Obsession with vitamins and herbal supplements as a way to ward off disease is a species of superstition no different from belief in the power of prayer. People who swear by taking vitamins have no idea how they are supposed to work; all they know is they are irrationally worried about their health and they can’t get help from their doctors because nothing is wrong with them. Of course, the snake-oil salesmen in the supplement industry are only too happy to keep coming up with useless placebos to sell them, and to reinforce their rejection of real medicine with pseudoscience.

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There are supplements that do make a difference. A varied diet can be difficult to get, and in some cases it’s nearly impossible to consume the quantities naturally that you can get from supplements. Protein drinks work for building muscle. I have joint supplements that work well on sports injuries while conventional doctors turn me away or try to give my pain medication. All I advocate is trying something like this before giving up on finding solutions for particular issues

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Many vitamin tablets contain far more of a vitamin than could possibly used.  Even multivitamins regularly contain 12,000 times the RDA of B12.  As a vegetarian though, iron suplements every few days remove the need to eat loads of spinach and nuts

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I agree with the premise of this article and it is why I decided over 10 years ago, that I couldn’t sell suppliments. Everyone else in my line of work sell them but me.

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I agree that vitamins should not have to be used to be healthy, but the truth is that our nations food sources have been raped of many of their nutrients.  The body’s essential organs need some of these vitamins to rebuild and sustain health.  About the quality of most of the over the counter vitamins, minerals, and herbals cures, that is questionable, most brands are full of fillers, food dyes, and other unnecessary and sometimes dangerous toxins.  My advice is to learn how to read a label or find a high quality triple checked supplement.

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There is no substitute for a good and complete diet.  Vitamins are a poor-quality panacea for laziness.  Be especially careful if you are taking individual supplements.  Fat-soluble vitamins - A, D, E & K - can be taken in toxic quantities.  All other vitamins are water-soluble and excess amounts are excreted in urine.  Even the water-soluble vitamins can be taken in sufficient quantities to create a metabolic imbalance and other manifestations that can be quite uncomfortable and even scary to those who don’t know what to expect from an overdose.

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“5. Jason

I agree that vitamins should not have to be used to be healthy, but the truth is that our nations food sources have been raped of many of their nutrients. “

Have you got something to back up that claim?  Or just something you heard?

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