HN Explorer

Ask HN: Should I Take Vitamins?

11 points by luckman212 ↗ HN
Most of the articles I've read suggest no proven link between taking vitamin supplements and longevity, disease prevention or just better overall health (even popular ones such as Vitamin D).

I've been taking a rather expensive "food based" multivitamin for the past 6 months or so. I do "feel good" about taking them but aside from that placebo effect I have not experienced a measurable improvement in health. I'd like to stop taking them, but before I do I thought I'd ask here for opinions.

Are vitamins a waste of time and money? (excluding doctor-prescribed cases where one has an inherent deficiency)

[0] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/the-vitamin-myth-why-we-think-we-need-supplements/277947/

[1] https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/dont-take-your-vitamins/

8 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 31.9 ms ] thread
helph67
I'm not a health professional. Most people won't need additional vitamins IF they ensure that their diet covers all the recommended food groups. You should consider eating a "plant based" diet, avoid processed meats (sausages, ham & bacon) and eat plenty of fish. The diet eaten by most people lacks fibre, so if you are smart you will research its health benefits. My doctor recommends a daily vitamin D tablet and I agree that there are many benefits provided. Research the "Mediterranean diet", people who follow it tend to live long, healthy lives.
diehunde
The problem is most people don't cover all the food groups in their diets (just an assumption). So in that case should they take vitamins?
tedmiston
This is my line of thinking as well. I eat a lot of takeout. I don't eat many vegetables. I take a cheap but high quality daily multivitamin (the Kirkland one which is < $1/month).

I do take or have taken a few other supplements for other things but they are more expensive. For me the multivitamin is a no brainer though.

For Vitamin D specifically, I'm considering augmenting it in the less sunny months as the Kirkland multi is only 50% DV of D3. In the summer, I walk outside a lot.

Vitamins and supplements are definitely an area worth doing research specific to your needs. You might think there'd be a standard spec for multivitamin nutrients but no. Fish oil is one example where there are many cheap options but they aren't very good e.g., low EPA and DHA, or not molecularly distilled.

paulcole
Vitamins aren’t that expensive and don’t take much time to take. I spend maybe $100 a year on them. Then I fill my pill organizer in 5 minutes every Sunday night. Takes 10 seconds in the morning to take the day’s vitamins.

I’ll admit, I do order them from Amazon so they may be filled with lead or sawdust or something. But so far no ill effects.

hackermailman
The vitamin most likely is a placebo anyway, for example if you read Tim Spector's research he did tests on most of the generic multivitamins and found many of the ingredients weren't absorbed as advertised, the only guaranteed method was to get a doctor to inject a vitamin to make up for some b-vitamin variant deficiencies.

You can always go pay a clinic to do blood work on you before and after you stop taking vitamins, and reveal your nutrition levels if you're interested

kleer001
If you're really into body hacking get a full blood workup from InsideTracker . I can't endorse them, really, just heard about them today. But I love the idea of seasonal workups and full write-ups and recommendations.
open-source-ux
"Most of the articles I've read suggest no proven link between taking vitamin supplements and longevity, disease prevention or just better overall health (even popular ones such as Vitamin D)"

Regarding vitamin D: In the UK, official advice from a national health body ('Public Health England') is for adults and children over the age of one to take a daily supplement containing 10mcg of vitamin D, particularly during autumn and winter.

This is based on a review of the scientific literature on the subject. Here is a summary of the guidelines on vitamin D (from 2016). The article below includes a link to the full report and review of the scientific evidence.

https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/the-new-guidelines-on-...

One thing to keep in mind is that these guidelines are based on the climate of the UK (we don't get year-round sunshine). If you live in a country with a mostly sunny clime, the guidelines may be less relevant.

Also, this was recently reported in The Guardian:

Top UK scientist urges people to take vitamin D supplements

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/26/top-uk-scien...

copperx
An often unexamined possibility is that vitamins are harmful in the long term.

I recently dived into PubMed (and the hub) to see if there have been any studied deleterious effects of vitamins.

There are many studies correlating intake of B vitamins (specifically B6 and B12) with all cause mortality, increased cancer incidence and aggressiveness, even when taken over a short period of time (6 months).

D vitamin intake is also correlated with certain cancers after correcting for deficiencies.

Even seemingly innocuous C vitamin intake at excessive doses (over 500mg) is correlated with with kidney disease and lung cancer.

I'm just going by memory, but these were not single studies, but literature reviews.

My suggestion is not to listen to me, but read studies, preferably lit reviews, of ANYTHING that you're considering consuming chronically.

Another interesting tidbit: I found a study where individuals with certain vitamin or mineral deficiencies seemed to have lower mortality and lower cancer incidence. That one made me stop my vitamin intake definitely.

I'm sorry for not including references, I'm on mobile, and not close to my Mendeley library, but you should do your own research anyways.