How vitamins affect your health
Vitamins help your body transform food into energy. They are essential for growth and maintenance of your health. Your body requires only small amounts of vitamins. In most cases, a balanced diet supplies them.

Under a physician's care, large doses of some vitamins can help in the treatment of certain rare diseases. However, most people do not need vitamin supplements. In fact, large doses - sometimes referred to as "megadoses" - can cause serious side effects.

An estimated 40 per cent of the U.S, population has been taking supplemental vitamins in recent years. Vitamin supplements containing 10, 50 and even 250 times the daily RDA are widely available. Proponents of "megavitamin therapy" claim a host of benefits: prevention of disease, faster healing, improved sexual performance, better ability to cope with stress, and treatment for depression are common examples. But there is little scientific evidence to support these claims.