Food trumps multivitamin pills

For people who don’t get all the vitamins and minerals they need from a healthful diet (the majority of Americans), a multivitamin may seem like a cheap, easy way to reap the same benefits. Trouble is, getting your nutrients from pills isn’t the same as getting them from food. That’s because fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other plant foods contain thousands of beneficial plant substances called phytochemicals that interact with one another in myriad ways, some of which scientists may not even understand yet. The greater the food variety, the more numerous the potential beneficial interactions. Taking the vitamins and minerals out of food robs you of all those healthful interactions, not to mention fiber, a disease fighter in its own right. That may be why study after study of isolated, high doses of vitamins has found they failed to prevent cancer, dementia, heart disease, or type 2 diabetes, even though people who eat foods rich in those vitamins have lower rates of those diseases.

Bottom line

It’s better to get your nutrients from food.