Why don't doctors recommend multi-vitamins to patients who emotional eat or over-eat?

You might want to visit the Doctor Oz website. They've had a couple of good segments about how to overcome cravings, and how to stop emotional eating and over-eating. Just google Doctor Oz show.

Because there is no physiological reason this would curb emotional binging, other than the water, the feeling of peristalsis, and the placebo effect.

Additionally, multivitamins taken excessively can cause significant problems.

Edit: Multivitamins take time to absorb into the body. Unless you are taking a sublingual B vitamin, a pill will take time to dissolve and absorb - much longer than the instant gratification you are getting in the curbing of emotional appetite. Additionally, B9 and Bc (Folic Acid) vitamins are used to STIMULATE appetite. These are regularly given via injection to people and animals when appetite is suppressed. Via injection allows for rapid uptake and appetite stimulation. B12 is also used for appetite stimulation in humans and even more frequently in cats.

BTW the reason water works a little bit is because it fills the stomach for a short period of time. Unfortunately, using this Excessively can lead to water intoxication and a variety of problems like hyponatremia.

For most people multi vitamins are food magnets. This is because many of the compounds in them are looking for their intended target - food to process. The craving reduction you experienced was probably isolated to the B-vitamins (B-6 B-12 Thiamine). B-Complex vitamins.behave like stimulants which suppress appetite. You can buy a B only supplement (usually labelled B Super Complex) if you want to test this theory. but if the multi vitamin is working for you try to take them with traditional meals so their not screaming for work product (food). and BTW drinking waster only works if its ice water because the cold shrinks the stomach and makes it feel full sooner. Good Luck

Doctors just "practice" medicine. They aren't experts. Plus, if it looks like a horse and sounds like a horse - they will say it is a horse...when it could be a zebra. But they won't pursue a zebra...they will treat it as a horse.

In other words: if it looks like you are getting migraines due to allergies - than that is what your diagnosis will be. They won't pursue a possible brain tumor because the likelihood is low.

That's because it doesn't work, you just want it to.