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Are Vitamins Worth It?
I take a lot of vitamins, around ten pills a day. When I shared this with my doctor he replied, “Congratulations, you have the most expensive urine in the city.” This seems to be the opinion of most American doctors: vitamins are a waste of money. My doctor said there’s little scientific evidence that vitamins do anything positive for your health.
Despite these views, Americans take more vitamins than ever before. According to the online site statistica.com, US vitamin and supplement sales exceeded $27 billion in 2022, up five percent from the previous year. Retail food markets like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s report an overall gross profit margin of 35 percent but their vitamin and supplement sales are closer to 50 percent.
The American Medical Association recently reversed their long-standing anti-vitamin stance and began recommending multivitamin supplements for all adults. Vitamins are necessary to strengthen your bones, heal your wounds, improve your vision and provide your body with energy. Popular doctors like Andrew Weil tout vitamins as a crucial part of our health arsenal. Weil says that vitamin intake “is a constant process of trial and error. My body changes and I read up on the medical literature and then I adjust what I take.”
It used to be that a healthy diet provided all the vitamins we need. But a carrot today is not the same as a…
