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Can you take vitamins on a fast day?

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    Somewhere Rav Moshe Feinstein says that vitamins need a hashgacha because they provide 'sustenance.' That could be relevant here...
    – Double AA ♦
    Jan 6, 2012 at 1:52
  • Can you take vitamins on a fast day?
    – Double AA ♦
    Jul 8, 2015 at 4:34

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A partial answer: I have heard from my rabbi, but of course contact your own for an halachic ruling, that prenatal vitamins (prescription or over-the-counter) which one's doctor says to take have the same rule as any other medicine prescribed by a doctor.

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    Many women taking prenatals do not observe minor fasts, and likely would be eating Shi'urim anyway for major fasts.
    – Seth J
    Mar 14, 2011 at 3:53
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    R'Seth: mi.yodeya.com/questions/4689
    – msh210 ♦
    Mar 14, 2011 at 4:27
  • @msh Very thorough. Why not post that link as an answer to this question? As for pregnant women, I can only tell you that 1, I assume most, but not all, women taking prenatal vitamins are pregnant, and 2, I was witness and party to a pregnant woman's psak from a respected Rav to eat Shi'urim and that anything that fit in the Shi'ur, liquid or solid, food, medicine, or antacid, was fair game.
    – Seth J
    Mar 14, 2011 at 12:05
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    I didn't realize you were the author of the partial answer.
    – Seth J
    Mar 14, 2011 at 12:11
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    @SethJ you acknowledge not everyone taking prenatal vitamins is pregnant. I'd note that some women take them while trying to become pregnant.
    – Ze'ev misses Monica
    Sep 24, 2012 at 19:30
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Swallowing a regular pill is not considered eating food, and is permitted on a fast day and does not require a bracha. However, chewable bills (that have flavor) are different, and probably cannot be taken on a fast.

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  • +1, with the caveat that one is not allowed to drink water to swallow the vitamin pill on a fast day. (Again, unless this person is ill, and a doctor has mandated that this person must take a vitamin pill on this day - but if one is that ill, perhaps one ought not fast at all).
    – user1095
    Jan 2, 2012 at 8:19
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I would think not, unless they were prescribed by a doctor. Vitamins are not medicine and are taken voluntarily and therefore would not be considered as a danger if you miss taking them one day.

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    source source source
    – Gershon Gold
    Mar 9, 2011 at 23:50

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