The Vitamin Paradox: Do Nutritional Supplements ‘License’ Unhealthy Behavior?

Huffington Post:

Last night I had a chocolate milkshake for dinner. I don’t eat like this all the time, but often enough. I eat lots of salads, but I also eat cheeseburgers. And if I’m tired I eat pretzels or skip eating entirely. In short, I’m far from a nutritional purist.

But I take a multivitamin every day and have for as long as I can remember. I figure it’s the least I can do for my personal health, plus it’s easy and fairly cheap. I guess I’m hedging my bets.

And I’m not alone: Sales of nutritional supplements have grown dramatically over the past decade or so and now total more than $20 billion a year. More than half of Americans take some kind of vitamin pill. But here’s the rub: Even though sales of vitamins have risen steadily, there has been no corresponding improvement in public health. Indeed, the opposite is true, with obesity and diabetes climbing perilously. What’s going on here?

Read the whole story: Huffington Post