Use the pulldown menus to visit other Food Central sections:
Recipes ---------- Today Recipe Swap	Resources ---------- Additives Alcohol Beer Beverages Coffee Dairy Fat Fruit Grains Herbs Italian Meat Organic Seafood Snacks Southern Sweets Tea Veggies Vitamins	Restaurants ---------- Atlanta Baltimore Boston Chicago Dallas Denver Detroit Fort Worth Houston Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami Minneapolis New Orleans NYC Orlando Philly Phoenix Pittsburgh Salt Lake San Antonio San Diego San Fran Seattle St. Louis Wash, D.C. ---------- Amsterdam Athens Bangkok Beijing Berlin Brussels Cairo Copenhagen Dublin Florence Frankfurt Hong Kong London Madrid Mex City Montreal Moscow Munich Nairobi Paris Prague Rio Rome Singapore St. Pburg. Sydney Tokyo Toronto Vienna Zurich

Many Americans take a multivitamin once a day

INTERACTIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS: Vitamin E Vitamin B6 Vitamin B12 Vitamin D/Calcium Click on the text links to the left...

RELATED: Food Central: Vitamin & Mineral Guide Message board: Dietary supplements

VIDEO CNN's Holly Firfer reports. Windows Media 28K 80K

September 6, 1999
Web posted at: 4:00 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT)

(CNN) -- According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, from 1990 to 1997 spending for vitamins and minerals rose from $900 million to $3.3 billion a year.

Who should be taking what, and how much is too much? What do the experts take?

Dr. Ronald Krauss of the University of California, Berkeley, says he takes a multivitamin each day.

"We are learning more and more that above the age of 50, and I am in that category, there is a potential for inadequate absorption of vitamins such as vitamin B12," he said.

Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg of Tufts University is studying the multivitamin's effectiveness. He takes one but has other recommendations as well.

"One might consider a calcium supplement for teen-agers," he said. "As women grow older, particularly in menopause, their requirements for calcium and vitamin D grow."

Although vitamins and minerals decrease the risk for chronic diseases, more isn't always better.

"Vitamins and minerals have very high doses -- taking too many can put you at risk for toxicity," Blumberg said.

Of course, experts agree, eating a healthy well-balanced diet is the most important key to good nutrition.