Instead of unnecessarily taking vitamins, increase the proportion of plant foods in your diet, where required vitamins and minerals are found.
Vitamin supplements are not entirely benign!
People with vitamin deficiencies do need to supplement, but do not take vitamins to prevent chronic disease.
Here is a short summary of what the current medical scientific evidence demonstrates:
Beneficial effects:
– Folic acid positively affects total cardiovascular disease
– Folic acid and B-vitamins positively affect stroke
Harmful effects:
– Vitamin B3 (or niacin) might increase all-cause mortality
– Antioxidant mixtures did not appear to benefit cardiovascular disease but might increase all-cause mortality.
– Beta-carotene (vitamin A) has been linked to cancer in smokers
– Vitamin E has been linked to prostate cancer
Mixed effects:
– Vitamin D: uncertain if there is an all-cause mortality effect
– Further studies on multivitamins (most commonly used supplement) are needed because of the marginal benefit seen in this study
You can read more here from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Supplemental Vitamins and Minerals for CVD Prevention and Treatment