You can never get enough vitamins, right? Think again! Dr. Jeffrey Tice, from the UCSF Department of Medicine, gives an in-depth talk on vitamin use, which often goes against conventional wisdom. He backs up his arguments with a lot of randomized controlled studies conducted over the years. Dr. Tice starts by looking at antioxidant vitamins like Vitamin E and beta-carotene and cites studies that show taking these vitamins can actually do harm. Then he takes a long look at the popular Vitamin D and suggests some benefit can be had, particularly for those who don't get enough sunlight exposure.
Lastly, he looks at the popular omega-3 fatty acid supplements and argues that there isn't much benefit in taking them when it comes to cardiovascular health. He generally advocates getting your vitamins from real food rather than supplementation. He knows his approach goes against some of the popular wisdom out there, but that vitamins and supplements also have a huge marketing budget behind them due to the lack of regulation in the United States.