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SUNDAY, July 21 (HealthDayNews) -- Ever since "I Love Lucy" gave us the classic "Vitameatavegemin" episode, vitamins have been a household word.
Indeed, studies published recently by the National Center for Environmental Health found that each year Americans spend up to $1.7 billion on vitamin supplements, making them the third most popular over-the-counter drugstore buy.
But, how many of us know what we're really getting when we purchase supplements? Experts say too often we may be buying far more "good health" than we really need.
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"When a multi-vitamin contains an overabundance of nutrients, or is packed with herbs along with vitamins and many different minerals, we're not getting the bargain we think we are," says Dr. James Dillard, an assistant professor of medicine and medical advisor at the Rosenthal Center of Alternative and Complementary Medicine at Columbia University.
The reason, he says, is "a tablet or capsule can only hold so much. And the greater the number of different ingredients you put into a single pill, the less of each individual ingredient you can have, sometimes to the point where there is so little of each nutrient, the pill is hardly worth taking."
That can hurt in other ways as well -- particularly when you think you're getting more protection than you really are. This can be especially true for women when the mineral is calcium, says registered dietician Samantha Heller.
"Calcium should always be taken as a separate supplement, as they simply can't fit all a woman needs into one multivitamin pill," says Heller, a nutritionist at New York University Medical Center. Buying a vitamin/mineral supplement that boasts a complete nutrient package can be misleading, she says -- particularly to women.
Vitamin supplements with nutrient levels that soar above the recommended daily amounts (RDA) can also cause problems, increasing the risk of a variety of unpleasant side effects, including diarrhea and nausea, Heller says. Excessive doses of vitamins A and D, for example, can even have some serious toxic effects, she says.
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