My RDA

Factual Questions
1

I thought about posting this directly to Cecil, but it looks like he’s busy with anti-Semitic communist smurfs…

I was reading the label on my daily multivitamin and some of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) numbers just really kind of jump out at me.

(Picking and choosing from the label)

Magnesium, 25%. No real problem there, but why not 100%?

Vitamin D, 50%. Again, no problem, same question.

Vitamin A, 100%. That’s what I’m talkin about. Get it all.

Niacin, 250%. Huh? What’s wrong with 100%?

Vitamin E, 333%. Someone push the wrong button on the blender?

Vitamin C, 500%. Okay, maybe there was a good sale on.

Vitamin B-12, 833%. Someone getting kickbacks?

Vitamin B-6, 2500%. That’s right, TWO zeroes. I’m pretty sure it’s not a typo.

Thiamin, 3333%. Isn’t that a bit too much of a good thing?
Okay, maybe I missed something in health class, but doesn’t RDA basically mean that’s the amount I need to be happy, healthy, and all set to live to be 150? What possible reason is there for me to need 3333% of anything?

2

None, which is why taking vitamin and mineral supplements are at best a waste of time and money for almost everyone, at worst actively harmful if you overdose (hard but possible).

… stands back and waits for the tidal wave of “but when I took Vitamin X” anecdotes …

3

Some vitamins can be harmful if you get too much of them, which explains why some of them are less than 100%. If you got 100% from that pill, plus however much you get from food, or your body manufactures itself, you might end up over the limit.

And some people believe that amounts of some vitamins much higher than the RDA are good for various things. Linus Pauling, for instance, has been a big advocate for megadoses of vitamin C. Of course, the companies which make vitamins like this line of thinking. So this accounts for the very large amounts of some vitamins.

4

Hey, when I took Vitamin X, I became as strong as an ax or an ox. YMMV.

Yours truly,
H. Humbert.

5

Well, when I took mega-doses of B, not only did my pee turn orange but I also failed to stop the hangovers!

6

That’s how I know when I’ve forgotten to take mine. I’ll be standing there and the stream isn’t neon yellow. :stuck_out_tongue: