Should you be taking a daily vitamin? This is a complicated question, so before we dive in, it's important to note that listening to your physician is always your best option. With that said, recent research suggests that the health benefits of taking a daily vitamin supplement are, in reality, questionable at best.

In a series of three studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, taking a daily vitamin was found to have no impact on memory loss, heart health or longevity. In fact, the authors of the study felt that the evidence they presented was so conclusive that they suggested consumers stop spending money on multivitamins, and researchers stop spending money to research them.  

Now, that same study did show a very slight reduction in the risk of cancer (8 percent) and cataracts (9 percent) in people who took a multivitamin daily. However, pretty much all research conducted on the topic of vitamins in the last decade suggests that most vitamins – and especially multivitamins – have little to no impact on overall health. 

So, here's the bottom line: When research is iffy, you fall back on what you
know as fact, and what we know is that you should never ever rely on a vitamin to help supplement a diet lacking in fruits and vegetables. In all the years humans have been on this earth, we have not yet discovered a way to replace the nutrients found in
real, nutritious food. Food offers natural sources of all we need to stay healthy. The best part about this is that there are no conflicting studies here. They all say the same thing: Eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and healthy fats ALWAYS leads to better
health.

Since eating well is clearly the best way to get the nutrients you need, I wanted to include this chart that takes all the nutrients multivitamins contain, and shows you how to get them through good old fashioned food.