Vitamins & Supplements Drugs in Nigeria

Every Nigerian pharmacy gives its best shelf space to vitamins — blood tonics, multivitamins, vitamin C, B-complex, folic acid, zinc. Some of this is real medicine: folic acid before and during pregnancy prevents birth defects, iron treats the anaemia that is common in menstruating women and children, and zinc with ORS is part of the standard treatment for childhood diarrhoea. Some of it is habit and marketing, bought to feel responsible rather than to fix a diagnosed deficiency.

Supplements here are inexpensive and largely safe, with two caveats. Iron overdose is a real danger to small children who mistake tablets for sweets, and 'blood tonic' does not fix an anaemia whose cause — worms, heavy periods, ulcers — has never been looked at. If tiredness or paleness keeps returning, the tonic aisle is the wrong first stop; a simple blood test is.