Basically the title. Do they actually work? How are these gummy bear vitamins or pills made?
In: 26
They work for people who are deficient in what ever vitamin, or are at risk of deficiency. Other than that it’s basically no added benefit and a waste of money. There is a small risk of overdose/toxicity if you really do heavy with vitamins A, D, E or K. They are fat soluble and so if you take more than needed they get stored in the body. It does take a lot to get to the stage of it being a problem. Other vitamins are water soluble so you just urinate out any excess in your system.
There are certain conditions that make you at risk or almost certain to end up deficient so supplements are started before deficient starts (e.g majority of people with cystic fibrosis get pancreatic insufficiency. This leads to difficulty absorbing fat, and therefore fat soluble vitamins. So people with this condition are given bit a, d, e and k to prevent deficiency).
When you get to vitamin D supplement you get into a interesting position. There is a good argument that people who live above a certain latitude should just take a vitamin d supplement regardless because the amount of sun exposure is unlikely to provide enough vit d. I can’t remember what the latitude is, except that Scotland is in it (I’m in Scotland). Since most who are deficient are asymptomatic, it isn’t particularly pushed. However there is increasing evidence that low vitamin d is connected to numerous different health problems so it might be that we do start recommending taking a supplement and saying it loudly
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