My husband and I have an informal division of labor for many household and parenting tasks. (On his list: garbage, lawn care, dressing the kids in the morning. On mine: bills, laundry, getting the kids ready for bed at night.) At dinnertime he usually cooks and I, well, fret about nutrition. I'm not (I hope) an overly anxious parent, but I do worry about my preschool son's eating habits. He doesn't like milk, turns up his nose at many kid-friendly staples (what child doesn't like spaghetti?), and shies away from most green vegetables (although he does love peas—if they're frozen). So, for some added nutritional insurance, I've been contemplating giving him a multivitamin. But does he really need that extra jolt of nutrients? Possibly not.

New research shows that most children who take vitamins probably don't need them, and that kids who could benefit most from these supplements are least likely to take them. The research comes from a national study of more than 10,800 children ages 2 to 17. In questionnaires and interviews, parents were asked about their child's health and nutrition, including questions about their use of vitamin and mineral supplements.

Researchers found that one third of children and teenagers had taken supplements recently, and that almost half of these youngsters took supplements daily. But, contrary to what researchers expected, kids with poorer diets and less active lifestyles were among the least likely to take vitamins, even though they were at greater risk of deficiencies. On the flipside, kids who were healthy and active and had good diets were most likely to take vitamins, even though they were least likely to need them.