Are Vitamin Supplements Harmful? A Nutritionist Weighs In

“Taking vitamin supplements is foolish: we get them from food, it’s dangerous: overdosing has terrible consequences, it’s useless: they won’t absorb anyway…” Truth or myth? Nutritionist Maria Ternovskaya explains.

Most people, including those with medical education, hold this opinion. And it’s not without reason.

Many vitamins from our pharmacies indeed contain cheap and poorly absorbable compounds that can cause various negative consequences. This is why there are so many horror stories about overdosing. So, it’s definitely not worth getting carried away with them. Ideally, we should get vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial substances from our diet. I agree. But there are nuances. Even without delving into the fact that today’s products contain significantly fewer of these substances, the question arises: do we really get them in the necessary amounts? And here’s why.

“We should get vitamins from our diet. But there are nuances”

The Standard Human Diet

People who consider their diet complete usually eat something like this:

Breakfast: tea/coffee, sandwiches/eggs/porridge/cottage cheese;
Lunch: soup (for the stomach, of course), a meat dish (cutlet, chicken, etc.) and a side dish (cereals, potatoes, pasta). The more advanced might have a couple of spoons of salad;
Dinner: similar to lunch.

And let’s not forget homemade baked goods, pancakes, cheesecakes, potato pancakes, jam, canned goods. No chemicals, all natural! And we definitely eat vegetables: tomatoes and cucumbers with sour cream or sunflower oil — a classic loved by all. We also remember dairy products: they have calcium! We need calcium, lots of calcium, which is why everyone loves calcium supplements from the pharmacy (for bones, hair, nails)… We also love fruits — they are live vitamins! Apples, bananas, tangerines, grapes. Did I forget anything? Well, I’m not counting sweets here, as you can occasionally indulge yourself against the backdrop of a balanced diet.

Let’s calculate approximately what we get:

500+ grams of carbohydrates (cereals, side dishes, bread);
300+ grams of meat/protein products;
100 grams of dairy products;
100 grams of vegetables;
200 grams of fruits.

The familiar recommended (by someone) food pyramid is observed.

What Vitamins Do We Get With a Standard Diet?

Cereals:

Buckwheat, for example, contains minerals: Si, Fe, Cu, Mo, Mn, Mg, and some B vitamins (from 100 grams of the product, you can get about 10% of the daily value of these substances). Not bad. Oatmeal has roughly the same, plus phosphorus and selenium.
Potatoes contain potassium.
Pasta is poor: a little copper and manganese.
Rice is also not very rich: a little P, Mn, Cu, Zn, Fe, and B vitamins.

Meat:

Chicken contains cobalt, vitamin PP, and a few other elements.
Pork: again, cobalt, B1, a little phosphorus, chromium, and others.
Beef: B12, cobalt, a little zinc, copper, group B, and others.

Other Products:

Eggs: choline and selenium (a whole 50% of the daily value per 100 grams).
Cottage cheese 6% grainy: phosphorus, selenium, B12 — 30% of the consumption rate per 100 grams, and calcium — 17%.
Yogurt is quite poor: calcium — 12% of the norm per 100 grams.

Vegetables:

Tomatoes contain a lot of cobalt (60%), vitamin C, and silicon (20% of the daily value per 100 grams).
Cucumbers contain a lot of silicon.
Carrots contain beta-carotene and vitamin A (80% of the daily value per 100 grams), although this is for raw carrots.

Fruits:

An apple, for example, contains 5% of vitamin C per 100 grams;
An orange contains about 40%;
A tangerine contains 30%;
A banana contains 14% of the daily value of potassium per 100 grams and 9% of vitamin C.

Of course, these are very conditional figures.

Conclusion: “We do not reach almost any daily value of vitamins and minerals”

But now let’s assume that all this is really there and it is completely absorbed. It is obvious that with our standard, familiar, and “balanced” diet, we do not reach almost any daily value of vitamins and minerals. And where is our vitamin C, A, D, where is iodine? Where are the beneficial fats needed for vitamin absorption? Where is the zinc needed to fight viruses? Where is the sufficient amount of fiber to naturally eliminate accumulated toxins? Where is the clean water to help the blood deliver the absorbed beneficial substances and help the lymph collect all the waste products of cell activity? They are not there, or there is not enough. And every day we drive ourselves into an even greater deficit.

Of course, I slightly exaggerated the standard diet. And, of course, everyone knows that you need to eat fish: it contains iodine, vitamin D, omega-3 fats. And nuts and seeds contain a lot of beneficial substances. And some vegetables contain more vitamins than fruits. Everyone knows this… But who eats 600 grams of vegetables a day? Who eats fish 3 times a week, and nuts and seeds every day? Who drinks enough water, and not coffee/tea/juice?! Few do. For various reasons. And the reasons can be valid, I do not argue… But the result is one: deficiencies, deficiencies, deficiencies. And taking vitamins from the pharmacy is harmful. A vicious circle….

What to do?!

First, supplement your diet with vegetables, fish, nuts, and various oils. And then, if necessary, you can find good vitamins. The main thing is to know what and why you are looking for. Be healthy.