Healthier with a pill? The sense and nonsense of vitamin supplements

A good diet is important. But few people manage to eat a healthy and varied diet all the time. We are busy, sweets and snacks are beckoning in the supermarket. A frozen pizza is made faster than a slice-of-five meal. Are extra vitamin supplements a good idea?

Usually not, says the Nutrition Center. Even if you do not eat completely responsibly, you will not quickly develop a vitamin deficiency. Some groups do need something extra: think of vitamin B12 for vegans, for example, because B12 is only found in animal foods. Or vitamin D for the elderly, people with tanned skin and people who rarely get out into the open air: vitamin D is produced in our skin under the influence of sunlight, among other things. Alcoholics, strict dieters or people who follow an extreme diet, such as ‘raw foodies’, can also benefit from taking extra vitamins. But those who do not belong to such a group and who eat a healthy and varied diet do not, in principle, need any additional food supplements.

Women are iron deficient quickly

Or is it? According to the RIVM, various studies have shown that the intake of a number of vitamins and minerals is too low in large parts of the population, says food scientist Jaap Seidell. ‘Think of vitamins such as A, K, D and folic acid. Women quickly become iron deficient and children often get too little vitamin D, which is important for bone growth.’

Dietary hypes also sometimes cause shortages. Due to the myth that bread is unhealthy and fattening, more and more people are walking around with an iodine deficiency and thyroid problems. Bread is our main source of the mineral iodine. According to Seidell, supplements could therefore be useful for many Dutch people. ‘But it is highly questionable whether you will become healthier if you take supplements, but otherwise continue to eat unhealthy.’

Renger Witkamp, ​​professor of nutrition and pharmacology at Wageningen University, also believes that you should try to get as many vitamins as possible from whole foods: ‘But the reality is that nobody eats completely healthy.’ And then it may be a good idea to take a multivitamin, for example. ‘I also think that more groups should be advised to take extra vitamins, such as very fanatical athletes or people who regularly take medicines such as antacids,’ says Witkamp. But also for those who just can’t manage to eat healthy, a supplement can be a good idea. Think of a multivitamin supplement for young people who live on pizza, or omega-3 fatty acids for people who are horrified by oily fish. ‘Of course you would prefer them to eat better, but if they don’t, then taking a supplement is an option.’ In that regard, we have to be pragmatic, Witkamp believes.

Vitamin test

Suppose you’ve been feeling a bit limp lately. How do you know if that is due to a vitamin deficiency? There are all kinds of tests for sale on the internet, with which you take a blood sample from yourself and send it to a laboratory. But such tests are not always reliable: the results often differ considerably. Vitamin tests via the GP or dietician are reliable, but many GPs only do this if you have clear complaints. There can be many other reasons for your dip, such as sleep deprivation, stress, an infection or other condition, or simply too little exercise or fresh air.

Do you want to swallow something? Then take a multivitamin and mineral supplement. According to the Nutrition Center, supplements at the drugstore or supermarket are just as good as special vitamin preparations costing tens of euros. It also doesn’t matter whether the vitamins are ‘natural’ or made in a lab. What you should pay attention to: the recommended daily amount (RDA). It is always on the label and is there for a reason. Because you can never actually get too much of a vitamin through your diet, but you can through supplements. It is precisely some expensive vitamin preparations that recommend a dosage that far exceeds the RDA. For example, 70 milligrams per day is the RDA for vitamin C, but some pills contain 2,000 milligrams.

Now you just pee out an excess of vitamin C. But a high dose of some other vitamins and minerals is quite unhealthy. Skater Sven Kramer, for example, got all kinds of complaints because he had taken a large amount of vitamin B6 for a long time. In addition, vitamins can also ‘stack’ in your body. For example, if you are already taking vitamin D, it is not a good idea to take a multivitamin that also contains vitamin D. If it doesn’t help, then it doesn’t hurt, so in any case it doesn’t work.