What can destroy or interfere with vitamins and minerals?
Researchers believe that while food may, in fact, contain all the good things we need, many factors can destroy or interfere with many vitamins and minerals. Vitamins are easily wiped out by light, air, heat, and water. Cooking many foods actually destroys their vitamins. Eating other foods raw is less nutritious than cooking them.37 Drinking alcohol will deprive you of several vitamins.38 Oral contraceptives interfere with B12 and folic acid in women who take them.39 When you eat a meal at a restaurant, don t count on getting any vitamins from your food as the use of heating lamps destroys many nutrients.37 Many prescription medications can rob you of several vitamins and minerals.40 Smoking cigarettes and exposure to secondhand smoke destroys vitamin C.41 Fortunately, taking a quality multivitamin will provide you with dietary insurance against all these losses.13,14 And, the good news gets even better. Studies have also shown that the longer you use supplemental multivitamins, the m
