[areafiftyone]

The thing that people don't realize is that the vitamins we take everyday are really just man-made chemicals. How can chemicals be good for you? We really need to just get our vitamins from food and not from man-made chemicals. At least that is what I believe.

[ExTexasRedhead]

Based on all the latest "fads," we will all be taking 20-30 pills a day consisting of some supplement or the other. Gee, what is it now, extra calcium, magnesium, folic acid, multi-vitamin, omegas, Vitamin E, Vitamin D and the list goes on. To sum it all up, I'm beginning to get confused as to how much of what we're supposed to have and is it good or is it bad based on today's study.

[Lil'freeper]

When you get right down to it, molecules are molecules. A man made molecule is the same as a naturally occurring molecule. However, many "vitamins" as they occur in food are really groups of similar molecules, or "complexes." The vitamins in the bottle tend to consist of only one part of the complex and too much of any one molecule can actually be toxic. Hence the warnings about overdosing on Vitamin A or Vitamin D or Vitamin E. Toxicity rarely occurs when the nutrients are derived from food because you are consuming the whole complex of compounds - all of which the body needs.

Vitamins in bottles are truly just supplements.