Every day, our body produces skin, muscle, and bone. Our red blood cells carry nutrients and oxygen throughout our body while millions of never signals trigger physical responses that sustain our life. But to do all this, our body requires some raw materials including at least 30 vitamins, minerals, and dietary components that our body needs but cannot manufacture on its own in sufficient amounts, such as, vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K (Vitamins and Minerals). Because of this we must get them from food or from supplements. Yet today many Americans either assume they are getting the right mix of these vital micronutrients or they do not see the importance of adding them to our diet and the good they do for you. One of the main benefits is helping the body fight disease. Vitamins may not be able to take the place of pharmaceutical drugs in circumstances like cancer once you already have it, but they can keep your body healthy and help prevent your body from attracting such diseases that you may get otherwise. Pharmaceutical drugs are beneficial for use in certain circumstances, but people tend to look to pharmaceuticals drugs for every ache or pain that they get regardless of the magnitude. 

As a result, this overuse can cause our bodies to become immune to the drugs we take the most such as Tylenol. This drug is used so often that it is considered one of the most dangerous drugs we can take because people do not understand that if you mix acetaminophens then it can kill you and if you take more than you should in the time frame of four hours, which people do often, then it can also kill you. In contrast, vitamins are good for our health because they keep us from getting sicknesses and diseases that can be contracted when we don't maintain a healthy lifestyle. Also many doctors would say that it is better for us to take vitamins instead of medications because of unwanted side effects as well as the fact that drugs may not actually eliminate the problem but only mask the symptoms (Mercola). Therefore, vitamins are better for you to take on a daily basis, eliminating or at least reducing the need for pharmaceutical drugs with harmful and potentially fatal side effects. 

While Americans turn to medications for everything from headaches to heart troubles, it's important to consider that these same drugs can cause serious health problems themselves. In the article, Prescription Drug Side Effects, Drug Watch says "Prescription drugs can save lives, but they can also come with unwanted side effects. It is important to remember that not all drugs are safe." There is a time to take prescription as well as over the counter drugs but there is also a time not to. We have to learn to limit the amount of times we take medication because, "All kinds of medications, from those that are considered 'all natural' to those that are chemically produced in a laboratory, carry some sort of after effect" (Prescription Drug Side Effects). 

I believe that it is important to understand everything about the drug that you are taking. Some people, including myself at times, will just take a pill without even a second thought about what could possibly happen due to the side effects it may have. "In addition to common side effects, many drugs cause dangerous side effects" (Prescription Drug Side Effects). In some cases, drugs can cause dizziness or blurred vision which are common side effects that a large amount of medications have. However, some medications have side effects like liver damage, suicidal behavior, blood clots, bladder cancer, heart attacks, strokes, uncontrollable bleeding and heart failure. Side effects as dangerous as those can kill you. In fact, the article Prescription Drug Side Effects, says that "some prescription drugs cause slow or immediate death" (Prescription Drug Side Effects). You never know how serious the side effects of the drug you are taking can be so it is best to carefully consider the specific medication as well as other alternatives to address the problem. An alternative would be vitamins; they do not come with the side effects that pharmaceutical drugs do. They keep your body healthy and from getting diseases you have a higher chance of getting without taking them. 

An alternative medicine proponent, osteopathic physician, and author, Dr. Joseph Mercola criticizes many aspects of standard medical practice and what he views as overuse of prescription drugs and overuse of surgery to treat diseases. Dr. Mercola operates mercola.com, which he has described as the most popular alternative-health website on the Internet and is filled with articles and news letters on medication and vitamins. An authority is this area, Dr. Mercola tells us why supplements are being attacked even when in actuality they have a way better track record then pharmaceuticals do when it comes to safety. He indicates that taking pharmaceutical drugs is 62,000 times more likely to kill you than taking vitamins or supplements (Mercola). The risk we encounter when taking vitamins is 1 in 10 million (Mercola). That shows us that people who are attacking vitamins and saying that they are harmful and cause death are wrong in their accusations. In fact, the data shows that is it way more dangerous to rely on pharmaceutical drugs on a daily basis. The main reason that people have started shying away from taking vitamins is because the Food and Drug Administration said they were potentially dangerous even though they have been in the market safely for years. After this, it required people in the supplement industry to prove the safety of all their natural ingredients and make revisions on all labels. It is required for vitamins to have more stringent safety thresholds than drugs do (Mercola). 

In reality the pharmaceutical industry is the real threat to the health of our society and not vitamins. Prescription and over the counter drugs cause on average 125,000 deaths a year in the United States when they are taken as prescribed which does not include over dosages. It is proven that the FDA allows countless numbers of new drugs that are poorly tested out on the market just to fuel the commercial pharmaceutical industry (Mercola). Later these same medications are recalled because of problems discovered after their release that should have been identified before going into the marketplace. Even after all the data defies the fact that drugs are not nearly as safe as vitamins or supplements, people still turn a blind eye to the risks that come along with drugs every day. It's become widely accepted to turn to the medicine cabinet instead of to the natural option of vitamins and minerals. People do not take the time to figure out the side effects that go along with the drug. So a lot of times they do not even know that it could have serious side effects. We assume most drugs we take just blurry or dizziness not liver failure. Therefore, pharmaceutical drugs are the preferred option because it is easier to just just grab some medicine from the cabinet when you feel bad that will make you feel better for the time being rather then going through the trouble of figuring out what vitamins you need to be taking on a daily basis. 

Dr. Mercola states that the fourth most dangerous drug proven by the United States National Poison Data System is Tylenol combinations (Mercola). Tylenol is a common drug that people take everyday for the simplest of problems and if it does not take care of our problem like we want it to we just take more. This plays into why it is the fourth most dangerous. We do not realize that taking different kinds of pain reliever can be as dangerous as it truly is. Somewhat lower on the list are drugs like muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory drugs, antacids, and antihistamines (Mercola). It is important to realize that anytime you pick up a pill to take, there is a risk of fatal side effects. Individually medicines have side effects but when they are combined the negative effects are compounded. No one expects medications to kill them, but they can do just that and it happens far more often than one might think (Mercola). For vitamins on the other hand, there is no vitamin that can solely take the place of Tylenol. Vitamins are not drugs that make you feel better soon after you take them, they are made for us to take on daily basis to make sure your body has the nutrients it needs keeping you from feeling bad. 

Internationally known for her empowering approach to women's health and wellness, Dr. Christiane Northrup, M.D., has spent her life as an advocate for women's health and wellness, first as a practicing OB/GYN physician for twenty-five years and now as an internationally respected writer and speaker. Dr. Northrup explains that prescription and over the counter drugs only conceal your symptoms at the time rather than actually eliminating the problem. By taking pharmaceutical drugs consistently we can eventually become immune to them. Approximately nine out of ten poisoning deaths are caused by prescription and over-the counter drugs (Northrup). In 2010, there were 38,329 deaths from drug overdose. However, 60% of those cases were related to pharmaceutical drugs. Included in the 60% are people who took their medication as directed by their doctor (Northrup). This shows us once again that people do not understand or take the time to thoroughly research the drug that they are taking and know the risks it has before taking it. Drugs can pose serious danger to our bodies and people need to carefully consider the pros and cons of all medications as they make decisions for their health. While some side effects are minor, others are more serious and with that realization it's critical to determine if you are creating more problems that are worse than the original issue. Another consideration should be the possibility of using supplements to address the root cause of the condition instead. 

Dr. Mark Hyman is a practicing family physician, a nine-time #1 New York Times bestselling author and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in his field. He is the Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. He is also the founder and medical director of The Ultra Wellness Center, chairman of the board of the Institute for Functional Medicine, a medical editor for The Huffington Post, and has been a regular medical contributor on many television shows including CBS This Morning, the Today Show, CNN, The View, the Katie Couric show and The Dr. Oz Show. Dr. Hyman claims that we should use vitamins because they keep us healthy and from having to take drugs when they are not needed. Vast basic science and experimental data support the use of nutritional supplements for the prevention of disease and the support of optimal health (Hyman). This message is catching on. Rahul S. Pawar has written a journal called Updates which focuses on chemical and biological research regarding botanical ingredients in dietary supplements and also has done research on vitamins. Dietary supplements and vitamins are the same thing. Dietary supplements have vitamins and minerals in them. His scholarly journal explains that the number of people using dietary supplements has increased and now 40% of the population of the United States is using them instead of using pharmaceutical drugs for various conditions. Perceptions that such dietary supplements are natural and safe, may prevent disease, may replace prescription medicines, or may make up for a poor diet play important roles in their increased use (Pawar).

Nutritionist Kathleen Zelman stresses why she believes that eating a healthy diet instead of vitamins is better for us. In addition to my argument taking vitamin and mineral supplements, various sources say that we should always eat a healthy diet. There are some sources that say we should eat a healthy diet without taking supplements and others say that we should eat a healthy diet and continue to take few supplements. "They can plug nutrition gaps in your diet, but it is short-sighted to think your vitamin or mineral is the ticket to good health. The big power is on the plate, not in a pill" (Zelman). Dietitian Karen Ansel says that it is always better to get your nutrients from whole foods. "Food contains thousands of phytochemicals, fiber, and more that work together to promote good health that cannot be duplicated with a pill or a cocktail of supplements" (Zelman). Dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA like drugs are and there are some manufacturers that may imply that their products have more powers than the scientific evidence shows they have (Zelman). The National Institutes of Health organized a group of experts to evaluate multivitamins and the effect that they actually have to prevent deadly diseases (Zelman). "The National Institutes of Health convened a group of experts to evaluate the evidence on multivitamins and the effect on chronic disease prevention. Researchers found few studies to make general recommendations for or against multivitamins to prevent chronic disease." (Zelman). "An overall healthy diet and regular physical activity can help prevent chronic disease, not supplements" (Zelman). Zelman is wrong in her claims. Vitamins are needed for our bodies to continue to stay healthy. You get some vitamins from eating a healthy diet but not all that we need. 

Chris Kilham is "The Medicine Hunter" is recognized for his research on vitamins and pharmaceutical drugs and believes that vitamins are just as much a chemical drug as pharmaceuticals are. He also believes it is better for us to take something that is proven effective like drugs than vitamins which are not proven effective:

"It is crucial for effective health care and consumer protection that practitioners, educators, the industry, and regulations focus on the evidence for safety and effectiveness. Here there is a clear distinction between substances marketed under the regulations for drugs and those under the far looser regulations for herbs and supplements. Drugs typically have far greater evidence for both safety and effectiveness. Herbs, on the other hands, are typically marketed based upon tradition and anecdote with insufficient scientific evidence for safety or efficacy." (Kilham)

Kilham explains in this quote that the regulations for drugs are very different from the regulations for vitamins. He tells us that drugs are safer for us to take because of the safety regulations that they have to go through before being put on the marketing, claiming that they are safer for us than vitamins. When they go through these processes it not only proves that they are safe but that they are effective and will get rid of the problems we take them for. He then goes on to say that vitamins do not go through much of a process to prove their efficacy or safety. When he verbalizes this he is stating that vitamins are not as effective or even effective at all. Kilham' accusations are incorrect when in fact vitamins are effective and if you take them every day like you should. Vitamins cannot take the place of pharmaceutical drugs when it comes to taking it to feel better an hour later but if you take like like suggested than you will not need drugs to make you feel better. 

From personal experience, I can tell you that making sure you have the right balance of vitamins and minerals in your body is critical for your health and should be the first aspect of your health addressed before turning to pharmaceutical drugs.  They help your body fight off illnesses and make you feel so much better than you would otherwise. I have had many issues with my digestive system as well as painful headaches my whole life. Recently I have learned that one of the contributing factors was food allergies which caused internal issues like candida yeast overgrowth in my abdominal area. At normal levels, Candida is harmless and exists alongside the trillions of other bacteria in the digestive and reproductive tracts. But if there's an overgrowth, Candida can lead to significant issues in the body including headaches, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal issues and autoimmune disorders  --  conditions most Americans take prescription and/or over the counter medications to treat. Ironically some of these medications including antibiotics, actually contribute to the over production of Candida yeast in our system. 

I chose to both modify my diet and add supplements to address the root cause of my issues. Today, six months later, this choice has helped me feel better than I have ever felt. Before these changes, I was one of those people who took medication for everything from over the counter drugs to prescription drugs. A lot of times I took more than I was supposed to and sooner than I was supposed to because it had not masked the problem at hand. Little did I know that the very medicine I was taking not only made the original problem worse, but it had side effects that could kill me. I believe that this argument/topic is significant because people tend to take pharmaceutical drugs for every little ache and pain that they have. It is very unsafe for us to do this and eventually our bodies will become immune to the medications and there will be nothing left for us to take when we actually do need them. People need to pay more attention to what they are taking and what they can do to avoid taking medication with so many side effects unless it is necessary. Therefore, I believe that it is extremely important for us to take care of our bodies and stay healthy by taking vitamins on a daily basis. The truth is, the best way to avoid all risk, including death, from prescription drugs is to not take them at all. Be sure you are aware of the risks of any medication prescribed to you and weigh them against possible benefits. Then you can make a well-informed decision determining whether it is a risk you are willing to take (Mercola).

