Vitamin Lecture Gives Advice on Getting Healthier

Did you know that they have prescriptions for certain types of vitamins? During a lecture held at the INOVA Hospital, Dr. Neeta Goel discussed to a large group of people the advantages and disadvantages of vitamins and a healthy diet. For most people, they think that taking all sorts of vitamins is good for them, when it actually may harm them.

 “A lot of people take a lot of vitamins thinking they have been researched, which isn’t necessarily true,” says Goel. “Sometimes what happens when you take a lot, thinking it’s just a vitamin it won’t hurt me, it might. That’s the goal, to increase awareness about healthy diet, and if you choose to take a vitamin how to make the right choice.”

The class was given packets on health benefits of vitamins and how each one corresponds to curbing the risk of getting diseases. Dr. Goel says that one of the big problems people face if they are deficient in a certain vitamin, it’s hard for them to stay on a regular daily routine of taking supplements. That’s why some doctors prescribe vitamins to patients, though it is a higher dose than found in the over-the-counter ones, and is taken less often, thus giving a higher compliance rate in patients taking it.

“It’s so important for people to learn what good nutrition is. The goal today is to teach people how they can reduce their risk of lots of chronic disease by just eating healthy,” Goel says. “We’ll talk a lot about vitamins and supplements and one goal is to make people aware that how the vitamins and supplements, when they decide to take it, they have to be so careful of the safety and to take what they really need, not more than that.”

According to Susan Beerman, the Physician Liason to the hospital, they have these types of lectures about twice a month. Each lecture corresponds to the season, so they stay current of what people are experiencing around them.

“They’re educational, it’s kind of like having a one-on-one with a  physician and it’s free,” says Beerman. “Sometimes if they don’t have a physician, they follow up with one that does the lecture.”

If you’d like to learn more about what vitamins you should be taking and how much go to inova.org/asktheexpert