Vitamins to Supplement or Not Reading Answers

The IELTS exam has four sections: Reading, Listening, Writing, and Speaking. The Reading test checks if you can understand a passage, find specific details, and follow how ideas develop from one paragraph to the next.

Vitamins to Supplement or Not asks a simple question that has a complicated answer. Do vitamin pills actually work? The passage says they help some groups, put others at risk, and do very little for most people. It also quotes several health bodies and studies along the way, so it’s easy to mix up who said what.

This page gives you a practice version of that passage, 13 questions, and the full Vitamins to Supplement or Not reading answers with explanations. The passage is reworded, and the questions are original, so they won’t match a published paper word for word.

Here are the official Vitamins to Supplement or Not Reading Answer Key:

Question	Answer
14	B - Young children
15	A - Leads to heart problems
16	D - Prevents the immune system from responding to free radicals
17	YES
18	NOT GIVEN
19	NO
20	YES
21	NO
22	A - Supplementation may have a positive effect
23	B - Supplementation may have a negative effect
24	C - Supplementation has no effect
25	A - Supplementation may have a positive effect
26	C - Supplementation has no effect

These are the answers for Vitamins to Supplement or Not reading passage. You can now attempt the practice test below and then check your answers with the explanations to understand how each response is supported by the passage.

Vitamins to Supplement or Not IELTS Reading Passage for Practice

Is a tube of vitamins a smart investment or just expensive tablets? This passage looks at the people who gain from supplements, the people who may be harmed by them, and the reasons most of us are better off with a good diet.

It’s a practice text for reading skills, not health advice. Read it carefully, then answer the questions. Aim to finish in about 20 minutes.

Vitamins to Supplement or Not

A
Vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant supplements are a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States alone. But do they work? The evidence says they are clearly useful in some special cases and can be harmful in others. For the general population, they have little or no effect on the prevention of common cancers, heart disease, memory loss, early death, or any other major measure of health. For a longer, happier, and healthier life, most people have better ways to spend their money than a tube of vitamin pills.

B
Some groups do gain a proven benefit. Folic acid has long been recommended around pregnancy, because it helps a baby’s cells divide and prevents birth defects of the neural tube. Since Canada and the United States began requiring white flour to be fortified with folic acid, spinal birth defects have dropped by 75%, and rates of neuroblastoma, a serious childhood cancer, are 50% lower. In countries without fortification, or for women on low-carbohydrate diets, a prenatal multivitamin could make a vital difference. The United States Department of Health and Human Services has also concluded that older people may benefit from extra vitamin D, that calcium can help prevent bone fractures, and that zinc and antioxidants can protect eyesight in people who would otherwise be likely to develop macular degeneration.

C
For many other people, though, the evidence says to avoid multivitamins. The National Institutes of Health has spoken of “disturbing evidence of risk” for tobacco users. In a six-year study, beta-carotene, a common ingredient in multivitamins, clearly raised lung cancer and death rates among smokers. Too much vitamin A, which people often take to boost the immune system, has been shown to raise women’s risk of hip fracture. Vitamin E, thought to help the heart, was linked in one study to more cases of congestive heart failure. According to the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, antioxidant supplements serve no purpose, and the Medical Letter Group goes further, suggesting they may interfere with treatment and encourage some cancers. Antioxidants are usually seen as a defence against the damage that free radicals cause. But in the Medical Letter’s theory, free radicals also send the immune system a strong signal to repair that damage. Supplements may block the signal, so the immune system is not put on alert, and a disease could slip through.

D
Pills also have a poor record on digestion. Many tablets contain metal-based minerals that are basically tiny rocks, and our bodies cannot digest them. Even the vitamins in a pill, which can be digested in theory, are often hard to extract when they are packed so tightly. In Salt Lake City, for example, more than 150 gallons of vitamin and mineral pills are taken from the sewer filters every month. The Physician’s Desk Reference says only about 10% to 20% of multivitamins are absorbed. The National Advisory Board is harsher. It says every 100 mg of tablet becomes only about 8.3 mg in the blood, although it adds that this can still help in some cases. So for every $100 spent on supplements, more than $90 is, in effect, flushed away.

E
A last argument is that multivitamins can give people the idea that a pill fills the gaps in a poor diet. They may swap a breakfast of fresh fruit and muesli for a capsule, a coffee and a chocolate bar. The Heart Protection Study, which ran for seven years, found no positive result from multivitamins at all. It concluded that vitamins in food matter, but that multivitamin tablets are safe and completely useless. There is no shortcut around buying, preparing and eating fresh fruit and vegetables every day. Products that are boosted, supplemented or fortified also change what people think of as healthy food. Instead of going to the fresh produce aisle, they may pick sugary, processed foods with a few extra B vitamins. We cannot supplement our way out of a bad diet.

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Vitamins to Supplement or Not Reading Practice Questions

Now test yourself. The questions ask you to choose the best answer, decide if statements match the writer’s views, and sort groups of people into categories.

Watch out for paraphrasing. The questions rarely use the same words as the passage.

Questions 14–16: Multiple Choice

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 14–16.

14. According to the writer, what do supplements do for the general population?

A. They greatly reduce the risk of common cancers.
B. They have little or no effect on major measures of health.
C. They cause serious harm to most people.
D. They improve memory in older adults.

15. What does the writer use the folic acid example to show?

A. Some groups can gain a proven benefit from supplements.
B. All vitamins should be added to food.
C. Supplements prevent most childhood cancers.
D. Prenatal vitamins are unnecessary in every country.

16. What does the Medical Letter’s theory suggest about antioxidant supplements?

A. They are too hard for the body to digest.
B. They may weaken a signal that tells the immune system to act.
C. They make people choose sugary foods.
D. They only harm people who smoke.

Questions 17–21: Yes/No/Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the views or claims of the writer in the passage?

Write

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
 NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
 NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1. Requiring flour to be fortified has been followed by fewer spinal birth defects.
2. Most smokers in the United States take multivitamins.
3. Only a small share of a multivitamin tablet is absorbed by the body.
4. Taking multivitamin tablets can replace eating fresh fruit and vegetables.
5. The Heart Protection Study found that multivitamins cause serious harm.

Questions 22–26: Classifying Groups

Classify each of the following groups of people as relating to

A. people who may gain a proven benefit from supplements
 B. people who may be put at risk by some supplements
 C. people who gain little or nothing from supplements

Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 22–26.

1. Pregnant women in countries that do not fortify flour
2. People who smoke
3. The general population
4. Women who take large amounts of vitamin A
5. Older people

Also Read:
IELTS Syllabus	IELTS Test Format	IELTS Exam Pattern

Vitamins to Supplement or Not Reading Answers with Explanation

Done with the questions? Use the Vitamins to Supplement or Not reading answers with location below to check each response. You’ll see where each answer sits in the passage, and where the common traps are.

Answers 14–16: Multiple Choice

Answer 14: B
Paragraph A says that for the general population, supplements have little or no effect on cancers, heart disease, memory loss, early death, or any other major measure of health. Option A and option D go too far, because the passage says supplements do not prevent these things. Option C is too strong. The passage says supplements can be harmful in some cases, not for most people.
 Answer location: Paragraph A, sentence 4

Answer 15: A
Paragraph B opens with “Some groups do gain a proven benefit”, and then gives folic acid as the first example. Option C stretches the neuroblastoma figure into “most childhood cancers”. Option D is the opposite of the point that a prenatal multivitamin could make a vital difference in countries without fortification.
 Answer location: Paragraph B, sentences 1 to 4

Answer 16: B
Paragraph C explains the theory. Free radicals send a strong signal to the immune system to repair damage, and supplements may block that signal. The question words this as “weaken a signal that tells the immune system to act”. Option A is about digestion, which is Paragraph D. Option C is about diet, in Paragraph E.
 Answer location: Paragraph C, sentences 7 and 8

Answers 17–21: Yes/No/Not Given

Answer 17: YES
Paragraph B says spinal birth defects have dropped by 75% since Canada and the United States began requiring fortified flour. The statement says there are fewer defects after the requirement. Same idea, with no number.
 Answer location: Paragraph B, sentence 3

Answer 18: NOT GIVEN
Paragraph C is about smokers, but it only describes a six-year beta-carotene study and its results. It never says how many smokers take multivitamins. The topic matches, but the detail isn’t there. Words like “most” often point to Not Given.
 Answer location: Paragraph C, sentence 2; no information on this

Answer 19: YES
Paragraph D says the Physician’s Desk Reference puts absorption at only about 10% to 20%. “Only a small share” is the statement’s way of saying 10% to 20%. Don’t be thrown by the larger numbers in the next sentences. They support the same point.
 Answer location: Paragraph D, sentence 5

Answer 20: NO
Paragraph E says there is no shortcut around buying, preparing, and eating fresh fruit and vegetables every day. The statement says tablets can replace them, which is the opposite of the writer’s view.
 Answer location: Paragraph E, sentence 4

Answer 21: NO
Paragraph E says the Heart Protection Study concluded that multivitamin tablets are safe and completely useless. “Serious harm” contradicts “safe”. The trap is Paragraph C, which does list harms. But those are for particular vitamins in particular groups, not the finding of this study.
 Answer location: Paragraph E, sentences 2 and 3

Answers 22–26: Classifying Groups

Answer 22: A
Paragraph B says that in countries without fortification, a prenatal multivitamin could make a vital difference. That’s a proven benefit for pregnant women there, so it fits A. It isn’t C, because the passage is clear that this group gains.
 Answer location: Paragraph B, sentences 2 and 4

Answer 23: B
Paragraph C says the National Institutes of Health found “disturbing evidence of risk” in tobacco users, and that beta-carotene raised lung cancer and death rates among smokers. That’s a risk, so it fits B.
 Answer location: Paragraph C, sentence 2

Answer 24: C
Paragraph A says that for the general population, supplements have little or no effect on major measures of health. So this group gains little or nothing. Watch out for B and A here. The passage lists benefits and risks only for specific sub-groups, not for the general population.
 Answer location: Paragraph A, sentence 4

Answer 25: B
Paragraph C says too much vitamin A has been shown to raise women’s risk of hip fracture. This group is put at risk, so it fits B. Don’t pick C because of the line about boosting the immune system. That’s why people take it, not what the evidence found.
 Answer location: Paragraph C, sentence 3

Answer 26: A
Paragraph B says the Department of Health and Human Services concluded that older people may benefit from extra vitamin D. That’s a benefit, so it fits A. The same paragraph also mentions zinc and antioxidants for eyesight, which point the same way.
 Answer location: Paragraph B, sentence 5

 Check out: How to Register for the IELTS Exam 2026 in India?

Important Vocabulary for Vitamins to Supplement or Not IELTS Reading Passage

This passage uses some medical and science words, and the questions often swap them for simpler ones. Learn the main ones before you try again.

Word	Meaning
Supplement	A pill or capsule that adds vitamins or minerals to your diet
Fortified	Having a vitamin or mineral added during food production
Prenatal	Before a baby is born, or during pregnancy
Neural tube	The part of an unborn baby that becomes the brain and spine
Neuroblastoma	A serious cancer that affects young children
Macular degeneration	An eye disease that slowly damages central vision
Antioxidant	A substance that protects cells from damage
Free radical	A harmful particle in the body that can damage cells
Congestive heart failure	A condition where the heart cannot pump blood well enough
Mortality	The rate at which people die
Negligible	So small that it is not worth considering
Absorbed	Taken into the blood from food or pills
Digestible	Able to be broken down and used by the body
Indicated	Recommended on medical grounds

Try using three or four of these words in your own sentences. It helps you remember them, and you’ll recognise their paraphrases faster in the test.

How to Approach Vitamins to Supplement or Not IELTS Reading Questions?

This passage has many studies, organisations and figures, so it can feel heavy. But each paragraph has one clear job. A is the overall verdict, B covers the groups who benefit, C covers the risks, D is about digestion, and E is about diet. Work out what each question wants, find the right paragraph, and then read that part carefully.

Here are a few simple ways to approach the Vitamins to Supplement or Not IELTS reading answers:

1. Identify Keywords and Their Synonyms

Underline the main words in the question and think of other words with the same meaning. The passage will probably use those.

In the question	In the passage
little or no effect	little or no impact
fewer spinal birth defects	spinal birth defects have dropped
only a small share is absorbed	only about 10% to 20% is absorbed
put at risk	disturbing evidence of risk
older people	the elderly (in the original wording)

So don’t search for the exact words. Search for the idea.

2. Distinguish Between Yes, No, and Not Given

Yes/No/Not Given questions are about the writer’s views or claims. If the passage supports the statement, it’s Yes. If it says the opposite, it’s No. If you can’t tell either way, it’s Not Given.

Take Questions 18 and 21. In Question 18, the passage talks about smokers, but never says how many take multivitamins, so it’s Not Given. In Question 21, the study found multivitamins “safe”, which contradicts “serious harm”, so it’s No. Ask yourself, “Can I point to a sentence that supports or contradicts this?” If you can’t, it’s Not Given. Also watch for words like “most”, “all,” and “dangerous”. They often change the answer.

3. Eliminate Incorrect Multiple-Choice Options

Don’t look for the right answer first. Cross out the wrong ones.

Start with options that go too far, like “most people” in Question 14 or “all vitamins” in Question 15. Then remove options that belong to a different paragraph, like the digestion idea in Question 16. Finally, check any option that is only partly right, because one wrong detail makes the whole option wrong. What’s left is your answer.

4. Match Groups to Their Views in the Passage

For classification questions, make a short note of each group and what the passage says about it before you start:

• Pregnant women in countries without fortification → benefit (Paragraph B)
• Older people → benefit from vitamin D (Paragraph B)
• Smokers → at risk from beta-carotene (Paragraph C)
• Women taking too much vitamin A → at risk of hip fracture (Paragraph C)
• The general population → little or no effect (Paragraph A)

Then read each item and ask, “Which note does this match?” Be careful with the general population. The passage treats it separately from the sub-groups. And a group can appear more than once, so check which statement the question is about.

5. Verify Answers Using the Passage

Before you move on, go back to the sentence that gave you the answer. Does it really say what you chose?

When you finish, check each answer once more. Did you pick the right paragraph, or one that sounded similar? Did you choose an option that was too strong? Small slips like these can lose you marks you had already earned. And spend about 20 minutes on this set. If you get stuck, mark the question and come back.

Looking for more IELTS Reading practice? Read these answer guides to practise different passage topics and question types: The Origin of Writing Reading Answers Animal Camouflage Reading Answers High School Students in Part-Time Employment Reading Answers Eco Tourism Reading Answers IELTS Reading Answers for Coinage in Ancient Greece

Conclusion

Vitamins to Supplement or Not weighs both sides of a health question. Supplements help some groups, put others at risk, and do little for most people. The ideas are easy to follow, but the passage quotes many studies and organisations, so it’s easy to mix up who said what. A short label for each paragraph and a quick note on each group keep you on track.

When you check the Vitamins to Supplement or Not reading answers, don’t only look at what you got wrong. Look at how you got there. Did you pick an option that went too far? Did you answer Yes when the passage said nothing? Spotting that is what improves your score. For more practice, try a few more Vitamins to Supplement or Not IELTS reading answer sets, and time yourself each time. 

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