We know vitamins and minerals are good for us, and actually they are essential for us, but does more necessarily mean better health when it comes to supplements?
Research from Mintel found that in 2022, 38% of Brits take vitamins, minerals or supplements daily and with an estimated worth of £520 million, retail value sales of vitamins and supplements grew by 17% over 2017-22 in the UK.
With such a boom in supplement use, it’s impossible not to walk through any supermarket or scroll through social media without being presented with at least one supplement that claims to improve your health, hair, or hormone levels. But do these are these supplements a waste of your money or more importantly, are they even safe? Let me help you answer that.
I’m going to start with the spoiler: If you are a healthy individual, without any specific nutritional deficiencies, you should be able to get all of the essential nutrients that your body needs through a well balanced diet.
However, the big exception to this is Vitamin D, which is made in our skin following exposure to the sun and is difficult to obtain solely through the diet. Therefore here in the UK, everyone is advised to take a 10 microgram supplement of vitamin D each day throughout the autumn and winter months. Babies, children aged 1-4, and certain at risk groups are be advised to take it throughout the year, find out more here.
Vitamin D, calcium and magnesium are the best for twenty-somethings, while omega-3s are needed in your 40s.
Other groups of people who may benefit from specific supplements include:
- Women who are pregnant, trying to conceive or could become pregnant should take a 400mcg folic acid supplement until 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- People who suffer from certain medical conditions, for example iron deficiency anaemia, or have had certain types of gastro-intestinal surgery may require supplements to prevent nutrient deficiencies
- People following a vegan diet require vitamin B12 supplementation.
- Children aged 6 months to 5 years who should take a supplement containing Vitamin A,C and D.
If you’re unsure whether you need to take a supplement, speak with your doctor or pharmacist who can advise you further.
Depending on how a supplement is classified, i.e food or medicinal, it will be subject to different regulation. There are numerous regulations and considerations behind classifying each supplement, but in the UK, most food supplements (such as vitamins, minerals or amino acids) are regulated as foods (not medicines) and therefore covered by food law. That means that not all supplements are subject to the same strict processes like clinical trials to prove their effectiveness, purity, or marketing claims, before entering the market.
Always buy vitamins and supplements from a reputable source such as your local chemist or high street pharmacy. Internet products may not meet UK standards and may not have gone through the same checks as products from a more reliable source. One analysis of 30 dietary supplements with claims related to immune health sold on Amazon.com found that 17 had incorrect labels, 13 had been misbranded and 9 had extra components found but not stated on the label.
Whole foods contain a mixture of vitamins, minerals, fibre, and antioxidants all in one package that we can’t replicate in a pill. It is becoming increasingly clear that food is more than the sum of its parts and that nutrients function better when consumed as part of a whole food rather than pills.
When we look at long-term data on what behaviours helps people live longer, healthier lives - it’s eating a healthy balanced diet, not supplements that have robust evidence. In fact, a large analysis of of 21 multivitamin-multimineral supplement clinical trials failed to find any benefit of improved life-expectancy or lower risks of heart disease or cancer from taking supplements.
So the TLDR is: Supplements are just that - a supplement to an already balanced diet and lifestyle, not a replacement for.
A real-life limitless tablet.
Show of hands how many times you have been told to load up on vitamin C when you’ve been feeling a bit run down with a cold or the flu?
Research has found that Vitamin C supplementation does not actually reduce your chance of catching a cold - although it may do in certain population groups (i.e. those undergoing intense physical stress, such as marathon training). Regular supplementation may potentially reduce the length (by about half a day) and the severity of the common cold. The same benefit was not found in therapeutic supplementation (i.e. taking vitamin C after the cold starts).
Getting enough vitamin C is typically not an issue for most people - foods like citrus fruits, peppers, broccoli, strawberries, and potatoes. My advice would be to load up on food-based sources first before worrying about supplements.
Here's how to get more of the good stuff.
Commercially marketed IV supplements are on trend at the moment and claim to boost immunity, detox, and cure hangovers - and while they my hydrate you, it’s a pretty expensive - not to mention risky - hangover cure.
In this case, IV stands for intravenous, i.e. into your vein. Oral multivitamins are generally safe to use, when used appropriately, however administering something intravenously is completely different to popping a pill. As doctors we carefully weigh up the risks and benefits before prescribing anything IV and always review patients who are on IV medication or drips to see when we can step them down to the oral equivalent. The risks of anything administered intravenously include; increased risk of toxicity, risk of infection, risk of bleeding, inflammation of the vein and electrolyte abnormalities.
IV supplements may be administered by a registered health professional, such a nurse, but that does not eliminate the risks listed above.
'Cos life is too much these days…
