Many men take nutritional supplements because they believe that certain vitamins or minerals provide health benefits or help them increase athletic performance or endurance. But if you are otherwise healthy, you probably don’t need to take a supplement as long as you eat healthfully food.
It’s best to obtain nutrients from a wide variety of foods rather than from a vitamin or mineral supplement because your body may not absorb the vitamins from supplements as effectively as those obtained from food.
It’s unwise to take in large amounts of vitamins and minerals in excess of the recommended daily allowances over prolonged periods of time. There is no convincing evidence that taking megadoses of a particular vitamin will make you healthier. In fact, consuming huge amounts of certain vitamins can actually harm your health.
However, certain people do need to take supplements. You may need to take a vitamin and mineral supplement if you:
• regularly skip meals
• are on a very low-calorie or low-carbohydrate diet for long periods
• are an older person who finds it hard to eat as much as you should
• take medication that interferes with vitamin or mineral absorption
• are lactose intolerant and have been decreasing your calcium intake