Does it actually work or is the whole thing a placebo
In: Biology
[Scurvy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurvy) is a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C. If you suffer from scurvy, vitamin C supplements (or food high in vitamin C, such as the traditional treatment of lemons) will cure you. If you *don’t* have scurvy because you already have a healthy amount of vitamin C, vitamin C supplements will do absolutely nothing to make you any healthier.
The same is true of all vitamins — if you don’t have enough of a vitamin you will suffer a deficiency, and taking supplements can cure that deficiency. If you aren’t deficient, them at best you will pee out the excess vitamins with no benefit. At worst, you could potentially suffer from [hypervitaminosis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis), an illness that’s caused by *too much* of a vitamin (most often Vitamin A or D, as those are fat-soluble vitamins and they linger in your body much longer than the other vitamins)
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