Vitamins -- To Take, or Not to Take

To B or not to B!

To C or not to C

To D or not to D!

Why should we take vitamins ? That is the question, isn't it?

Confused? Have you ever walked into a vitamin store and walked right out again?

I did too - about thirty years ago!

In the beginning...

It began even years before that when my husband Bill (he's a doctor) came home with a bottle of vitamin C. "Ever hear of Linus Pauling? He won a noble prize and he says we should all be taking vitamin C" he said.

Doctor Bill was so adamant and enthusiastic, I agreed and started chewing up vitamin C tablets. After a while Doctor Bill started enthusing about vitamin E and so we added it to our daily regime.

About a year later I began to notice things had changed. My "3-x-a-year-sick-in-bed-with-a-miserable-cold" syndrome had dried up and gone away. And the "notice-lump-in-breast-go-to-doctor-who-sticks in-needle-and-drains-it" was also gone! Vanished!!

Heavy periods? "Why not try dessicated liver tablets?" recommended a friend. Four months later -- "Laying-in-bed-two-days-a month" syndrome -- GONE.

What next?

Doctor Bill and I decided to try some B vitamins. Lecithin? Minerals?

That’s when we went to the vitamin store and confronted confusion. What are ug’s? mg’s? iu’s? Doctor Bill tried to explain, but it was very confusing.

And what about minerals?

"I don’t know," replied my 'ahead of his time' doc, "they didn’t teach us nutrition in medical school."

Is nutrition taught there yet?

Choo-Choo Train...

Years of hit and miss followed as we consumed long choo-choo trains of vitamins. Halibut liver oil capsules, multi-B vitamins, 2 tablets of C, dessicated liver tablets, 2 vitamin E capsules, lecithin... Should we add zinc? What about calcium? Word about town was take tums -- because it has something your body needs anyway...

It seemed that there were many more questions than answers.

Why Vitamins?

We researched and adjusted and added to our choo-choo train. Then in the eighties we heard about Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. They showed us that no one could manufacture a one-a-day multi-vitamin that would provide everything our bodies needed that we would be able to swallow. It would simply be too large. They also showed us that we are ultimately responsible for our own health.

We began to question the integrity of the vitamin manufacturers. How much of the nutrient listed on the bottle was actually in the bottle? How much of each tablet was filler? Did you know coal tar, artificial coloring, preservatives and yeast are sometimes added to our vitamins? Is the product bioavailable? Can the nutrients be absorbed by the body? At that time there were no satisfactory answers to these and many other questions.

I thought about my Grandmothers. Both lived into their nineties and were healthy. They never popped pills. What had happened to make vitamin consumption necessary? I read and read.

To take or not to take Vitamins | Prevention | Choosing Vitamins | How to take Pills | Take Care | Copper Deficiency | Health Studies | Scientific Review