The scary truth affecting up to 70% of adults (4 is almost beyond belief)
40 million British adults take some kind of vitamin every day.
They have been a staple of our diets for 100 years so you might be shocked to hear many of us are taking them wrong.
This is not your fault.
You would think they are one of the easiest things to get right.
They are designed for ease. You take the pill and POOF - you have forgotten about it straight away. You go back to doing your daily routine, trusting they are safe and ensuring your health stays in tip-top condition.
However, you might be taking them improperly which could be causing you some nasty side effects.
Here we have the big mistakes to steer clear of:
- Taking low-quality vitamin supplements
Please, please, please take quality vitamins. We agree that when you buy a product, it should be high quality with no side effects. In fact, it should only bring shed loads of benefits to your health.
However, this is often not the case.
Some companies will happily sell you the most inferior version of the product. For example, B12 is a popular vitamin and some companies will produce cheap versions of the product with cyanocobalamin instead of methylcobalamin.
Cyanocobalamin is the worst form of the vitamin but is unfortunately commonly used. It can cause some quite severe issues such as rashes, itching, an upset stomach and yep, even nausea.
Not exactly the wonder pill you were hoping for, huh?
2. You spend more time in the sun than a Love Islander so you dodge the vitamin D
If you live in the UK we KNOW you are lying if you use your sun obsession as an excuse for not taking vitamin D.
As much as we wished the sun was ever-present, it would still not guarantee that our vitamin D levels would be normal. Dr Les Emhof, a doctor in sun-baked Florida found that 90% of his patients were vitamin D deficient. In fact, studies have found up to 50% of us are not getting enough of the stuff.
A lack of vitamin D is no joke. Low levels can cause bone aches, chronic fatigue, constant viral infections, muscle aches… I could go on. These issues are just the tip of the vitamin-D deficiency iceberg.
Taking it regularly has proven to help strengthen your immune system, protect your heart, improve your mood and enhance sleep quality.
Especially with winter coming and the promise of darkness at 4pm, you should be thinking about adding to your supplement regime ASAP.
3. You are vegan but are ghosting on vitamin B12
You should not be swerving on vitamin B12. Most people benefit from vitamin B12 but especially those who are strict vegetarians/vegans, over 50, have altered gastrointestinal function or have pernicious anaemia.
The effect of a lack of B12 in your diet can be hard to pin down because the symptoms are quite general. You might experience nasty problems like a loss of appetite, fatigue, weakness and constipation.
But the biggest kicker of them all is that the problems can take a long time to manifest. So by the time you’re experiencing the health problems, it is too late and you become difficult to treat.
The effects of a lack of B12 in your diet are serious as they can be irreversible.
The silver lining is that quality B12 supplements will reduce tiredness and fatigue, making you massively more productive and physically capable, whilst keeping those nasty health problems at bay.
4. You take for granted that the ingredients on the bottle are 100% correct
This mistake is probably the scariest. The sad reality is you can’t assume that what’s on the label is actually in the bottle. In 2020 the New York State Attorney General’s Office did an investigation into popular supplements sold by major health and nutrition brands. They found that 80% of the products that they tested had misleading labels.
Yes that’s right. That product that you put your faith into might not even be what it says it is on the tin.
Consumer trust is the most important thing when it comes to selling vitamins and supplements so choose brands with an outstanding track record for quality products.
5. You think your vitamins make fruit and veg a thing of the past
If your attitude is ‘I take every supplement going, I don’t need fruit and veg no more’, sorry to break it to you, but you still do. The clue is in the name - ‘supplements’ - they are there to support a diet and make it complete.
For example, some people struggle with getting in enough Omega-3 and taking a fish oil supplement can solve this problem.
You should eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables and take supplements to support this. You can't expect stellar results from vitamins if you're eating an unbalanced diet.
6. You take vitamin C without the Z
Movies and popcorn, fish and chips, the sun and sea. Sometimes things go better in life together than on their own. What a lot of people don’t know is that vitamin C and zinc are also a perfect pair.
Both vitamin C and zinc support the immune system but do different jobs, so taking these two together gives you a combined boost. Zinc keeps the immune system strong, supports cell growth and helps heal wounds whereas vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and also boosts the immune system. The two in tandem make for a deadly team - the kind of duo that viruses and bacteria don’t want to meet down a dark alley.