Winter is coming and TV, newspapers and social media are filled with advertisements for multivitamins. Not that it was any different in the summer, as advertisements emphasized the need for vitamin supplements for heat and excessive sweating. But they also tell us that they are also useful during seasonal changes, when returning to work after holidays, before holidays to rest better, at 30, 40, 50, 60 years and beyond. In short, it seems that we cannot do without vitamin tabs, tablets or solutions. But do we really need multivitamins?
Do we really need multivitamins?
“Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements” (enough is enough: stop wasting money on vitamin and mineral supplements) is the provocative title of an editorial written in 2013 by a group of five doctors from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the Warwick Medical School in the United Kingdom United and published in Annals of Internal Medicineone of the most widespread and influential medical journals in the world.
Based on decades of large-scale studies that found no evidence that multivitamins reduce the risk of heart disease or cancer, prevent memory decline, or lower the rate of heart attacks, doctors in the United Kingdom essentially said that “supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with most commercially available mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and may even be harmful.
But they could be useful
However, a recent study on people over 60 years old who took multivitamins every day for 3 years demonstrated improved performance on memory tests compared to the comparator placebo group.
Now, multivitamin supplements are not an absolute remedy against cognitive decline in old age nor against Alzheimer’s or senile dementia, and the same neuropsychologist and professor at Columbia University who led the study sincerely admits that the reliable effect found from the study it could also be obtained with a varied diet rich in fruit and vegetables. That is, taking vitamins does not replace a healthy diet and in case it can only improve things a little in people who are entering old age or are fully elderly and, for numerous reasons, could have vitamin deficiencies that would suggest supplementation.
And for athletes?
And what about athletes who use multivitamins for their athletic performance? There are some cases of vitamin depletion in which, if it is not possible to supplement with nutrition, a vitamin supplement may be an optimal solution for a limited period of time.
The higher principle also applies here: with a varied, balanced nutrition, with the right balance of nutrients, a multivitamin should not be needed; however in cases of specific and particular deficiencies – for example iron deficiency in endurance athletes – a multivitamin can be an effective short-term solution.
However, since multivitamins are sold almost everywhere, from the pharmacy counter to sports shops on the Internet, you need to be very clear about what your deficiencies are, which and how many vitamins are contained in the supplement, how many compared to the RDA (daily dietary intake recommended), in what relationship and balance between them. That is, a multivitamin is not something to be taken lightly and independently; not so much for any damage due to supplementation, which is not there, but for the sense of security and coverage that they could give even if they do not ensure all the necessary or required nutrients. In short, let’s go back to the gold standard: a varied and balanced nutrition is able to ensure everything you need, and thinking of relying only on multivitamins could lead to the risk of not having enough of what you need from a nutrient point of view.
Ultimately, the best multivitamin strategy, for everyone, is to focus on food first and then possibly supplements.
READ ALSO: Vitamins and sport: which ones are needed and in what doses
Photo by freestocks / Brooke Lark / Myriam Zilles
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