A dietitian's verdict: multivitamins are useless
A dietitian's verdict: multivitamins are useless Ellsworth Toohey 9:00 am Wed Aug 5, 2026 supplements — Ragesoss / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) Dietitian Josie Porter, author of How Not to Take Supplements, sized up ten popular supplements for the Guardian. Electrolyte powders sell as a daily essential, though heavy sweating excretes only about 1 to 3 grams of salt an hour, or two pinches to half a teaspoon from the shaker. Porter says some supplements are worth buying: psyllium husk, for constipation and diarrhea; collagen peptides, for small gains in skin elasticity, mostly in women in their 40s and 50s; and creatine, which cab be hard get enough of from food.
- ▪A dietitian's verdict: multivitamins are useless Ellsworth Toohey 9:00 am Wed Aug 5, 2026 supplements — Ragesoss / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) Dietitian Josie Porter, author of How Not to Take Supplements, sized up ten popular suppleme
- ▪Electrolyte powders sell as a daily essential, though heavy sweating excretes only about 1 to 3 grams of salt an hour, or two pinches to half a teaspoon from the shaker.
- ▪Porter says some supplements are worth buying: psyllium husk, for constipation and diarrhea; collagen peptides, for small gains in skin elasticity, mostly in women in their 40s and 50s; and creatine, which cab be hard get enough of from foo
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| Original publisher | Boing Boing |
| Canonical URL | https://boingboing.net/2026/08/05/supplements-quarter-of-a-word.html |
| Publication time | Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-08-05T16:45:47.416Z |
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A dietitian's verdict: multivitamins are useless Ellsworth Toohey 9:00 am Wed Aug 5, 2026 supplements — Ragesoss / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) Dietitian Josie Porter, author of How Not to Take Supplements, sized up ten popular supplements for the Guardian. One of the largest multivitamin trials found a memory improvement in older adults, but it came to "roughly a quarter of a word in a 20-word recall test." Magnesium is sold for sleep, cramps, and blood pressure, but Porter writes "the evidence is more underwhelming than the marketing" — the benefit shows up mainly in people whose intake was low. Electrolyte powders sell as a daily essential, though heavy sweating excretes only about 1 to 3 grams of salt an hour, or two pinches to half a teaspoon from the shaker.
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