Yet despite a century of scientific research (the word "vitamin" was coined only in 1912), there is little consensus around even the simplest of questions, whether it's exactly how much we each require or what these thirteen dietary chemicals actually do. Yes, we need vitamins without them, we would die. What we don't realize is that the experts themselves are surprisingly short on answers. Instead, we outsource our questions to experts and interpret "vitamin" as shorthand for "health." We believe that vitamins are always beneficial and that the more we can get, the better-yet despite this familiarity, few of us could explain what vitamins actually are. Health-conscious Americans seek out vitamins any way they can, whether in a morning glass of orange juice, a piece of vitamin-enriched bread, or a daily multivitamin. Vitamania is the startling story of America's devotion to vitamins-and how it keeps us from good health.
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