Everyone has heard that vitamins are essential for the body, but are they really needed in a condensed pill form? 

By: Mark Deutsch 

Where’s the difference between healthy food and vitamins? Credit: Healthline

It’s taught in every health class and also in almost every health website out there that it’s good to take vitamins in pill form. These pills are just the pure vitamin that your body needs and it even comes in flavored variants. 

But does the human body really need these outside sources of vitamins, when we regularly eat foods with said vitamins? 

A quick run down of vitamins may seem unnecessary but it’s good for anyone who doesn’t know the basics. The body needs vitamins to help the body function and use to repair any damage that has occurred. The human body needs these vitamins and they’re normally obtained by eating the right foods. 

Now vitamin supplements sound like a good thing considering that they should boost the body. Even doctors have recommended that people should be taking vitamin supplements to help improve health. There’s even a case where one boy definitely needed some vitamin supplements, because despite him regularly eating, he was ill. 

The said case was about a boy who was going blind because of his junk food habit, which contained little to no vitamins. Apparently, he only ate french fries, spam, and pringles: foods that provide no nutrition and function as snacks. This is an extreme case but it has made it evident that our bodies should always be stocked on vitamins. 

But it is also an example that we get our own vitamins not through the pills, but from food. In the old days, before proper medicine, sailors on ships used to get scurvy; it turns people green and could even kill. Because their food was prepped for long voyages, it lacked vitamin C. 

These two examples where one was recent and the other centuries old proves where the primary vitamins are stored. Yet there are some legitimate reasons where these supplements are needed, such as for vitamin deficiency. 

There are a few cases where vitamin supplements are actually needed to boost a person’s health. One case is for those who lack a certain vitamin and for some reason they can’t produce more of it, thus impacting their health. 

Fish oil is a great supplement to take for those with mental disabilities, and even elderly folks may need several vitamins because their bodies may not be able to digest certain foods. 

Supplements aren’t a cure to prevent any major disease, if anyone would believe those stupid myths. Just like with the poor sailors, the lemons and limes weren’t exactly a cure but just a replenishment for the body. 

Now about how to determine which vitamins a person needs is surprisingly easy. Instead of scrutinizing an article, just go visit a doctor. They can give you a definitive answer as to what supplements are necessary. 

In short, vitamin supplements can work but they’re only effective when someone has a solid reason to take them.