Supplements 🧠 are they worth it?
It's not a one-size-fits-all answer, it depends
Nutrition is essential for a healthy body and a healthy brain. In particular, your body needs vitamins and minerals to work properly.
Vitamins: are made by animals or plants. You can make some vitamins yourself, but you need to get many of them from the food you eat.
Examples: Vitamin A, D, E, C and K.
Minerals: can’t be made by animals or plants, and come from the soil and environment. Plants absorb minerals, which are then eaten by animals and humans.
Examples: Calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium.
For each of these vitamins and minerals there’s an optimal recommended amount for health.
So should you take a supplement to ensure you’re hitting your nutrient targets?
Most people don’t need to take a supplement
For most people taking a daily multivitamin is unnecessary. It’s an added expense without giving you an extra health benefit.
A balanced healthy diet for the win
If you’re eating a balanced healthy diet, and you are generally well, you don’t need to take a vitamin or mineral supplement.
The food you eat provides not only these essential vitamins and minerals, but also a potential 25,000 biochemicals for your health.
There’s a complex interplay between these nutrients too, working together to support your body’s processes.
The monthly cost of buying a multivitamin supplement (depending on how expensive it is), might be better served spent on extra fruit and veg instead.
Or even just invest in some better quality fruit or veg - that you’re more likely to enjoy and therefore eat more of (!), like delicious juicy Sicilian tomatoes or this season’s asparagus.
‘More’ vitamins and minerals doesn’t mean better
There’s a recommended daily amount of each of these vitamins and minerals. Going above and beyond this dose doesn’t mean it’s better for you - and could be harmful.
If you have an overlarge dose of water-soluble vitamins, like the B vitamins, then this doesn’t matter so much - as you simply pee the excess out. Though pointlessly expensive wee.
Taking too large doses of fat-soluble vitamins though, like Vitamins A, D, E and K, can be another matter. These vitamins can accumulate in your liver and fat tissue, and can lead to toxicity and harmful health effects.
The exception - Vitamin D
Vitamin D is called the sunshine hormone, as your body can make enough of it when you spend time in strong sunlight.
Vitamin D is an important regulator of your immune system, helping your body fight off infections and illnesses.
In countries that don’t get strong enough sunlight in winter, like the UK, it’s recommended that everyone takes a vitamin D supplement (10µg) in the autumn and winter months.
If you have dark skin, e.g. from a South Asian, African, or African-Caribbean background, it’s recommended to take a daily Vitamin D supplement (10µg) all year round.
Some people do need to take a supplement
Whether you should take a supplement or not isn’t a simple yes or no answer.
Some people absolutely should take a nutrition supplement, like vitamin B12 if you’re vegan (with B12 primarily found in meat), or a daily folic acid supplement (400µg) if you’re pregnant or trying to conceive.
There are also other cases too where a supplement may help:
Poor diet and nutrient deficiencies
If you have a poor diet and are deficient in one or a number of nutrients (and are unable to improve your diet), then a supplement can help provide some of the vitamins and minerals that your body needs.
This might happen too if you cut out a food group, or it may be as someone gets older, they struggle to eat enough.
Blood tests can reveal if you're deficient in some nutrients, but not all.
In illness and disease
In illness and disease your nutrient requirements of certain vitamins and minerals can be higher, as your body tries to heal and recover.
If you’re on medication for a long time, certain types can block some of the absorption of certain vitamins and minerals.
Your doctor will be able to advise you if this is the case, and you may be recommended to take a supplement.
For example, metformin can reduce vitamin B12, and aspirin can affect your levels of vitamin C.
Final words
For most people - taking a supplement is just not necessary. A multivitamin isn’t a shortcut to better health, and what you eat has a far greater impact.
Food provides a vast quantity of nutrients and bioactive compounds your body needs.
There are certain cases, though, where taking a nutrition supplement can help.
Don’t feel like you have to go for the more expensive fancy looking supplements though. It’s usually a way for brands to convince you to pay more, and they aren’t necessarily better for you.
If you’re looking for a supplement, the cheaper home brand of supermarkets and health food stores fit the bill just as well.
Chat soon, Emily xx
This was a reassuring post to me. I only recently quit taking supplements after years of thinking I was being healthy by taking them.
Thanks Emily. Well said. And just to add: don’t ever buy or sign up on repeat for supplements recommended by influencers or podcasters or celebs just because they say it makes them “feel good”. I personally am aggressively marketed at on social media - probiotics, powders, shakes etc. My healthy friends constantly send me ones that are marketed to them to ask my opinion. My advice is always the same - start with diet - more fruit and veg! You can get a lot of food for the price of some of these pills you don’t even need.