Review : Pill poppers

Vitamin supplements are big business, but do they do us any good?
Pill-poppers and sceptics both use science to back themselves up, but the jury’s
been out ever since the word “vitamin” was invented. There’s plenty of food for
thought in Rima D. Apple’s fascinating history—Vitamania: Vitamins in
American Culture (Rutgers University Press, $18.95, ISBN 0 8135 2278
1).