The annual UK supplement market is worth £3.6 billion, more than £50 per person, and most of us have a similar collection of pills which, while not, clinically approved drugs, promise that illusive modern nirvana: "wellness". But Van Tulleken, [Medical Doctor and honorary associate professor at University College London] having interrogated the evidence and witnessed how they are produced for his new book, Make Me Well, believes we're all wasting our money...
"Manufacturers," he says, seize upon research that shows feeding collagen to mice stimulates collagen production in their own skin. "Yet when you remove studies that are paid for by the industry, the effect vanishes."...
Van Tulleken, 48, and his identical twin brother, Chris, have spent much of their careers debunking fashionable ideas. In their BBC What's Up Doc? podcast they argue that fears about microplastics are overstated, that we don't need eight hours' sleep a night or to drink gallons of water...
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A Love-Sick Man Taking Some of Dr Hymen's Pills to Try and Cure Himself
unknown artist
Photo Credit: Wellcome Collection [Public Domain] |
The Doctor's View on the wellness pills some people love.
Vitamin D
Perhaps no other area of medicine has been so completely overturned in my career. Two decades of trials show there is no benefit to taking a vitamin supplement except for people with a genuine deficiency.
Multivitamins including vitamin C
The data say that vitamins and mineral supplements don't help healthy people. A large trial funded by the US National Institutes of Health published in 2022 found that a daily multivitamin does not significantly reduce the risk of cancer or cardiovascular disease, or reduce mortality. Other trials have failed to find any benefits to cognitive function. Large trials have found that multivitamin supplementation - including vitamin C - doesn't stop us getting colds.
Antioxidant supplements
...A team of scientists in Copenhagen University Hospital collected data from trials that covered almost a quarter of a million participants. It found that antioxidant supplements do not help you live longer. In fact, they found that vitamin A, beta-carotene and vitamin E could increase mortality.
Collagen
Once you strip out the industry-funded trials and the low-quality ones, the collagen effect disappears. I don't believe the hype. A 2025 study published in the American Journal of Medicine reported there is currently no clinical evidence to support that it prevents skin ageing.
Menopause supplements that contain vitamin B6 and zinc.
There's no evidence that taking a supplement containing B6 or zinc will lead to more energy or balance hormones in a menopausal woman. Some supplements contain over 1,000 per cent more vitamin B6 than the UK recommended daily allowance of 1.2 mg.
Testosterone for men
... Men are being oversold this hormone and most of them don't need it... Testosterone therapy, however, genuinely helps men, especially for sexual dysfunction, if their own bodies aren't making enough.
Iron, B12 or magnesium
... A supplement is only required if you are in fact iron deficient.
The evidence seems to be clear. Unless you have a genuine vitamin deficiency there is little benefit in taking vitamin supplements. Who decides whether you have a genuine deficiency? A medical professional. Should you rely on data produced by industry-funded trials? Certainly not. Check the authenticity of those conducting the trials and the journals in which the results are made public.
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