I am a pharmacist. Here are the three vitamins I tell everyone to avoid

More than half of Americans take multivitamins and nutritional supplements every day, but doctors and pharmacists say many of them are a waste of money.

In a TikTok, pharmacist Amina Khan told her 271,000 followers that there are three types of supplements she would never take, including the hugely popular gummy vitamins.

These gummies have several shortcomings, including that they are often sweetened with sugar, about three to five grams.

It may not seem like much, but the recommended dosage is two gummies per day, and the American Heart Association recommends no more than 25 grams of sugar daily for women and 36 grams for men.

Ms Khan said: ‘This is basically just a sugar pill – you might as well have a sweet.

“They can very easily be overconsumed and lead to mineral toxicity.”

Ms Khan also said multivitamins are not worth taking as some researchers say they often contain negligible amounts of crucial vitamins and minerals.

Similarly, supplements aimed at improving hair, skin and nail health, popularized through social media, are not effective, Ms Khan said.

Gummy vitamins are often packed with sugar. The levels of vitamins and minerals in them are also too low to have much benefit

Gummy vitamins have broad appeal and often seem more like candy than a health supplement, says Dr. Khan said.

According to doctors at UCLA, “Even if your gummy vitamins are sugar-free, they likely contain other sweeteners, such as high-sugar fruit juice or sugar alcohols, which can cause unpleasant digestive problems.”

They taste good, are easy to take and do not have the characteristic vitamin smell.

They are especially attractive to children, who may dislike or be unable to swallow pills.

But gummies owe their flavor to a few grams of sugar.

Dr. Zariah Chappell, a family physician at Scripps Coastal Medical Center San Marcos in California, said: ‘It’s like having a sugar pill or candy 365 days a year.

‘That’s a lot of sugar, which can add up quickly. Children in particular may eat more than the recommended dose because the vitamins taste so good and even look like a popular candy.”

Secondly, Ms Khan spoke about multivitamins, which ‘have a little bit of everything in them’.

‘Some doses of each nutrient are so low that they have little effect on you. Moreover, you don’t need all the vitamins from the multivitamin.’

Multivitamins are said to contain a little bit of everything, meaning the concentrations of vitamins and minerals are too low to have a measurable benefit

A Johns Hopkins study involving 450,000 people found multivitamins had no beneficial effect about preventing heart disease.

Another study examined about 1,700 people who had previously had a heart attack. They were told to take a multivitamin or a placebo twice a day for five years. Their findings showed that taking the multivitamins did not affect the risk of heart attacks or death.

Dr. Edgar Miller, an internal medicine specialist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said: ‘Study after study comes back negative – yet people continue to take supplements, now at record rates.’

Studies showing their inefficiency have had no impact on the market. The global vitamins and supplements market size was $146.14 billion in 2023.

One population that would still benefit from a multivitamin is malnourished or pregnant people.

Finally, hair, skin and nail supplements are equally ineffective, Ms. Khan said.

People would be better suited to taking a supplement with one focus, rather than a supplement designed to target all three.

An effective supplement targets a specific problem, such as vitamin B8 for hair thickness and vitamin D for skin cell regrowth.

The better way to improve everyone’s health is to take supplements that are specifically designed to help everyone individually.

Ms Khan said: ‘Multivitamins for hair, skin and nails, what are these aimed at? Hair, skin or nails?’

Hair, skin and nail supplements do not sufficiently target the areas they are intended to improve. The best supplements, say pharmacists, and the ones that individually target each problem area, rather than lumping ingredients together to target multiple weak spots

Most people are not deficient in the vitamins contained in supplements, such as antioxidants such as vitamins A, C and E, or coenzyme Q10, and biotin, a vitamin B complex.

And for those people, there is no clear evidence that the supplements make a difference.

Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an expert on nutritional supplements, said Consumer Reports: ‘I’m not aware of any robust data suggesting that supplements can treat natural, aging-related hair loss or nail damage, or give you healthier skin.

“It’s nothing that would ever make me recommend it to any of my patients.”

Many supplements and vitamins are not regulated by the FDA, so it is difficult to know if you are getting what is advertised on a supplement’s packaging.

In addition, the lack of oversight means that manufacturers may include substances not listed on the label and some may interact with medications.

The federal agency intervenes only if a product is proven to cause harm, but it does inspect facilities where supplements are made.