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When it comes to our health, just about everyone is looking for an extra boostparticularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. That desire has helped vitamins and supplements grow into a $150 billion worldwide industry. If you're considering taking a daily vitaminor are taking one nowit's important to know there are clear things vitamins can and can't do, as indicated by decades of research. And if you take them the wrong way, they can be harmful. Read on to find out what taking a daily vitamin does to your bodyand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You May Have Already Had COVID.

Woman taking her medication in her bedroom at home.

"If you're like everybody else in the world, and you don't eat a perfect diet every day, a multivitamin is going to fill in the little deficits you have on a daily basis," Kathryn Boling, MD, a family medicine doctor with Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, told ETNT Health. "And if you're OK paying money for something that you're mostly going to pee out, but it's going to fill in those tiny little deficits, then take a multivitamin. I do."

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vitamin d

If your daily multivitamin contains vitamins C and D (and most do), those nutrients may support your immune system. "If you're deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease specialist, in an interview last fall. "I would not mind recommendingand I do it myselftaking vitamin D supplements."

He added: "The other vitamin that people take is vitamin C because it's a good antioxidant, so if people want to take a gram or so of vitamin C, that would be fine."

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Man sitting at the table and taking vitamin D

You might erase potential benefits from vitamins if you chase them with soda and sugary snacks, or use them as justification for too many cheat meals. "Supplements are never a substitute for a balanced, healthful diet," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, a preventative medicine specialist, in an interview with Harvard Health. "And they can be a distraction from healthy lifestyle practices that confer much greater benefits."

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young woman with stomach pain

If your vitamin contains high doses of certain nutrients, that can cause problems. Most vitamins are water-soluble, meaning they can't build up in the body because any excess is cleared by urine. But fat-soluble vitamins including A, D, E and K can build up in the body and may be dangerous at high levels, particularly A and E.

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Shot of woman nutritionist doctor writes the medical prescription for a correct diet on a desk with fruits, pills and supplements.

If you're taking multivitamins for protection against serious disease, you should know that the science isn't quite there yet. In 2018, researchers from Johns Hopkins analyzed studies involving almost half a million people; they determined that taking multivitamins doesn't lower your risk of heart disease, cancer, cognitive decline, or early death. Their advice: Don't waste your money on multivitaminsget the vitamins and minerals you need from food. And to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don't miss these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.

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What Taking a Vitamin Every Day Does to Your Body - Yahoo Lifestyle

This entry was posted on October 15, 2021 at 1:52 am and is filed under Preventative Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |