. I have allergies and I get sick… and phenylephrine does nothing for me. I’ve tried it, albeit inadvertently. When it became clear that the medicine wasn’t helping, I noticed that the active ingredient had been changed.

“More importantly, it was recently shown that many of those drugs are actually harmful to children, and can no longer be sold that way.”

I’m not buying for children.