Vitamin Supplements:
No Appointment Necessary

Aired on Superstation WGN
Saturday, February 5 and March 19, 2005
Show 205

Dr. Lisa Thornton:

If you don't always eat right, you might find you need a vitamin or mineral supplement. But do you know how to choose the one that's right for you?

Karen Newsom, R. Ph.:

You might want to consider a multiple vitamin if you just don't think that you're getting enough in your daily diet. A daily mineral and vitamin supplement is sufficient to meet 100 percent of your daily needs. There's no need to mega dose. That can be dangerous, because some vitamins are fat soluble. Meaning anything that your body does not use out of that vitamin supplement, it's going to store in the fat cells of your body; which can potentially be toxic. When you look at the label of your supplement, you're going to want to look at the active ingredients. You'll want to find out what is considered a serving size. It maybe one tablet, it maybe two tablets. You might always want to look for the letters USP. Which basically just means that vitamin has met purity and strength standards provided by the US. You want to store medications, vitamins, minerals in cool dry places away from heat and moisture. And also out of the reach of children. If you think you're a candidate for supplementing with a multiple vitamin or mineral, you should check with your doctor before starting.