Multi Vitamins is a stereotyped medication Nigerians take to feel better and supposedly increase the vitamins in their system. Well, the question is, how good are multi-vitamins intake?
On YourViewTVC this morning, a nutritionist in person of Babatunde Soteye spoke at length, addressing this issue along side the ladies of #aYourViewTVC.
According to him,multi-vitamins are compounds needed in the body in small quantity.They are thus needed only whenever there is a deficiency in the body.
He further explained that it can be overdosed and abused in cases like that of a pregnant woman taking folic acid, people using multi-vitamins to get fats and parents using it as nutrition for their children.
To correct this,he advised that adequate balanced diet i.e good proportion of the six classes of food and vegetables should be taken daily to supply the body the amount of vitamins needed instead of taking multi-vitamins. He added that over-cooking of vegetables reduce the nutrients in them and this can be avoided by just washing the vegetables mildly with salt before cutting and cooking.
He concluded by advising people to stop self medication and get a health care provider.
“You need to be careful of what you take. Get tested and diagnosed before using multi-vitamins and make sure you take the prescribed ones. Multi vitamins are only needed when there is a deficiency. It is more advisable to take vegetables instead.”
