Basically the title. Do they actually work? How are these gummy bear vitamins or pills made?
In: 26
If you’re lacking vitamins. Vitamins are just nutrients that you need in fairly small quantities, a lot of supplements also contain minerals as well.
Some things are pretty common to be low in – vitamin d, especially in colder climates, iron (especially for reproductive age women), b12 (especially for vegetarians), and so a supplement containing these is often useful.
A lot of other things in most multivitamins are pretty useless if your diet is reasonably varied – big example here is vitamin c, you don’t need that much of it, and if you eat fruits and vegetables you’re almost certainly getting enough.
Additionally, some common foods are “reinforced” with vitamins or minerals that are commonly lacking in our diets- iodine in salt, thiamine and folic acid in bread. So you’re probably getting your supplement on these without working at it, as long as you’re not deliberating going for versions that leave these things out.
Then there’s some vitamins we like to pump up under certain medical conditions – folic acid and iodine in pregnancy (prevents neural tube defects and thyroid issues respectively), and thiamine in alcoholism (almost always low and protects from alcohol related brain problems.
Most vitamins taken in multivits at normal doses are fine, some weird stuff can happen with megadosing but following the label on one multivit would be really unlikely to get you into trouble. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t have side effects, iron being the notorious one, often causing nausea and constipation, and its in a lot of multivits.
Tldr – most people with a good varied diet are probably not low in most vitamins. The stuff that’s commonly low tends to be supplemented in foods anyway.
If you’ve got a selective diet or concerns around deficiency, its a good idea to see a doc and get tested for what you’re actually low in – certain things need higher dose or injection rather than a tablet because they dont really absorb well through the gut
Latest Answers