A great update to the which supplements are snake oil conversation.

Read the original article.

Note that the blue bubbles on top do have evidence that they are worth your money.

Fivethirtyeight agrees: Don't take your vitamins.

http://pandawhale.com/post/50307/dont-take-your-vitamins

See also: Be careful which Superfoods are marketed to you...

Jessica Burciaga swears by Max Emerge Wild Cherry Tart™ Dietary Supplement.

More like she swears AT that Wild Cherry Tart (TM) drinkie.

I had not heard of Beta Glucan before.

I had not heard of Devil's Claw before.

I had not heard of Tyrosine before.

Vitamins are a replacement for those who don't eat a healthy diet for whatever reason -- access, funds, time -- OR access to a finite resource. In a northeastern PA winter on a typical work or student schedule it might be hard for many people to get enough vitamin D...and so vitamin D supplement is not wasted.

I see it's at the top of the chart. :)

Fish is too expensive for most people to eat on a regular diet, sadly. I can see why Omega 3 and fish oil is on top if the list.

Why is fish too expensive? With tilapia joining the pricier salmon and tuna, you can eat fresh. and you can always enjoy a tunafish sandwich or salad. it has the same nutrients more or less. As for vitamin D, a daily lunch walk is good for your sanity as well as your vitamin D. Though as a former Iowan, i totally respect those who would prefer to avoid a stroll through a blizzard. ;)

this controversial study Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women The Iowa Women's Health Study showed a higher risk of mortality associated with vitamin supplements. Knowing Iowans as I do, I suspect they used vitamins instead of dietary changes, which, knowing iowa food as I do (deep fried butter, anyone?), would definitely lead to all kinds of trouble.

This photo is disturbing on many levels. :)

I agree; perhaps my personal preference for salmon came out in that sentence. I should say, fresh salmon is too expensive for me to buy it regularly. Since I eat for both health and taste, tilapia is not personally high on my preferred eating options.

As a former Pennsylvanian, I agree about a stroll in the blizzard. Not the ideal way to get vitamin D. That study is fascinating.

Almost all supplements are ineffective. Even the famous fish oil that many people take is in rancid form. Most isolated

supplements cannot be absorbed by the human body. We have identified only a few hundred out of the tens of thousands of compounds that the human body needs and market them as supplements. The rest can only be provided by whole foods. If you think you are supplement deficient, eat whole fish, animal liver, , whole eggs, lots of kale and spinach. Most else is over-optimizing a few visible things at the expense of most invisible things.

When you say "whole fish" and "whole eggs" you mean what?

Kale and spinach make a lot of sense though don't overdo it. :)

By "whole fish" I mean eat the fish instead of drinking the oil. By "whole eggs" I mean, "including yolk" which is where all of the nutrition is.

Got it, thanks.

I always wondered what the "whites only" egg eaters are thinking.

Btw CHARD! Tastier than spinach and kale (especially when cooked with recently redeemed bacon) and full of all th e lovely vitamins in a form we can easily absorb. Plus my daughter likes it for the pink stems.

I've been looking for this chart again!! Thanks!!

Me too! It's fascinating and a tad mesmerizing.

GREAT timing. I JUST placed a HUGE order with VitaCost for alpha-lipoic acid, SAM-e, tumeric, biotin ....

I'm not quite sure what any of those are, Regina. :)

Adam. Look at me. This doesn't just HAPPEN.

You work out!

I was making fun of my PandaWhaleprofile pic, in which my face is a non-standard color. :-).

I figured you were getting a facial.

Er.