Reference no: EM134014088

Question

There are so many options for vitamins and nutritional supplements. Additionally, there are many claims made about the importance and effectiveness of these vitamins.

40-50% of adults over 50 use vitamins as part of their daily regimen. All over the tv and social media you can find ads for multivitamins and in stores you can find aisles full of every different packaging imaginable. Words like "cancer, chronic illness, and heart disease" are thrown in there to develop an urgency in needing this product. Sales for vitamin supplements reach over $27 billion annually in the United States. What a profitable business, but is it a necessary one? Studies show the answer is most likely no. All studies have shown an inconsistency and therefore an inconclusive results in take vitamin supplements as beneficial. The exception to this is when women are in child bearing stages or the body has a deficiency of some kind such as anemia. In some instances taking vitamin supplements, such as vitamin E, will actually increase the risk of prostate cancer in men. Average, healthy people with a consistent diet will receive their necessary nutrients from the food they consume and by spending time outdoors.

Besides a prenatal vitamin while pregnant with each of my children, the only other time I have experience with supplements is with iron due to my anemia and during the height of the pandemic it seemed everywhere you turned the answer was "more vitamins". Zinc, magnesium, vitamin B, and vitamin C were the most haves off the vitamin shelf. While some of these do help with boosting the immune system I was floored by the number of people that turned to these as a cure. With the iron supplements, I spoke to a doctor, had blood work drawn and further worked a plan to incorporate more iron in my diet. Only when pregnant or right after delivery where extreme measure needed to replenish iron in my system. When it comes to shoving all the extra vitamins in your body to cure a world pandemic, I did not see concrete proof of how that would be beneficial so did not partake. It's is interesting to look on it and say the people I know that take multivitamins are the ones that are in the gym, eating healthier diets, and spending more time outdoors. They claim the vitamins work, but is it really just their already nutritional lifestyle?