Are vitamins and supplements worth taking?

This post is part of a Consumer Reports en Español consumer learning campaign. This post is not an endorsement of any product or service, and I’m being compensated for my time ONLY, not for my opinion.

Are vitamins and supplements worth taking? That’s a question that I ask myself often when I’m shopping for vitamins or supplements. While I was pregnant I was faithful to my prenatal vitamin. I think knowing that a little one depended on me was my motivation to take them. Now that I’m no longer pregnant, I flip flop between taking them faithfully or not at all. I think not knowing for sure if it’s making a difference is one reason why I don’t take one regularly. I’m also super busy and often forget to take a vitamin even when I intend to.

I’m also not faithful to any specific brand. I buy whatever I find on sale, or the store brand if that’s available. For my kids I try to stick to vitamins that are chewable since they have a hard time swallowing pills. I’ve been told in the past that my iron levels are low so I have taken iron supplements for this issue. I’m curious to hear what my doctor has to say about it at my next check-up.

Here’s my personal take on vitamins:

If you want to learn more about vitamins and supplements, feel free to click on the links to help answer your questions:
SPANISH: Suplementos (Vida Sana) (CRE)
http://espanol.consumerreports.org/content/cre/es/salud/vida-sana/suplementos.html

ENGLISH: Supplements (CRO)
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/health/vitamins-and-supplements/index.htm

Do you use vitamins or supplements? If you have any questions about health supplements  feel free to submit your questions to Dr. Jose Luis Mosquera at dr.mosquera@cr.consumer.org. He will answer them in his column Ask Dr. Mosquera.