One Pill To Cure Them All

In this day and age, we put healthy living on a high pedestal. We exercise, we eat well, and we supplement our diets with vitamins minerals. Vitamins and minerals are molecules that help our bodies carry out day-to-day processes, like transforming food into energy. Vitamins and minerals are not made by our body, and so we must get them from our diets. We obtain our daily dose of vitamins through helpings of fruits and vegetables. But for some, eating healthy isn’t enough. To really ensure you are getting the right dosage of vitamins and minerals, look no further than the multivitamin.

Multivitamins have been touted as the catch-all “cure” for ailments. They have been advertised to reduce the chance of chronic illnesses, improve energy, and even help reduce depressive episodes. But are multivitamins worth their hype?

Multivitamins do have the capability of being incredible for our health. Chock full of antioxidants and other essential molecules, multivitamins are essential to those who cannot eat a well-balanced meal. Vitamin deficiencies can be harmful to the body. Therefore multivitamins are vital to people who cannot commit to getting in a few servings of vegetables a day.  Further, according to an 8-year study done by the Supplémentation en Vitamines et Mineraux Antioxidants, multivitamins reduced the chance of men developing cancer by 31%. Similar studies have found significant reduction in the risk of developing heart disease in women. mental illness, such as chronic depression.

While there are many benefits of taking multivitamins, the perks may be too good to be true. A study in 2011 looked at the effect of multivitamins on overall cancer risk in Americans and found no significant difference between those who took multivitamins and those who didn’t. Further, for those who want a multivitamin on top of a balanced diet, there is too much of a good thing. In 1995, a study was published stating that pregnant women who take too much vitamin A, risk causing birth defects to their baby.

For me, multivitamins are essential to those who cannot commit to a diet high in fruits and vegetables. However, we must not trust that this single pill will cure cancers, heart disease, and mental illness in one fell swoop. To ensure a long, healthy life, we must supplement our lives with other healthy practices, such as self-care, exercise and, a healthy diet.

 

Tia Malloff