megavitamin

[ meg-uh-vahy-tuh-min; British also meg-uh-vit-uh-min ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or using very large amounts of vitamins: Compare orthomolecular.

   megavitamin therapy.

noun

1. megavitamins, doses of vitamins much larger than the recommended dietary allowances.

Word History and Origins

Origin of megavitamin¹

First recorded in 1965–70; mega- + vitamin

Example Sentences

Respected innovators, organizers, and activists embraced quack alternative therapies like megavitamin doses, special diets, and something called “chelation,” “in which an individual is dosed with drugs that remove accumulated heavy metals from the body.”

From Slate

The title of another book, written with Professor Stare in 1983, was emblematic of Dr. Whelan’s consuming passion and sometimes insouciant approach: “The One-Hundred-Percent Natural, Purely Organic, Cholesterol-Free, Megavitamin, Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Hoax.”

From New York Times

No need for megavitamin therapy however.

From Seattle Times

I recall my parents in the 1970s trying out a range of therapies and various diets for my younger brother Noah, a low-functioning adult autistic: everything from chiropractic adjustments to megavitamin doses to copper bracelets.

From Time

She attempted a succession of cures: reviving a music career that had faltered, then psychiatrists, alcoholism sanitariums, even megavitamin therapy.

From Time Magazine Archive