What are vitamin tablets?

Answer 1

First, let's talk about vitamins. You can't see them, but you can see the effect they have on your health. Vitamins are organic compounds contained in food. Some vitamins promote healthy skin, or healthy eyes, or healthy bones. But if you do not eat a balanced diet (fruits, vegetables, dairy products, etc), you may be deficient in certain vitamins. If your body does not have enough of these substances, your health will suffer. Vitamin tablets are a way to add extra vitamins to your diet. In theory, this is a good thing-- for example, in some cultures, people do not have access to a balanced diet and so they eat too much starch or too much grain and not enough fruits and vegetables. Vitamin tablets (also called "vitamin pills" or "vitamin supplements") add the extra vitamins your diet may lack.

But some doctors have become skeptical about vitamin tablets. They believe if you eat a balanced diet, you should already have enough of the vitamins you need and not require taking extra supplements. Thus, while taking a daily vitamin tablet is probably not harmful, taking too much of certain vitamins can cause unexpected problems. The best thing to do is get a physical from your doctor or nurse practitioner; he or she can test you to see if you have any vitamin deficiencies. If you do, you can then take extra vitamin tablets to improve your health.