Why you shouldn't spend a lot of money on vitamins

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

No one has yet come up with a super tablet that will make you beautiful and healthy. Don't get fooled by these tricks.

Close your eyes and imagine vitamins. What do you see? If your imagination has drawn a vase of fresh fruits and vegetables in front of you, then this article is most likely not for you. But we live in a time when the word "vitamins" is associated with the majority only with a pack of pills. Whole racks are allocated for them in pharmacies, commercials shout about the need to buy a vitamin complex. "Well, what's wrong with that?" - you say. Here's what.

What you need to know about vitamins: a theoretical background

Vitamins are a group of substances necessary for the proper functioning of the body. A person should receive most of the vitamins with food. But there are exceptions: vitamin D is produced under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, vitamin A is synthesized in the body from precursors, and vitamins K and B3 are secreted by the intestinal microbiota.

Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) are able to accumulate in the body, while water-soluble vitamins (C and group B) are quickly excreted with water.

What do we need vitamins for? We do not receive energy from them, they do not enter the structure of cells and tissues. In fact, vitamins are a kind of helpers for our body. They promote the proper functioning of enzymes or sometimes act as hormones, that is, they perform regulatory functions.

Do not forget about mineral ions - these are inorganic compounds necessary to maintain the correct osmotic pressure, some of them are found in proteins and nucleic acids.

Where can a person get vitamins and mineral ions?

Their sources are everywhere. Here's the truth. Everything you eat contains vitamins and minerals. Even chips contain vitamins C, B6 and potassium. Vitamins are added to milk, flour, breakfast cereals, sausages and hard candies. But the richest sources of vitamins and minerals are fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, cereals, bread and milk. Moreover, most often frozen foods are in no way inferior to fresh ones in terms of their vitamin profile.

What's wrong with multivitamins

It would seem that you can just take all the vitamins we need and stuff them into one tablet. But it’s not that simple.

Compatibility

Remember that vitamins are divided into fat-soluble and water-soluble? Water-soluble ones need to be washed down with water, and fat-soluble ones should be seized with fatty foods. Water-soluble ones do not accumulate and are quickly excreted, so they need to be taken several times a day, while fat-soluble ones can be taken once a day. Moreover, for proper storage, they must be in different parts of the tablet. Nevertheless, not all manufacturers take this into account or simply do not indicate in the instructions how to take the pill correctly.

Even the correct dissolution of vitamins does not guarantee us their correct work.

There are whole tables of vitamin and mineral compatibility. For example, vitamins A and E are best taken together, while calcium, magnesium and zinc are best taken separately. Nevertheless, you can still find vitamin complexes containing incompatible components on the shelves.

Inconsistency

Some manufacturers add hazardous components to dietary supplements, contributing to the appearance of the effect indicated on the package. Most often, this is the sin of weight loss supplements. And the saddest thing is that these ingredients are not listed in the composition.

Another more common formulation mismatch is dosage. On the manufacturer's website, one information may be indicated, on the packaging - another, and in the tablet there will be something else altogether. The ratio of ingredients varies not only from pack to pack, but also from tablet to tablet.

Price

Let's not argue that there are multivitamins on the market with a balanced and fair composition. We do not deny that there are people with hypovitaminosis in the country. But who are they? Most of them are poor families and old people. The former do not have enough money for a full-fledged diet, while the latter, due to their age, need other amounts of vitamins and minerals.

And now let's try to remember how much vitamin complexes cost in a pharmacy on average. The paradox is that the people for whom vitamin supplements were created cannot afford them.

What Supplements Should I Take?

After all, not all vitamins are useless. Indeed, even a person with a balanced diet may have a lack of a particular vitamin or mineral (but not all that are shoved to us in multivitamin complexes).

Vitamin D

It is involved in bone growth and calcium absorption. Vitamin D is hard to get from food, and the urban lifestyle does not allow you to bask in the sun for a long time, so it makes sense to buy a supplement at the pharmacy.

Zinc

Unlike vitamin C, zinc actually helps fight colds. It prevents the spread of rhinovirus and makes the disease easier.

Folic acid

Folic acid can be beneficial during pregnancy. It helps to avoid diseases of the fetal nervous system and promotes cell growth.

Outcome

Despite the fact that the effectiveness of most vitamin complexes has not been proven, pharmaceutical companies continue to produce huge quantities of expensive and unbalanced multivitamin complexes. People choose packs according to beautiful packaging or according to the principle "where there are more components", sometimes without even understanding what vitamins are and how they work. Of course, there are really good vitamin complexes on the market, but an ignorant person simply cannot distinguish them in all this variegated variety.

Before blaming all your health troubles on a lack of vitamins, you need to rethink your lifestyle and eating behavior.

Vitamins are not magic pills. They will not be able to correct lack of sleep, poor diet or bad habits. And if you still want to buy them, consult your doctor for advice. Only the correct selection of the supplements you personally need can lead to the desired result.