Do I need to take vitamins?

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Vitamin complexes are one of the most popular drugs: probably, there is no person who has not heard about the benefits of vitamins and has never taken them. The more vitamins, the better, we believe, and, as it turned out, we are sorely mistaken. Are they really required by the body, is the craze for multivitamin complexes harmless, and is it possible to do without vitamins at all? Let's try to figure it out.

 

Only facts

Let's look at the facts first. Vitamins are substances that are needed in microscopic quantities by the body in order to carry out its functions. In the absence of vitamins – even when all other substances are present in the diet – the body begins to malfunction, and the person becomes ill.

Normally, vitamins enter the body with food. Different foods contain different vitamins, and this is one of the reasons why the diet should be varied and include different food groups.

Vitamins are unstable and easily destroyed by heat treatment. That is why part of the diet must be represented by fresh vegetables and fruits – foods containing the largest amount of vitamins.

 

Is it true that the need for vitamins cannot be met by food?

In the 20th century, it was suggested that it is impossible to get the amount of vitamins required by the body only from food, so they need to be additionally taken to prevent hypovitaminosis – a condition of vitamin deficiency. It was believed that vitamin deficiency is a constant companion of modern man, contributing, in turn, to the weakening of the immune system and the development of many diseases. This thesis was warmly supported by pharmaceutical concerns, and after a while, the victorious march of vitamin complexes around the planet began. Vitamins are prescribed for almost any disease, with the exception of hypervitaminosis (it turned out along the way: if you overdo it too much, this happens too). It is widely believed that vitamins always help the body (at least they do not harm). But is it?

It has been established that certain vitamins (for example, vitamins A, E, C) contribute to the growth of malignant tumors.

Decades of the vitamin boom have allowed the accumulation of clinical experience, and now doctors are increasingly saying that the statement about the total need for additional fortification is incorrect. They say that vitamin complexes are in most cases useless, and in some cases harmful, and, as it turned out, this opinion is much more true than the fact that vitamins should be taken almost constantly.

Studies conducted by several independent centers have shown that the doses of vitamins that were considered essential for life are grossly overestimated. In fact, the vitamins that come with food are quite enough to meet all the needs of the body – provided that the diet is varied, contains different food groups and contains fresh vegetables and fruits. In the vast majority of cases, vitamin deficiency in a modern person is by no means associated with a lack of vitamins in food, but with problems of their absorption in the body (for example, in violation of the absorption process in the intestine, which occurs with many intestinal pathologies).

In the course of other studies, it was established that synthetic vitamins are absorbed by the body by no more than 5%, so there is no need to talk about their effective effect on the body.

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What you need to know about vitamin complexes?

• Vitamins, either alone or in combination with each other, do not protect against colds. “Drinking vitamins so as not to get sick” is not a brilliant idea. One of the proofs is the fact that the peak of the seasonal incidence of SARS occurs in late autumn, that is, at the time when the body is maximally saturated with vitamins after fruit-rich summers and early autumn. If vitamins really protected against colds, no one would have heard of autumn-winter outbreaks of respiratory diseases, their peak would fall in the spring, when the content of vitamins in food is minimal.
• Taking vitamin complexes is not able to protect against cancer. Moreover, it has been clearly established that certain vitamins (for example, vitamins A, E, C) contribute to the growth of malignant tumors.
• Synthetic (in other words, lab-created, not food-sourced) vitamins are highly allergenic. In particular, some pediatricians attribute the general allergy in modern babies to the fact that many women take multivitamin complexes during pregnancy.
• Many popular vitamin-mineral complexes, for the most part, are not a drug, but belong to the group of dietary supplements, that is, biologically active food supplements. Vitamins and minerals in their composition are not in therapeutic (able to have an effect) doses, but in subtherapeutic (insufficient to achieve any significant effect). In addition, they often include antagonist ingredients (for example, it is not recommended to take calcium and iron, zinc and folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin B1, vitamin C, iron at the same time). And finally, not being drugs, these drugs do not undergo any tests, and only the manufacturer knows what exactly and in what quantity is actually in their composition.

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When are vitamins needed?

Nevertheless, there are situations when taking vitamins is vital. There are two such conditions: hypo- and beriberi, that is, a reduced amount of certain vitamins in the body and their complete absence. Usually we are talking about one or two vitamins. For example, in alcoholism, the absorption of vitamin B1 is impaired, therefore, in the treatment of alcoholism, it is prescribed, moreover, in injections, and not in the form of a “vitamin”, which would be meaningless.

Travelers in the old days often suffered from C-avitaminosis, colorfully described by Jack London in the story "God's Mistake". People from poor countries, whose traditional food is refined white rice, often get beriberi (the so-called B1-avitaminosis), and those who eat mainly corn – pellagra (this is PP-avitaminosis). In young children living in areas with low insolation, that is, with a small number of sunny days per year, there are cases of hypovitaminosis D, which causes rickets.

Hypovitaminosis is diagnosed in residents of the Far North (due to the vitamin deficiency of the diet), as well as in all those who eat food that contains little or no vitamins at all (fast food, junk food, food made industrially). People who practice veganism (strict vegetarianism) often show signs of a lack of vitamin B12, which is found mainly in meat and dairy products.

In all of these situations, you need to take vitamins. But in such cases, they perform a therapeutic function, are prescribed by a doctor in strictly calculated doses after the diagnosis, and therefore we are not talking about fashionable vitamin-mineral complexes here.

 

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