Georgia Dixon
Body

Why these vitamins are useless and ripping you off

As a nation, we’re spending more money than ever on vitamins and supplements in the pursuit of a longer, healthier life, but many of these products aren’t all that beneficial. In some cases, they may even be harmful.

So which ones are worth your hard-earned cash? We take a look.

While vitamin B supplements are touted as being good for keeping your brain sharp and warding off depression, dementia, heart disease, stroke and cancer, there’s little to no evidence that it’s true.

On the other hand, there are a number of studies suggesting that vitamin C and zinc lozenges could shorten the duration of a cold – but chances are they won’t help you avoid getting sick altogether.

Vitamin D is a little more complicated. We’ve recently been hearing of a widespread vitamin D deficiency, but that only makes sense if scientists can agree on how much we actually need – which they haven’t.

In fact, they’re still a little unclear on what vitamin D is actually helpful for. Some have suggested it may benefit bone health, others claim it could help sufferers of diabetes, depression and cancer, but none of these claims have been backed up by scientific evidence.

As for vitamin E, nutritional epidemiologist Professor Katherine Tucker from the University of Massachusetts warns news.com.au, “don’t take it”. Scientists found it was not only unhelpful, but also may increase your risk of certain cancers.

What about a multivitamin? Surely you can’t go wrong with that, right? Well, it won’t hurt, but it might not necessarily help, either. “There’s been some big studies that show they didn’t really have major effect," Professor Tucker explains.

Do you take any vitamins or supplements? Do you believe they’ve helped improve your health? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Tags:
health, vitamins, money, Supplements, health care