I think the title says it all, but I was looking at the vitamins on my “One a day” vitamin bottle and the thought crossed my mind of “wait why aren’t these at 100%.” Some aren’t over 100% but the majority of them are.
In: Chemistry
It is hard to overdose on water solluble vitamins (B,C,H,PP). Also, not 100% of the dose will get absorbed by the body.
Some people have vitamin deficiencies to star with, either due to poor nutrition, synthesis, absorption or other problems. And sometimes your body needs more of a certain vitamin because you are recuperating from an illness, healing a broken bone, are pregnant, exert yourself more than average etc etc etc. And also because it’s a marketing gimmick and vitamins are largely unregulated
I believe that nutritional values are based on a 2000 cal diet, which to be honest most of us aren’t on. Not to mention that it’s an effective marketing technique as well. Even if anything above 200% is a waste if you could buy a vitamin that was 200% or one that was 700% for the same cost, you were generally pick the one with the higher percentage just on principle.
So they can charge more money and market them as “better” than competitors.
All the excess just goes down the toilet, literally.
We don’t absorb most water soluble vitamins very well when we take them as vitamins so in an effort to boost absorption, they add hundreds times more of each vitamin than the RDA. You simply pee out the excess and you can often see and smell them in your pee. These vitamins are readily available from eating good, freshly prepared foods that include lots of leafy greens and vegetables so taking a daily vitamin tablet doesn’t really ensure you are getting your RDA. The food and supplement industry has fought hard against regulations and laws that would make them be more honest in their advertising and we have settled for “safe unless someone is harmed” when it comes to most supplements. The supplement industry is about a 16 billion dollar a year industry and most is based on sketchy science if any. The RDAs for things was set in the early part of the 20th century based on the tests they had at the time and averaged over a population of people. Again, the best way to get all the vitamins and minerals you need is to eat a diet that includes grains, leafy greens and vegetables made with good spices to help you digest the food.
Absolute majority of these vitamins won’t be absorbed in your body. That’s the main reason.
I know very little about this, but people that do know more always tell me to pretty much take smaller amounts or cut down the doses and spread them out through the day. You end up say taking the whole daily pill, but they tell me your body only absorbs what it wants/needs in x amount of time until it stops and just wastes the rest.
Again, I’m not educated on this but thats the advice I’ve been given.
As mentioned by many, we do not absorb the vitamins 100% and it’s an effective marketing strategy.
HOWEVER, most of us DO NOT NEED SUPPLEMENTS as long as we eat a normal diet. It is always better to get your vitamins via your diet and not via supplements, since it is way easier to overdose on vitamins via supplements. Water soluble vitamins are fairly easy to get rid of via the urine, but fat soluble vitamins can be downright toxic (especially vitamin A).
Daily Value is calculated by the FDA based on the level needed to stop you from getting sick from malnutrition. It’s entirely possible that more is still good to have (for example, with Vitamin C).
Also, daily requirements vary from person to person, some people may actually need more then 100%.
Since most vitamins (not all!) really can’t be overdosed on, there’s no reason not to put a lot more in the pills.
Daily allowances for people are based on minimum required to keep you from getting sick.
This is not the same as the amount required for maximum health.
Some things you may benefit from having more of. Consult your doctor fro dietary advice.
the other reason is marketing, for example synthesizing vitamin C is easy enough that putting more of it into a tablet won’t change the production cost much and being water soluble it is unlikely to make someone sick so in order to appeal to the primitive more is better reflex they jack up the percentage and raise the price a bit.
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