28 Billion Dollars Worth of Lies

Multivitamins are a 28 billion dollar business and it is expanding every year. Millions of people all around the world consume multivitamin supplements everyday whether to just live a healthy life or because people think that they need the extra vitamins in their system. Most people do not even realize what they are consuming and think every multivitamin is healthy to take because they are sold on grocery and supplement store shelves across the country. Another common mistake people make is that they think consuming more than the recommended amount is more beneficial because in their minds more is always better which is false. The truth is that many people do not need multivitamins and taking them could actually be killing them.

Taking too much of a certain vitamin can lead to a vitamin overdose. Most vitamin overdoses are accidental because people think they are actually helping their bodies function at a more efficient level. These overdoses can lead to toxic symptoms which can range from cracking lips to liver and kidney failure. Many people are unaware when these symptoms occur and fail to do anything about it because no one thinks that the multivitamin supplement they take every morning is causing their eye irritation which eventually will kill them. An example of taking too much of a vitamin is folic acid. Most multivitamins contain folic acid which is good for the body but mostly everyone gets the recommended amount of folic acid in the food they eat throughout the day. According to Webmd.com recent studies have shown that excess folic acid can be linked with lung and prostate cancer.

Another problem people face with multivitamin supplements is that they might not even be getting the correct amount of a certain vitamin that they actually need. A large portion of actual vitamin deficient people think any multivitamin they take will do the job. Most doctors recommend getting tested to see what vitamins people are not getting enough of and then they will be prescribed a certain multivitamin or will be recommended to eat more of a certain food which is the healthiest way to fix vitamin deficiency. On December 16, 2013 a study was conducted by three doctors at Johns Hopkins University that found there is absolutely no benefit from multivitamins on a well-nourished body and taking them actually could harm people. They also found that these vitamins can be taxing on the liver and other organs when there are excess amounts in the body. These doctors strongly recommend staying away from these dangerous multivitamins and sticking to the way our bodies are supposed to get nutrients which is simply eating food.

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/effects-of-taking-too-many-vitamins

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/multivitamin-researchers-say-case-is-closed-supplements-dont-boost-health/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002596.htm