Does it really take vitamins? A Taiwanese diplomat from the United States once asked me this question in person. Because he was busy with business, his wife asked him to eat vitamins every day to replenish his body. Although he thought it was unnecessary, he couldn't bear to refuse the wife's kindness, and he couldn't say a reason for "no", so he asked me for my opinion. The following are my suggestions for him and readers.
However, many people think that the more you eat, the better, so overweight vitamins is a very common problem. There are 60,000 cases of vitamin poisoning in the United States every year and are reported to the poison control center. These 60,000 cases are so serious that they need to be reported to the poison control center. That is not that serious, but how many cases are there that have exceeded them, 60,000 or 6 million? If you want to know more about the symptoms of vitamin poisoning, readers can refer to the article "The Toxicity of Vitamin". In a report published in 2012, a total of 78 random clinical trials were analyzed, of which nearly 300,000 were investigated. It was found that Vitamin E and Hussil (Vitamin A) supplements increased mortality by 5%. And Vitamin C is neither good nor bad.
There are also some official articles in Taiwan that discuss vitamins and experts. Poisoning physician Lin Jie-Lin once said in an article that a child in Hong Kong suffered from cirrhosis due to excessive amounts of vitamin A-containing liver oil. Another article, "Vitamins may increase cancer risk after being replenished", has already understood the topic very well. Such many articles are all about readers who can get enough vitamins as long as they have a balanced diet. Therefore, the "he" of vitamins refers to who is obviously not an ordinary public, but a manufacturer with great interests.
There was a formal research paper published in June 2018, titled "Vitamin and Mineral Replenishment for Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases". This article was co-written by thirty-nine doctors, nutritionists and scientists from all over the world. They analyzed all research reports on the relationship between supplements and cardiovascular disease and mortality published between 2012 and 2017 (179 articles in total), and concluded that vitamin and mineral supplements are not only beneficial to the prevention or treatment of cardiovascular disease, but are also harmful in some cases. Vitamin A, B3, C and E, for example, are related to the increase in death risk.
For such a conclusion, the media will certainly seek the opinions of experts, and they all say "expected things" in a different voice. Since experts all know that supplements are not only useless but are harmful, why do public opinion still take these medicines that may be harmful to health when spending money on big pens? I have written dozens of articles about supplements that are not only beneficial but harmful, but I still receive a question from readers every few days: Is this really the case? Alas, how can this deep-rooted poison be removed?
The Myth of Natural and Synthetic VitaminA reader once said to me, "I eat natural comprehensive vitamins, not synthetic ones." So I asked, "What is natural comprehensive vitamins? Are they extracted from plants, or are they natural artificial medicines written on jars?" In fact, most readers have a big mistake with the word "natural".
From this example, we can see that the word "natural is almost the same as "chasing you stupid". Taiwan's "Environmental Information Center" published an article in February 2014, "The Esophageal Administration has no definition, and the food is crazy about nature."7. Its first paragraph is: Pre-packaged food products in the United States are listed on the shelves with natural marks, but they are full of artificial additives and chemical ingredients, because the United States does not define what is "natural".
is right, the FDA has not made any definition of nature, so it is certainly impossible to investigate whether the natural products on the list are fake. In science, it is also impossible to define what is natural. Of course, nutrients extracted from animals or plants must be processed using some physical or chemical methods during the extraction, purification and preparation of the agent. So, even if the source is natural, the final product may have become far away from natural.
Strictly speaking, all natural vitamins exist only in food (vitamin D comes from the sun), and once they are extracted, they are no longer natural. So, if you believe that "synthetic" is not good, then you can only get vitamins from food and sunlight.
Only 1% of people need vitamin supplementsThe good news is that for most people (99%), food and sunlight can provide enough vitamins. The bad news is that additional supplements (in the jar) of these people may increase mortality rates.
So, whether vitamins are natural is not a question, but "whether it is necessary to supplement it." There are not many people who really need to supplement their vitamins, and only about 1%. For example, people who eat vegetarians (no eggs) need to supplement their vitamins B12. Although most vitamin B12 supplements on the market are synthetic, they are still effective.
Also, people living in areas with insufficient sunlight, especially children who are developing, need to take vitamin D supplements (of course, it is synthesized and effective). In other words, as long as it is "needed to eat" (rather than supplemented), the synthetic vitamins are both safe and effective.
I am so sure because over the past 100 years, research on vitamins has accumulated more than 300,000 articles, and most of the research here is made on synthetic vitamins (it is natural vitamins that are not easy to obtain). If there is anything bad about synthetic vitamins, it is only when they are used. Unfortunately, one-third of people in the United States use vitamins, and I guess Taiwan is not much better.
The best source of vitamins? Your plate is not your pharmacyto tell a sad joke: a group of college classmates from inside came to visit California and stayed at my house. They all knew that I opposed taking vitamin supplements, so they secretly bought vitamins and wanted to take them back to Taiwan. After someone else found out, they recommended that it was bought by friends. ha! I am indeed a loyal fan (in fact, I know their real intention is to do good deeds and promote economics).
Finally, add an article published by Harvard Medical College, titled "The best source of vitamins? Your plate is not your pharmacy〉. Readers who have questions about vitamin supplements have already made a good conclusion about the title of this article.
Professor Lin's scientific nurse notes
. There are thirteen types of vitamins, all of which are "micro" nutrients. They are all balanced dietary ingested from three meals a day. It is easy to overtake the supplement of pills, which is harmful to health. Vitamin and mineral supplements are not only beneficial to the prevention or treatment of cardiovascular diseases, but are harmful in some cases. For example, vitamins A, B3, C and E are all related to the increase in death risk
. Strictly speaking, all natural vitamins exist only in food (vitamin D comes from the sun), and once they are extracted, they are no longer natural
This article is excerpted from "Science on the Table"
Author: Professor Lin Qingtong
Publisher: Yixin Culture
Author Prof. Ching-Shwun Lin, PhD
has served as a professor at the University of California, with 40 years of medical research experience, published nearly 200 research papers, and served as an appraisal committee member for more than 60 world-renowned medical journals. After retired from the professor's career, he published scientific evidence-based articles from the perspective of medical research, committed to cracking the myths of health care flowing online, helping readers avoid being misled by uncertified information and thus maintaining personal health.