Read the text below and say a) how vitamins can be bad for us and b) what we must do if we take supplements

Vitamins are good for our health, aren’t they? Perhaps not. New research suggests that high doses of certain vitamins may be more harm than good and could even kill you.

A variety of recent studies suggest that these vitamins, when taken in very high doses, may actually increase the risks of cancer and a range of debilitating diseases. Scientists are unsure as to why vitamins, so essential to health, can be toxic in high doses. The most likely explanation is that the body is only equipped to deal with the levels found naturally in the environment. If the intake is too far above the normal range, then there may appear an imbalance in the body’s internal chemistry.

What this means is that the commercially sold vitamins and those provided by nature are not always compatible. The commercial forms may interfere with the body’s internal chemistry by “crowding out” the more natural and beneficial forms of the nutrients. The vitamins obtained from food are also allied with a lot of other substances which may lower their activity in the body.

The latest advice is to eat a balanced diet to ensure you get all the nutrients you need, and if you must take supplements make sure you take the lowest recommended dose and follow the instructions on the bottle.

Answer the questions to the text above.

1. What does new research suggest?

2. When may vitamins increase diseases?

3. Why can vitamins be toxic to health?

4. Why are the commercial forms not always compatible with natural ones?

5. What can you recommend about taking vitamins?

11.9 a) Read the text below and look carefully at each line. If the line is correct, put a tick (ü), if it has a word that should not be there, write this word on the line, as in the examples.