Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Experts are at odds over the effectiveness of multivitamins. Internist Raul Seballos, MD , notes that two large studies have finally shed some light on the subject:. But not all vitamins come with health risks — especially if you use them after consulting your doctor first. Some essential vitamins and nutrients are best absorbed in pill form.
It occurs naturally in a variety of plant products, including orange juice, grapefruit, and lemons. The body does not store vitamin C, so people should take it on a daily basis, ideally in small doses throughout the day. Vitamin C supplements are available for purchase online. People tend to take B vitamins to boost energy and reduce stress. There are eight different types of B vitamins, each of which has a separate function for the body.
The types of B vitamins are:. It is generally safe to take several B vitamins at the same time. Some companies also offer vitamin complexes, which are combinations of the daily amount of each B vitamin.
B vitamin complex supplements are available for purchase online. Because of its energy-boosting abilities, the best time of day to take a B vitamin is after waking up. Also, recent research indicates that vitamin B-6 may potentially interfere with sleep and induce vivid dreams. To avoid this adverse effect, people may wish to take them earlier in the day.
Even though B vitamin supplements are safe to consume, it is most beneficial to obtain these nutrients from food sources. Here, learn more about B vitamins.
Fat-soluble vitamins are necessary in small doses. Cooking food does not get rid of its fat-soluble vitamin content. Usually, a person will get all the fat-soluble vitamins they need from the diet and do not need to supplement them. Fat-soluble vitamins dissolve in oil. For this reason, people who do need to supplement fat-soluble vitamins should take them alongside meals to enhance absorption. However, most people who eat a balanced range of nutrients will get enough fat-soluble vitamins through their regular diet.
Likewise, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development suggest that women take prenatal vitamins daily , particularly folic acid. Prenatal vitamins that combine folic acid with other nutrients, such as iron or calcium , are also available. Taking some prenatal vitamins on an empty stomach may cause indigestion and nausea, according to a review. If a prenatal vitamin increases feelings of nausea, a woman can consider taking the vitamin with a small amount of food.
An occasional lapse in good eating will not harm you, if your usual diet consists of a wide variety of fresh foods. Supplements do have a role to play for some groups of people. For instance, people on long-term restrictive weight loss diets or people with malabsorption problems, such as diarrhoea, coeliac disease, cystic fibrosis or pancreatitis, can benefit from supplements. Folic acid supplements are strongly recommended for women planning a pregnancy to reduce the risk having a baby with neural tube defects, like spina bifida.
Also, people who follow vegan diets, especially if pregnant, may benefit from vitamin B12 supplements. If you need to take a supplement, it is best to take multivitamins at the recommended dietary level, rather than single nutrient supplements or high-dose multivitamins. Many people think that vitamin C helps prevent the common cold.
Despite exhaustive research across the world, there is still no strong evidence to prove this. Some studies have shown that taking large doses of vitamin C more than 1, mg per day continuously or when you first develop cold symptoms, may ease some of the symptoms and the duration — on average, making it about half a day shorter. It does not prevent you catching a cold. You also need to consider the health risks associated with taking large doses of vitamin C.
Large doses may cause nausea, abdominal cramps, headaches, fatigue, kidney stones and diarrhoea. Excessive amounts of vitamin C in the body can also interfere with medical tests, such as diabetes tests, giving a false result. Some vitamin and omega-3 fatty acid deficiencies can lead to emotional disturbances.
However, if you are feeling run down, it is more likely to be due to stress, depression or unhealthy lifestyle habits such as insufficient sleep or smoking , rather than a vitamin deficiency.
Vitamin E is widely promoted as a beneficial antioxidant that can help prevent heart disease. Unfortunately, several large-scale reviews have conclusively found no evidence that vitamin E supplements prevent death from heart disease. In fact, there may be greater risk of all-cause death from taking such supplements. Vitamin A in large doses does not cure cancer and can be toxic, particularly if taken as pills rather than food. There is some evidence that vitamin E could play a small role in preventing some cancers although, equally, there is evidence that it could speed up the onset of other types of cancer.
However, this has not been proved or disproved. While it is argued by some that megadoses of antioxidants can help with the effectiveness of conventional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the evidence is far from supporting this. In fact, it has been shown that megadoses of antioxidants can actually interfere with some medical treatments for cancer by helping to protect the cancer cells that the therapies aim to destroy. Vitamin E is often singled out as the potential fountain of youth.
And a review of trials of several different types of antioxidant supplements put it this way: "Treatment with beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase mortality. Vitamin C: Skip it - it probably won't help you get over your cold, and you can eat citrus fruits instead.
The Vitamin C hype - which started with a suggestion from chemist Linus Pauling made in the s and has peaked with Airborne and Emergen-C - is just that: hype. Study after study has shown that Vitamin C does little to nothing to prevent the common cold. Plus, megadoses of 2, milligrams or more can raise your risk of painful kidney stones. For years, Vitamin B3 was promoted to treat everything from Alzheimer's to heart disease.
But recent studies have called for an end to the over-prescription of the nutrient. A large study of more than 25, people with heart disease found that putting people on long-acting doses of Vitamin B3 to raise their levels of 'good', or HDL, cholesterol didn't reduce the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, or deaths.
Plus, people in the study who took the B3 supplements were more likely than those taking a placebo to develop infections, liver problems, and internal bleeding.
Probiotics: Skip them - the science isn't advanced enough yet for them to have a significant benefit, and you can eat yogurt instead. The idea behind them is simple: Support the trillions of bacteria blossoming in our gut which we know play a crucial role in regulating our health.
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