Millions and millions of people spend billions and billions of dollars on vitamin supplements every year. In 2004, 19.6 billion dollars was spent on this phenomenon. Many people think they are preventing heart disease or cancer by popping every vitamin supplement they can get their hands on. What many fail to realize, however, is that with the water soluble vitamins (B vitamins and vitamin C), whatever is not used is eliminated each day. Stocking up on these vitamins therefore, is not possible.
As far as the fat soluble vitamins, vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin D and vitamin E, whatever is not used is stored in the liver so stockpiling these vitamins could lead to toxic results.
If you have a medical condition which makes it difficult to absorb certain vitamins or are showing a deficiency, you can generally find a vitamin supplement to step in and pick up the slack. However, with some vitamins, E and K for example, vitamin deficiency is rare unless you have a medical condition which prevents the absorption of these vitamins. By taking a vitamin supplement when your body already has an adequate supply, you run the risk of toxicity.
You should always discuss it with your doctor before taking a vitamin supplement as some of them can interfere with certain medications. That’s just one of the dangers of taking a vitamin supplement without discussing it with your doctor first. Another real danger is when people don’t go to the doctor at all, but instead diagnose themselves and load up on a vitamin supplement of one kind or another.
A simple blood test can test the levels of nutrients in your body. It’s best to include your doctor in your concerns. Perhaps you do need a vitamin supplement because of a real deficiency and you are taking the wrong one. How can you really know which supplements you need or don’t need without involving your doctor?
Sadly, because of the lack of regulation in this field, it is too easy for the unscrupulous to inflate or even invent claims of the multiple healing powers of a vitamin supplement. More than one promoter of these false claims has been forced to pay a hefty fine for their outrageous claims.
One rule of thumb: Don’t rely on vitamin supplement information that is provided by the seller as their information may be tainted by their greed. Instead, you can find all the information you need from medical and government sources that are unbiased.
