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Myth Busted: Do You Really Need So Many Vitamins?

New book suggests you can get by on less

Blueberries
Blueberries



When we enjoy a bowl of breakfast cereal, it’s usually fortified with large doses of vitamins - and fruit drinks often boast of just how many they contain.

But while vitamins ARE important, most of us can get by without ‘ticking off’ our recommended daily amounts of each one, an author suggests.

The idea that we all need 100% of each vitamin is a myth, says Catherine Price, author of Vitamania.

‘In fact, the RDAs themselves -- which many of us use as personalized scorecards for our diets -- are actually not meant to be personal at all.

‘Instead, they're designed to meet the nutritional needs of 97 to 98 percent of all people, which means that the majority of us could get by just fine on less.

In fact, Smith suggests, you can get by on around 20-40% less of most of the vitamins - and you don’t need to tick them all off every day.

While you do need to top up Vitamin C, other vitamins, such as the fat-soluble Vitamins A, D, E and K, can be topped up much less regularly.