How are “organic” or “food based” vitamins better than generic brand vitamins?
I agree that it is better to get vitamins from food. It seems a no brainer to me. An orange is so much more than vitamin C. However, I found that that is not as easy as it sounds. I eat a very healthy diet, much healthier than most people. I cannot get enough iodine or vitamin D without supplements. Most people in my country (where there is not enough sun radiation to get our skin to make vitamin D ourselves) get those nutrients by eating fortified salt and margarine, but then of course I might just as well take the supplements myself and skip the salt and margarine. I’d also argue that a professor of epidemiology is not necessarily an expert when it comes to food supplements. Even people who are knowledgeable disagree on the subject. Harvard’s Walter Willett, for example, does recommend a vitamin pill a day as “insurance”.
