It is true that the body needs a variety of vitamins and minerals to function properly and stay in its healthiest condition, but so much of those nutrients can be received through food alone in a healthy diet that certain supplements may not be necessary to take on a regular basis. For people with restricted diets for health reasons or personal interest might face more potential deficiencies but the average person usually does not.
Vitamin D
Possibly Unnecessary Vitamin Supplements It has been thought that having low levels of vitamin D was a cause of many health problems but that has been turned around to consider that some of those health problems actually lead to lower levels of vitamin D in the body. Vitamin D is an important vitamin to have around to make sure that the bones are utilizing calcium properly, however taking the supplement form of vitamin D might not actually help. Get it from your foods like eggs, liver, and fish, or from moderate amounts of sunlight.
Vitamin A
Your vision depends on good amounts of vitamin A but it might not work as an effective anti-cancer antioxidant as often thought. The antioxidant might be helpful in healthy people but one study showed that smokers who took vitamin A as a supplement were more likely to get lung cancer than those who did not. The link is not totally clear. Vitamin A can also be toxic in high doses.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is an important vitamin as well as an antioxidant but it is extremely easy to get through your food like fresh fruits and vegetables. There is no proven evidence that vitamin C supplements help to cure colds faster as is commonly thought. Large doses of vitamin C can lead to kidney stones and diarrhea.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a popular supplement for its perceived anti-cancer affects, but some studies have shown that regular doses of the supplement are actually linked to higher cancer rates and also higher mortality rates in general.
Vitamin B6
The B vitamins are actually quite easy to get from food and taking too high of doses can lead to nerve damage over time. Deficiencies in the vitamin B6 are quite rare and not something that the average person would have to supplement outside of their food.
Multi-vitamins
Almost half of all adults pop a multi-vitamin on the regular but some large, long-term studies have shown a link between people who too and increased health risks and even higher rates of death. It is possible that taking a multi vitamin is simply providing you with too much of a variety of vitamins. It might be more effective to take individual supplements where there is deficiency concern, and then to just aim to get as much of your vitamins and minerals through your food as possible. Always check with a doctor before adding a supplement to your diet to make sure it is right for your individual needs and that there are not any contraindications with any medications that you may take.