"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

Manufacturers will try to justify their deviation from the USDA standard in one or two ways: by listing studies that back up their claims, or sidestep the issue with a disclaimer that their claims have not been evaluated or endorsed by the FDA. The reason for issuing a disclaimer should be obvious, but what about the studies that allegedly backup the manufacturers claims? Unbeknown to most people, there are two kinds of studies: statistical studies and experimental studies. Now an experimental study will typically be a description of the outcome of a routine that can reproduced simply by following a set of given instructions. A statistical study will be a summary of a mathematical compilation of the results of generic observations made on the effects of a controlled parameter or controlled substance.

Both types of studies have to be funded by someone, and usually that someone is not always scientifically-minded but politically-minded. Surprisingly, this is alright so long as there is a way to prove that the outcome of the study was not rigged. This is easy enough to do with an experimental study -- just follow the instructions and see if you get the same outcome. On the other hand, a statistical study is not so simple to evaluate because the outcomes of statistical studies can vary wildly, but are acceptable if the relationship between parameters and data can be mathematically determined to be consistent. For any statistical study to be scientifically valid, they must always be done in pairs, first with an initial study, then followed up by another identical study, but this time conducted by an independent and objective third-party with no conflict-of-interest in the outcome. Otherwise a statistical study will become nothing more than anecdotal evidence -- storytelling in other words. Also you should be forewarned that, as any University statistics textbook will tell you, statistical studies can only prove correlations but correlations cannot prove causes. So even though the studies can all be in agreement, the correlations may be irrelevant to the actual cause.

So when I read the studies listed by these vitamin manufacturers, and I only see one study per claim listed, instead of the minimum scientifically valid two studies per claim requirement, so to me the only proper thing to do is to doubt their claim.

Now for the hard question: when does a supplement become a substitute? Most people buy into the story that we need a vitamin once a day, otherwise the state of our health will not be optimal, but that is faulty and unfactual reasoning. For example, we all know what happens when a person has a gross deficit of vitamin C -- they get scurvy. The real question we need to ask here though, is not if you would get scurvy if you don't get enough vitamin C, but how long would it take before you got scurvy? Vitamin C is stored in our fat, so the amount of vitamin C it can store is limited. If we start out completely "full" of vitamin C (that would be 1500 milligrams for a typical person), medical literature informs us that it would take three months of total deprivation of vitamin C, before we might begin to start experiencing scurvy. That's three months of total deprivation. That means no vegetables, or citrus fruit of any kind such as cantaloupes, strawberries, tomatoes, or potatoes for three entire months. At that point, the total vitamin C left in the body would amount to 350 milligrams. Now consider this: a typical orange has 70 milligrams of vitamin C in it. Eating just one orange would buy you 5-1/2 days of "scurvy protection". Taking just one typical vitamin supplement would buy you the maximum of 90 days of scurvy protection. Total deprivation of many other vitamins or minerals would take even longer than three months before any ill effects eventually will be experienced, so vitamin C seems to be the worst case example. So how can anyone justify the "need" to take one vitamin a day? There is none that I can see because apparently you could take one vitamin every three months and still not experience any ill-effects. In fact, you probably would be able to wait longer than three months between doses, because remember, you would have to have complete and total absence of any one vitamin or mineral for a very extended length of time before you would experience any ill-effects, and that is almost impossible on any normal diet, even the junk food diet of Americans. Since I stopped supplementing my diet with one vitamin every day, I have experienced no ill effects, although my skin has cleared up tremendously since I started following this routine.

A huge problem with vitamin supplements is the claimed recommended daily allowance (RDA) fulfillment of the various vitamins and minerals is misleading. Take for example, calcuim. I've seen calcium supplements that list over 100% of the RDA, but if you look at the actual ingredients on the side of the bottle, it lists seashells which is calcium carbonate. So what you say? People, humans are unable to digest calcium carbonate -- it just simply passes right through you without being absorbed. The body needs calcium in the form of calcium phosphate, like that found in milk or animal bones, not in the form of calcium carbonate, like that found in chaulk or seashells. Furthermore, many people are allergic to the other ingredients used in many vitamins, such as gluten.

If I ingest more of a substance than is needed, based only on a recommendation and not a requirement, would that be considered a supplement or an overdose? Most people are well educated by big business on the benefits of vitamins and minerals. Likewise, many people are also well educated by big business on the harm caused by a deficiency of any of the various vitamins and minerals. What you won't find are many people well educated by big business on the harm caused by overdosing of any of the various vitamins and minerals. Why not? I don't know, but it seems logical that I couldn't sell you "specially formulated" concoctions of anything if I told you that it had no additional effect over the normal formulation or even could potentially harm you, could I? And it is so easy to convince you to buy megadoses of anything by taking advantage of your lack of knowledge in nutrition by reinforcing the very common but very illogical belief that "if a little of something is good for you, more of it would be even better for you". But I'm not a big business; I'm not here to make a profit off of you or mislead you. So, if like me, you would rather be hurt by the truth instead of comforted by a lie, here is the truth...

Nutrient	Deficit of nutrient can cause...	Excess of nutrient can cause...
Vitamin A	Night blindness	Death
Vitamin B1	Beriberi	None known
Vitamin B2	Dermatitis, blurred vision	None known
Vitamin B6	Seborrhea	Numbness Loss of tendon reflexes
Vitamin B12	Anemia, anorexia, dyspenea	None known
Vitamin C	Scurvy	Kidney stones, exacerbation of gout
Vitamin D	Rickets	Death, irreversible damage to heart and renal organs
Vitamin E	Uncertain	Thrombophlebitis, hypertension
Vitamin K	Easily bruised, profuse bleeding	None known
Niacin	Pellagra, death	Hyperglycemia, liver damage, gout
Panthothenic Acid	Not certain	None known
Biotin	Scaly skin, muscle pains, elevated cholesterol levels	None known
Folic Acid	Anemia, spina bofida	None known
Calcium	Rickets (in children), Tetanus, Osteoporosis	Kidney stones
Phosphorus	Rickets	None known
Magnesium	Tremors, Diarrhea	Diarrhea
Potassium	Tachycardia, heart failure	Paresthesia, cardiac abnormalities
Sulfer	None known	None known
Sodium	Convulsions	Hypertension, edema
Chlorine	Muscle cramps, apathy	Vomiting
Iron	Anemia	Hemochromatosis, cirrhosis, diabetes
Iodine	Hypothyroidism, cretinism, myxedema	Hypothyroidism
Manganese	None known	Obsessive, hallucinations
Copper	None known	Wilson's disease
Zinc	Loss of taste and smell, depressed immunity	Slurred speech, tremors
Cobalt	Anemia, anorexia, dyspenea	Goiter, polycythemia
Fluorine	None known	Mottling of teeth
Selenium	None known	Nausea, vomiting, irritability, fatigue, hair loss
Chromium	Increases risk of diabetes	None known
Carbohydrate	Acidosis, tissue wasting	Obesity, elevated triglycerides, cavities
Fat	Weight loss, skin lesions, stroke (if susceptible)	Obesity, high cholesterol or high LDL lipoproteins (if susceptible)
Protein	Weight loss, anemia, edema, miscarriages	Obesity

Source: Human Anatomy and Physiology, Third Edition, by Elaine N. Marieb, pp 850, 852-858.

So when I say "I'm sick of taking vitamins", I don't mean I am physically sick, I mean I am sick and tired of spending my good money on what appears to be based more on profit-making hype than beneficial science.

This is no joke. From the BBC newsroom of April 16th, 2008, you can read about where, "A major review suggests certain vitamin supplements do not prolong life and could lead to a premature death" . That 67 studies research included antioxidant supplements.

I suggest you draw your own conclusions from this material, since this information is not intended to be medical advice, is not meant to be comprehensive, and I may have made a few typos or copying errors. That is why I have provided sources of my information wherever reasonable -- so you don't have to take my word for anything I claim but can research the evidence for yourself.