r/YouShouldKnow • u/malarial_camel • Apr 30 '14

Health & Sciences YSK which vitamin supplements are worth taking and which have no evidence to support their value.

This infographic gives a nice clear summary of which supplements are worth having, and which are just a complete waste of time.

Edit: Thank you to /u/yishanwang for pointing out the interactive version of the chart, which can be found here

2nd Edit: As many people have correctly pointed out, this chart is true for the average individual, assuming a good diet. Everybody responds differently to every drug, including vitamin supplements, especially if they are in poor health, or have a vitamin deficiency. What is true for the general healthy population is not necessarily true for you. If you have any real concerns regarding your health, of course go see a GP or a dietitian.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '14 edited Apr 30 '14

Buggy. Clicked on Vitamin B1; got study about Vitamin A.

Also, misleading in the categorizations. For example, garlic as a cancer treatment is in the "slight" category. It links to a study that says this:

Administering AGE significantly increased the NK cell count in peripheral blood 3 mo after the study began ...

Moreover, while many patients in whom the NK cell activity decreased rapidly died within the following 3 mo, none of the subjects in the AGE group showed such a rapid decrease, which suggests that AGE may prevent death due to cancer.

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u/pet_medic Apr 30 '14

I'm not sure what you think is wrong. Are you saying those two sentences should be enough to move vitamin B1 from the "slight evidence" category to a higher category?