Any time you start a new regimen of supplements, it’s a good idea to run it by your doctor or pharmacist first. They can help you weigh the risks and benefits, ensure that you don’t trigger any drug interactions, and sort fact from fiction regarding the many claims that supplement companies make about their products. However, before you get that far, some pharmacists say that there are a handful of products that you can pretty much reject out of hand. Amina Khan, MPharm, a pharmacist who goes by @aminathepharmacist on social media, says there are three supplements she would never take—and she’s urging her followers to make the same call. “I think you’re going to be surprised at most of these,” she said in a recent TikTok post.
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Khan first recommends avoiding all gummy vitamins, noting that many people “binge” on these as they might with a bag of candy.
“These are basically just a sugar pill—you might as well go have a sweet. They’re packed with sugar and filler ingredients,” she says. Khan adds that because the flavor can be enticing, “they can be so easily over-consumed and can lead to mineral toxicity.” Instead, opt for sugar-free vitamins in pill or capsule form.
Next, the pharmacist suggests skipping general multivitamins, which are unlikely to adequately compensate for deficiencies.
“These have a bit of everything in them. Some of the doses of each nutrient are so low that they hardly have an effect on you,” she says. “Also, you don’t need all of the vitamins in a multivitamin.”
Finally, Khan says she doesn’t bother taking vitamins that claim to improve your skin, hair, and nails. These often take the form of multivitamins containing added nutrients such as biotin, keratin, or collagen.
“What do these focus on—hair, skin, or nails? They’re not solution-focused. The most important vitamins in these are often too low to even have an effect on you,” she notes.
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Her skepticism appears to be warranted. Research has shown that not only are healthy individuals unlikely to experience notable changes to their hair, skin, and nails after taking vitamins marketed to enhance those features, but they can also have serious side effects.
For instance, products containing high doses of biotin can cause confusion when doctors test for heart and thyroid function.
“It can give a false appearance of hyperthyroidism by making it look like your thyroid is overacting,” Rebecca Hartman, MD, MPH, FAAD, an assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, told Today.com. “It also can give up a falsely low level of troponin, which is a really important cardiac test that’s used to identify a heart attack in the hospital.”
Meanwhile, collagen supplements are common sources of contamination. In 2020, when the Organic Consumers Association and the Clean Label Project tested 28 of the most popular brands of collagen supplements, they found that 64 percent tested positive for arsenic, 37 percent tested positive for lead, 34 percent tested positive for trace levels of mercury, and 17 percent tested positive for cadmium, Today reports.
So, if you find yourself shopping for supplements, consider following Khan’s advice and skipping those three. Your better bet is to ask your doctor to perform a blood test to confirm any suspected deficiencies and custom-tailor your approach to your body’s specific needs—always under your doctor’s supervision.
