Healthrob.com

Lately many articles have been published on mainstream newspapers discussing the benefit of taking vitamins and supplements:
“Vitamin tablets are pointless for people on a healthy diet and British people are wasting their money and perhaps risking their health with supplements, says adviser to the Food Standards Agency…” (http://www.thelondonpaper.com/thelondonpaper/news/london/news/worried-britons-wasting-money-on-vitamins)
Recently there’s been a massive increase in the consumption of multivitamins’ and supplements.
The reality is that taken in excess, these products can cause serious consequences and that their assumption should be overlooked by a GP, dietician or nutritionist to ensure the doses do not go beyond what’s necessary to the body for each single person.
It is true that our diet is poor of vitamins, minerals and enzymes that boost nutrients’ absorption. But pills should never replace meals or be taken in large amounts each day and for long periods of time because their absorption is not the same as for natural foods.
Our body does not have to get used to supplements and in order to avoid it:
1- We should take a supplement for a maximum period of 30 days. Meanwhile if we detect unwanted symptoms we should suspend them immediately.
2- We shouldn’t take a multivitamin supplement in the same period when we also take another supplement containing any type of the same vitamins. This is because our body will struggle to absorb all the vitamins (they are concentrated) and our organs will work hard to throw away what is not needed.
If the body fails to do that we may be in worse troubles because we may develop strong intolerances to some of them and also unbalance and inhibit the production of natural essential substances such as insulin for example.
Another example that vitamins are essential but are not the same as food, is pregnancy where the intake of supplements can be dangerous for the baby who before and after childbirth will absorb directly from the mother all its vital nutrients. On the other hand some specific types of supplement suggested by doctors promote a healthier development of the child (such as folic acid).
Excess is not beneficial in nutrition and it always brings unwanted consequences for our body.
We have to be especially careful to avoid excessive intake, in form of supplement, of the following:
Vitamin A: excess vitamin A, which accumulates in the liver, led to headaches and nausea, and over a long period of time increases the risk of osteoporosis. Safe levels of vitamin A can easily be exceeded, for instance, by taking both multivitamin and fish oil supplements.
Betacarotene (precursor of vitamin A): research has shown that if taken in form of supplement by smokers can expose them to a higher risk of lung cancer (read more here).
Vitamin C: large doses of vitamin C – taken with the idea that it fights colds – may be harmless but are largely excreted and have unpleasant effects on the stomach and on the urinary tract.
Vitamin E: research has shown that taking vitamins C and E after a workout appears to prevent physical exercise improving the body’s energy regulation.
Taking for 20 to 30 days one type of vitamin or a complete multivitamin can really add to our regular diet and make us feel and look younger, but for longer than that will trick our body into getting used to it, therefore not needing any longer to metabolize to its best real foods to extract the nutrients we need and making our body and skin sensitized and more exposed to diseases and allergies, besides making it hard for our filtering organs to work properly.
When it comes to add vitamin complements to our diet we should whether seek advice from professionals on our nutrition and vitamins needs OR take supplements little at the time for brief periods only to boost our intake and give our body a variety of all it needs but without excessive doses, thinking of what ingredients are really likely to be missing in our typical diet, following our common sense and tuning in with the signals our body sends to us.

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4. Melatonin: readjust your body clock
5. Cholesterol-lowering natural foods