7 Healthcast
Eat Your Vitamins
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Jodi Parrish
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Americans spend more than $20 billion a year on vitamin supplements, but recent studies suggest they might not have the affect most had hoped. Frances Rivera has the story in tonight's Healthcast. We've all heard the expression "be sure to take your vitamins" ... And many do, hoping to prevent or ward off illness and diseases.
But several large studies released this year are forcing consumers to reconsider.
Ginnie Collins, Clinical dietician
"It's probably not harmful to take a multivitamin if you want to, you may be wasting your money."
Dieticians say you'll get more bang for your buck by shifting your focus from taking a pill to making smarter food choices.
For example, one cup of cantaloupe gives you more than 100 percent of your vitamin C needs.
Ginnie Collins, Clinical dietician
"Oranges have lots of vitamin C, beans have lots of protein, broccoli has lots of vitamin C, dark green leafy vegetables have lots of folate and calcium."
Experts say stock your cart with the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
Ginnie Collins, Clinical dietician
"Nature provides us with all these colorful vegetables and fruits, and if we eat them every day than we're going meet the majority of the needs that we have."
So experts advise, to stay healthy, keep a colorful cart.
Frances Rivera, 7NEWS.
Some people need a supplement -- pregnant women need extra folic acid, and some elderly need more B12. Representatives from the vitamin industry say the best advice for consumers is to engage in a lifetime of healthy habits-like not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a well-balanced diet and appropriately supplementing with vitamins.
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