Adam Ruins Everything - The Weird Reason We Think Vitamins Are Good for Us (They're Not)

vitamins are the key to health and perhaps the cure for the common cold now how many of you have ever heard of vitamin mega-doses oh oh I have but I've also heard of fairies and the Loch Ness monster and those won't cure your cold either what vitamin supplements don't cure colds they don't prolong your life and in some cases they may actually be harmful so what are vitamins huge pills that smell like old Allen's wrong anyone else oh I can't eat it shaped my cartoon characters wrong again you're both thinking of vitamin supplements what are the vitamins themselves um little bits of goop that your body needs I Love You Todd exactly they're a collection of various micronutrients that are essential for your body to function normally yes so vitamins make us healthy except that by definition vitamins are nutrients we only need a tiny little bit of and normally we get plenty of them from the food we eat that's what if I contract scurvy you won't scurvy is caused by an extreme lack of vitamin C pirates used to get it because they ain't nothing but hardtack biscuits for months but if you eat normal food in normal quantities you'll be fine like just eat a lemon ever already indeed even better no it isn't vitamins are sort of like cats if you have no cats you'll be lonely if you have a cat or two you'll feel better but that's enough cats no one needs to load up on cats and just like with cats you don't want to overdo it studies show that taking too much of some vitamins like a D or E can actually make you sick well even if that's true mega doses of vitamin C will cure nothing vitamin C does not treat or cure the common cold and products that claim it does are nonsense remember airborne sure the cold medicine created by a schoolteacher it keeps you from getting colds from touching the magazines on airplanes that is not true who gave you a medical license Oprah airborne is a cocktail of plain old vitamins that was marketed as a cure for the common cold but in 2006 they were sued for false advertising and ended up paying out 23 million dollars airborne doesn't cure anything it's basically just bubbles when I take vitamin C it makes me feel better yes the placebo effect is very powerful but that's all it is in reality at least 15 different studies have concluded that vitamin C does not treat the common cold hey it's not my fault everyone believes vitamins are magic it's Linus Pauling's fault great can I go back to doing my show now no dude do not panic Linus Pauling was a genius chemist and the only person in history to be awarded two solo Nobel prizes he was one of America's true scientific celebrities amazing but in the early 70s pong became obsessed with the idea of living forever and basically went vitamin crazy great Niels Bohr's ghost had died he began claiming that massive doses of vitamin C could prevent the common cold prolong your life and even cure cancer and because he was a celebrity scientist the media trusted him so these vitae pills would cure my sniffles that's right and get this you'll also never get sick or die sounds pretty far-out yeah but if the smartest cat in America is saying it it must be true up next is Charo and puppets superstar Matt oh no no no no no you don't we are going back to my show where is it this way but repeated studies have proven that Pauling was totally wrong there is no medical basis for his claims and in 1994 he actually died of cancer the very disease he claimed vitamins would cure you're telling me that vitamin supplements are a lie and we only believed in them because one man went crazy yeah Pauling was the Michael Jackson of nutrition he totally changed the game we had no idea how crazy he was and 40 years later we're still humming the tunes Wow that's bad it's bad you know it

Channel: truTV

Views: 3,332,322

Keywords: adam ruins everything, ruins everything, truTV, tru, tv adam, ruins truTv, adam, ruins, everything adam, conover adam, everything, truTV adam, conover, runis, ARE109 Adam Ruins Everything, Vitamins, Health Craze, The Weird Reason We Think Vitamins are Good for Us

Id: 29v6rNFjlLI

Length: 4min 23sec (263 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 14 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/MisterRobot0]

So much misinformation. Yes, in a perfect world, you theoretically should be able to get everything from your diet, but we know that people are not, and this doesn't even take into account rampant inadequate levels of essential minerals like magnesium among the US population. Essential minerals like these are crucial for DNA repair mechanisms (anti-cancer) and most people are not getting this from their diet b/c they don't eat enough leafy greens (it would take around 8 kale leaves to hit your daily goal of 400mg). Doses above that have shown to be beneficial in reducing all cause mortality. That might sound excessive, but modern soil is so depleted of essential minerals that supplementing is not a should, it's a must.

Also everything is extremely contextual, so you can not say vitamins are bad across the board. An African American, especially with dark pigment, needs 2-3x the vitamin D than their caucasian counterparts. In the link provided above, you'll note that blacks have a Vitamin D deficiency prevalence of around 31% in the US. Additionally, if you are a smoker or above the age of 65, of which many of large trial participants are, you're dietary requirements are much different than a young healthy person. You have to remember that almost everything that's good for a normal healthy cell, is also good for cancer cells. [as a side note, this is why Ketosis may be effective at slowing cancer growth]. Someone with pre-cancerous cells should not be supplementing with folate, vitamin E, or beta carotene, as these are like crack for cancer cells.

Also high-dose intravenous vitamin C has been shown to reduce tumor growth and proliferation in animal and human models. 10 to 1 the "studies" he quoted did not raise vitamin C to adequate levels to have an effect, because it's hard to do so orally. Of course I wouldn't know because there were virtually no sources provided, even though he claimed that 15 studies "definitively proved" vitamins don't do anything.

There are SOME contexts in which vitamins can be harmful. Overdosing on fat soluble vitamins A,D,K,E and iron can absolutely be harmful, although safe doses for D have been shown to be above 10,000 IU/day.

TL;DR: Bull. If you eat strict Paleo/and live a paleo lifestyle (out in the sunlight all damn day) you may be able to pull it off, but even then, unless you're eating Kim-Chi or other fermented foods, you're still probably short on K.

[u/Tramm]

The title is misleading... the video never says Vitamins are bad for us. They just don't cure any illnesses and they're not necessary if you eat a balanced diet.

Also his hair is annoying.

[u/bashar_speaks]

Why would anyone want health advice from this clown schlub?

Grocery staples like milk, cereals, juice, salt, are all fortified with vitamins because if they didn't Americans would be falling down left and right with scurvy, goiters, pellagra, etc.

Vitamins and supplements have saved my life... screw people like him preventing people from trying the treatments that might actually help them.