People today are too inclined on having vitamin pills and supplements, but less likely to change their dietary habits and get vitamins from natural sources like fruits and vegetables. Vitamins unless and until recommend by your general physician can be harmful to your body, any vitamin in excess can do more damage than benefit. Majority of vitamin pill takers are getting an overdose of the daily allowance of vitamins and minerals.
The most commonly taken vitamins are Vitamin C and Vitamin D, though it’s understandable to take vitamin D if you’re a vegan and cannot have chicken, fish and eggs, or you live in a country where there is very less sunlight to produce vitamin D in the skin. Antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E and folic acid are known to reverse the signs of aging, and fight the free radicals in our body and preventing oxidative cell damage.
Human gut is better adapted at digesting proteins, vitamins and minerals from animal sources, therefore having dietary supplements sourced from synthetic products or plants are of little use in the human body. So if you’re missing out on a whole food group and are trying to compensate it with supplements, it’s a very bad idea in the long run, because we must have a balanced diet to sustain.
Studies show that an excess of these vitamins and antioxidants doesn’t stop aging or quell any diseases, there’s definitely no evidence of dietary supplements extending the life or stopping diseases. A study in the US showed that taking folic acid supplements increased the risk of breast cancer in women by 20%, another study showed that taking vitamin A supplements raised the risk of lung cancer up to 28%.
Therefore, the idea that antioxidants can reverse aging and are the miracle cure is lethal, so do we really need multivitamin supplements? The answer is No; a balanced diet is the natural source of all the vitamins and minerals your body needs; and getting them from animal as well as plant sources is vital. Most of us don’t need any supplementation, excess of these vitamins and minerals can whack the natural balance of the body and increase the risk of many disease, including cancer.