Vitamins & Supplements

Do you really need vitamin supplements?
Nine reasons the answer might be yes.

You eat well, you take care of yourself, and you're wondering whether supplements are actually necessary, or just expensive marketing. It's a fair question, and the honest answer is: it depends on your individual circumstances.

Even people with good diets can have nutritional gaps, because food quality, lifestyle, medication use, and the way your body absorbs nutrients all affect what you're actually getting. Below are nine of the most common reasons a New Zealander with an otherwise healthy lifestyle might genuinely benefit from supplementation.

For personalised advice based on your specific situation, come and talk to us. Counter advice is always free.

Nine reasons you might benefit from nutritional supplements:

1. Poor digestion

You can eat well and still absorb poorly. If your digestive system isn't functioning efficiently, vitamins and minerals from your food may pass through without being properly absorbed.

Common causes include eating too quickly, not chewing food thoroughly, and age-related decline in digestive enzyme production. People with dentures often find thorough chewing particularly difficult. If your digestion has never been quite right, that's worth discussing with a pharmacist before assuming your diet is covering all your needs.

2. Coffee, tea, and spicy foods

Regular consumption of very hot liquids, coffee, tea, pickles, and spices can irritate and inflame the lining of the gastrointestinal tract over time. This reduces the production of digestive fluids and impairs nutrient extraction from food, even when what you're eating is nutritious.

You don't need to give up coffee. But if you drink several cups a day and have digestive sensitivity, it's worth factoring in.

3. Alcohol and tobacco use

Alcohol, even in moderate regular quantities, places a burden on the liver and pancreas, two organs central to digestion and metabolism. Gut lining damage from alcohol can lead to malabsorption and, in some cases, sub-clinical malnutrition that doesn't show up obviously but affects energy, mood, and immune function. Regular alcohol use increases your body's need for vitamins A, C, and the B group, as well as zinc, magnesium, and calcium.

Tobacco irritates the gastrointestinal tract and increases the body's vitamin C requirement by at least 30%.

If you're looking to quit smoking, Stay Well is a Quit Card and NRT provider. Talk to us about stopping smoking →

4. Laxative use

Overuse of laxatives speeds transit time through the bowel, which means less time for nutrients to be absorbed from food. Paraffin and mineral-based laxatives in particular increase losses of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Other laxatives used to excess can cause significant losses of key minerals including sodium, potassium, and magnesium.

If you rely on laxatives regularly, addressing the underlying cause and reviewing your nutritional status is worth doing.

5. Restrictive or fad diets

Diets that eliminate whole food groups, including popular low-fat, low-carbohydrate, or highly restrictive eating plans, often create specific nutritional deficiencies. Low-fat diets taken to an extreme can deplete vitamins A, D, E, and K, which are essential for eyesight, bone health, and immune function.

Vegetarian and vegan diets, if not carefully planned, commonly lead to vitamin B12 deficiency, which can cause anaemia and neurological symptoms. Light eaters and fussy eaters may also fall short of thiamine, calcium, and iron without realising it.

6. Illness, injury, or ongoing stress

Physical trauma, surgery, and infection all increase the body's demand for specific vitamins and minerals. Bone repair requires calcium and vitamin C. Fighting infection draws heavily on zinc, magnesium, and vitamins B5 and B6.

Ongoing emotional or psychological stress has a similar effect. Chronic stress increases the body's need for vitamins B2, B5, B6, and C, and sustained depletion in these areas affects energy, mood, immunity, and resilience. If you've been through a difficult period and haven't felt quite right since, nutritional status is one of the first things worth looking at.

7. Food processing, storage, and cooking methods

The nutritional value of food changes significantly between the paddock and your plate. Freezing, refining, prolonged storage, overcooking, and reheating all reduce vitamin content. Vitamin E is particularly vulnerable to freezing and reheating. Vitamins C, B1, and the B group generally are sensitive to heat. Boiling vegetables leaches water-soluble vitamins and minerals into the cooking water.

Light steaming and minimal processing preserve far more nutritional value than most standard cooking methods, but realistically, most of us don't eat that way every day.

8. Adolescence and pregnancy

Teenagers, particularly girls, have significantly elevated nutritional needs during the rapid growth of adolescence. Studies show that between a quarter and half of adolescents are deficient in vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron. These aren't trivial shortfalls, they affect growth, bone development, mood, and immune function.

Pregnancy increases the demand for a long list of nutrients, including folic acid (critical in the first trimester), vitamins A, D, and E, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, and iodine. Nutritional support during pregnancy is one area where professional advice is particularly important, both for the health of mother and baby.

9. Prescription medication use

Many commonly prescribed medicines affect the way your body absorbs or uses certain nutrients. Two of the most frequent examples:

• Antibiotics destroy beneficial gut bacteria alongside the harmful ones. Healthy intestinal flora produces B-group vitamins that are absorbed through the gut wall. A course of antibiotics, especially a broad-spectrum or extended one, may justify supplementing with B vitamins and probiotics during and after treatment.

• The oral contraceptive pill reduces absorption of folic acid and increases your body's need for vitamin B6, vitamin C, zinc, and riboflavin.

If you're on long-term medication of any kind and haven't reviewed your nutritional status with a pharmacist, it's worth doing. Talk to us about a medication review

What to do next?

The nine factors above are among the most common, but they're not an exhaustive list. Your unique biochemistry, activity levels, life stage, and even environmental factors, including New Zealand's variable sunlight levels and selenium-depleted soils, all play a role.

The right supplements, in the right forms and doses, can make a meaningful difference. The wrong ones are either harmless and expensive, or occasionally counterproductive.

Mark Webster is one of New Zealand's only pharmacist trained in integrative medicine. He can advise on whether you need supplements, which ones are worth taking, and how to take them effectively alongside any medications you're on. Counter advice is always free. For anything more detailed, paid consultations are available.

Come in, call us on 03 349 8785, or contact us online.