Why can't you just take a vitamin? Why you need a healthy diet on top of that?

Question

From what I understand, your body needs certain amounts of vitamins and minerals to maintain health. Why can't we just take enough pills to obtain these vitamins and minerals?

Answer 1

Our bodies need particular amounts of vitamins and minerals each day to support optimal health. While vitamin and mineral supplements often tout that they contain 100% or more of the daily requirement for nutrients, the body is only able to absorb a limited amount of each nutrient at any one time. This concept is called "bio availability," which refers to the amount of a consumed substance that is able to enter the body to have an active effect. For example, bio availability and absorption of calcium is best when no more than 500 mg of calcium is consumed in one sitting. Amounts beyond 500 mg at once may not be able to be absorbed by the body.

In addition to bio availability, certain nutrients interact with each other and affect how well the body can absorb them when they are consumed together. For example, research has shown that calcium may limit the body's ability to absorb iron, while vitamin C boosts the body's ability to absorb iron.

In short, too much of any one nutrient may exceed the body's ability to absorb it and certain vitamin and mineral interactions may affect how each individual micro nutrient is able to be absorbed by the body. Eating a well-balanced diet that includes adequate amounts fruits, vegetable, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes will ensure that micro nutrient needs are met appropriately in proper proportion to one another.

Answer 2

Vitamins and pills are not regular food. In fact, you need to take most of them while eating, as opposed to on an empty stomach. Most healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and grains have necessary vitamins within their ingredients--hence what makes them necessary for us to eat in order to maintain our health. But even if you take vitamins and pills on a daily basis, everybody needs a healthy diet in order to develop energy that we need to stay awake and carry out everyday human tasks and physical functioning. While it may seem impossible to fulfill the suggested numbers of servings of different food groups each day, it is more than possible to integrate each of the healthy food groups into our daily diets and three main meals per day--including snacks and beverages. And, getting healthy amounts of sleep and exercise are what will help us all develop and maintain a consistently healthy lifestyle and physiques for our entire life.