Do Vitamin Supplements Really Work?

This week Reactions is taking a look at the science and chemistry, or lack thereof, behind supplements. You’ve seen them in late night commercials and at your local pharmacy—little pills that claim to cure your cold, help you wake up or maybe help you lose weight. Vitamin and mineral supplements are everywhere and generate billions of dollars in revenue in the U.S. each year. But do they really work?

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Music:
Funk Delite
Nylon Flares

Producer:
Elaine Seward

Writer:
Sam Lemonick

Executive Producer:
Adam Dylewski

Scientific consultants:
Francisco Tomás-Barberán, Ph.D.
Darcy Gentleman, Ph.D.
Sophia Cai

Sources:
Large multivitamin studies showing no significant benefits for healthy people:
Some experts recommend multivitamins as “nutritional insurance”:
Other sources: Trials for supplements don’t show adequate evidence of benefits

[jedicarson]

I've taken fish oil supplements along with other supplements when I was working out hard, they do help with my joints.

[besmart]

It was awesome to do a video with you guys! I guess this means I can finally stop taking Flintstones vitamins every day?

[lance]

I still have a hard time letting go of this one - I want to believe that multi-vitamins really can fill in those gaps in my micronutrient intake, but it seems that the best thing to do is get a blood test to see if you're deficient in any vitamin or mineral and go with your doctor's recommendation for diet changes and/or supplements.

[ikrwordspammer]

I started to take magnesium, d and b vitamins and fish oil. I have much more energy and i feel better.

[karstenvonfjellheim]

Vitamins taken by non-athletes is a long game, it's like compound interest, if you take it from an early age; the benefits as a senior citizen are tremendous.

[josephcoulter]

I liked your video a lot, but there was something in it that confused me greatly. You say "But everybody agrees that even if you take a multivitamin, it won't help if you're taking a pizza based diet", but then directly after that say "the idea route to getting your vitamins and minerals is through good food, not supplements". I feel like there is something not explained here, because it makes it seem that the opposite of what is said is true. If the ideal route to getting my vitamins and minerals is through food and not supplements, why isn't the supplement more useful if I have a pizza diet? It would seem that if my diet is lacking in a variety of nutrition, that's when supplementation would have the most effect. Sorry if that's a small detail to get hung up on, but it's sticking in the back of my mind quite a bit.

[mandylopez]

I been taken vitamins for one week and I feel better then I did without them, they do work !

[Ketobbey]

It's ok to be smart sent me. And I subbed :D I like this info :D

[Eric.Morrison]

Unfortunately most of this info is about useless multi-vitamins for people who don't need multi-vitamins. There are millions of people who are deficient in very specific elements that can benefit greatly from targeted supplementation, who would otherwise be turned off because of both misleading manufacturer claims and cynical de-bunkings. Better advice would be to see a doctor or Naturopath if you feel chronically unwell and have some blood work done. Many medical doctors are putting people on Vitamin D supplements, Naturopaths finding patients with MTHFR mutations doing extremely well on methyl-folate, and endocrinologists who treat thyroid disease with iodine and selenium. While these conditions and regimens are certainly not appropriate for everyone, that doesn't mean options should not be available to anyone.

[TheThreatenedSwan]

I've tracked vitamins and minerals on a "good diet" and often it doesn't result in the recommended daily values of certain vitamins (and the daily values are usually a bare minimum)

[yupmarius]

so happy seeing this while eating a home-made salad with 5 different vegies and chiken brest in it :)

[ircimager]

actually, the potassium supplement, along with the advil and centrum *do* help me get through the morning

[bobsmith-ovkn]

Unless you're in the 0.001% of the population that comes anywhere close to eating a healthy balanced diet, you WILL benefit from taking a multivitamin. You will start to feel better, you will have more energy, you will never get a headache again, you will never get a hangover again, your mind will always be alert and active when you need it,

[crispybacon]

Would taking a multi vitamin or fish oil capsule still benefit those without any form of fish in their diet?

[sparkers]

I never developed much of a taste for vegetables, despite growing up with a dad who maintained a 1/2 acre garden which provided us green beans, butter beans, corn, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, and potatoes. (Mom was a blanching, canning, pickling virtuoso -- she filled a huge freezer in the garage every summer so we had those veggies all year long.) We also had several kinds of fruit trees. These days while I rarely eat fried foods and I bake from scratch rather than eating processed sweets, I do feel like taking a daily multivitamin gives me some stuff I'm missing by not consuming the recommended daily servings of fruits and veggies. But maybe the benefit is all in my head. *shrug*

[Akwatypus]

In the North, like in Finland, it's recommended to have vitamin D supplements for like half a year, in autumn and winter, when there's not much sunlight. I've read that the "recommended" amount is some number determined by what keeps the deficiency diseases away, so that's why it's safe to eat more Vit D than the "100%". There was also some discussion about raising the recommendations.

I've also heard that B12 isn't really around anymore except in meat products (others say it's because they put it there as well.)

I don't think there's a downside for taking water-soluble vitamins, like B and C, a lot. Those aren't going to get stored inside your body, unlike the fat-soluble ones. Taking Vit A, and some other fat-soluble vitamins can perhaps be too much more easily.. So I'm careful with at least A.

I don't care if it's a waste of money. I like using supplements. I take multivitamins and probiotic bacteria rather regularly... they sorta give me some piece of mind, it makes me feel better about myself, and it also helps me remember my other meds.

[pug_frost]

I just spent like 20 dollars on vitamins. I wish I had seen this sooner.

[Torchi]

Well, in my experience, Ive been sick with dengue twice, and my platelet drops to less than 115 both time, also the hemogloin drops too, and I took a multivitamin and minerals that has Vit-C and Iron in the mix, and by taking them in 3 days the level of platelet went to 180+. Doctors did recommended some weird fruits mixture, but I didnt trust that.

[amandam]

I have several food allergies, so I have a pretty limited diet. I can't have dairy, or even most dairy replacements that would vitamin d added. Despite having the most sufficient diet I can without having a reaction, I'm still very deficient in vitamin d even with spending a lot of time outside. So I have to take vitamin d supplements. And according to my blood work they have made a difference.

[Balin_James]

i'm going to drop my 2 cents on the situation. i'm an athlete. i know first hand that if i dont sleep well and drink enough water and eat well, my vitamins do nothing. but when i do all those things, i feel great. but when i don't take my vitamins, i have a noticeable lack of energy and/or power and endurance (i'm a distance runner). i guess what i'm getting at here is does it make sense that vitamins could actually help me improve as an athlete along with my relatively healthy diet? i only ask because this video seems to be talking about a person who lives a wake up, 9-5, go to sleep-style life (not literally, but you know what i mean)