Take your vitamins

[Nightfall1]

I take a one a day vitamin/mineral pill. It’s pennies a day. Can’t hurt, might help. One a day is not mega amounts.

[Broomstick]

I’d rather put the money towards better, higher quality food.

[Ambivalid]

@Nightfall1

I take a one a day vitamin/mineral pill. It’s pennies a day. Can’t hurt, might help.

Are you even reading the thread??

[Shagnasty]

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

What mikecurtis, snowthx and others have said here. 99+% of them are not only a waste of time and money, but are more likely to harm than they are to help.

And the analogy comparing vitamins and supplements to fire extinguishers fails on many levels.

Good doctor, I definitely respect your opinion but I have suspicion that there are many caveats to that. I have personally witnessed health benefits from everything from magnesium to vitamin D. I am about the least flaky person you can find but I truly believe some supplements can work.

Are they all a sham or are people just misusing them?

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Shagnasty

Good doctor, I definitely respect your opinion but I have suspicion that there are many caveats to that. I have personally witnessed health benefits

Science does not work by personal witnessing, aka ‘testimonials’.

from everything from magnesium to vitamin D

Which means what vitamins and minerals in particular? All of the 13 basic human vitamins? And which of the 20 necessary minerals besides magnesium?

I truly believe some supplements can work.

Sure, they work if you have a legitimate clinically significant deficiency. Which happens in maybe one out of every 250 people. (Save for Vitamin D, more people do need that. But even there, clinically significant Vitamin D deficiency (levels low enough to cause physiologic disease states, not just levels lower than normal lab values) affect fewer than 1 in 100 people.

Are they all a sham or are people just misusing them?

Most people do NOT need them, but they’re being pushed by the manufacturers and retailers as if they are vitally necessary.

[igor_frankensteen]

I see that the people who have sternly warned that vitamins can be very harmful, all failed to read their own links and quotes, wherein it was specified that EXCESSIVE DOSES were harmful.

And yes, there have been all sorts of vitamin-related fads, which were pure bunk. But one general lesson that I have learned better than many, is that being self-righteous in ONE direction is never an intelligent solution to people who are being self-righteous in the OTHER direction.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@mikecurtis

They are mostly a waste of money. From Science Based Medicine

Really, folks. Just read the link provided here by mikecurtis. Scientifically solid, peer-reviewed.

The message is simple: Most supplements do not prevent chronic disease or death, their use is not justified, and they should be avoided. This message is especially true for the general population with no clear evidence of micronutrient deficiencies

[mikecurtis]

@igor_frankensteen

I see that the people who have sternly warned that vitamins can be very harmful, all failed to read their own links and quotes, wherein it was specified that EXCESSIVE DOSES were harmful.

And yes, there have been all sorts of vitamin-related fads, which were pure bunk. But one general lesson that I have learned better than many, is that being self-righteous in ONE direction is never an intelligent solution to people who are being self-righteous in the OTHER direction.

Except that many (including some in this thread) are taking vitamins on the mistaken assumption of “couldn’t hurt”. And, if you are eating even a marginally healthy diet, then taking a vitamin supplement could easily boost your levels to “excessive doses”
I am not a doctor so you shouldn’t trust my word for it, and if our local medical expert isn’t good enough, here’s what the Mayo Clinic has to say

Many people take supplements as an “insurance policy” against inadequate nutrition. However, in developed countries, deficiencies in most vitamins and minerals are uncommon, unless there is a predisposing condition. Taking supplements provides these nutrients far in excess of what’s necessary for good health.

mc

[jtur88]

I read on line about ten years ago that Vitamin A-Palmitate may delay the progression or Retinitis Pigmentosa by as much as ten percent. So I started taking it, available only on line, but cheap. Later my two ophthalmologists said it’s good science, and they think the results are convincing, and I should keep taking it. I still have a little vision left, so I may now be running on Vitamin Time. Maybe. I’ll take it,

[mikecurtis]

@jtur88

I read on line about ten years ago that Vitamin A-Palmitate may delay the progression or Retinitis Pigmentosa by as much as ten percent. So I started taking it, available only on line, but cheap. Later my two ophthalmologists said it’s good science, and they think the results are convincing, and I should keep taking it. I still have a little vision left, so I may now be running on Vitamin Time. Maybe. I’ll take it,

I’m happy you’ve found something that works for you! But it’s not for everyone

Vitamin A is Harmful for People with Inherited Macular Diseases
Do not take any vitamin A supplement if you have Stargardt disease, Best disease, cone-rod dystrophy or any other form of an inherited macular degeneration. These conditions result from the accumulation of toxic waste products from the processing of vitamin A. In animal studies, vitamin A supplementation led to more waste and accelerated vision loss.
An Important Reminder
Do not take vitamin A without doctor supervision and reading the Foundation’s Vitamin A Packet.

mc

[DSeid]

@WildBlueYonder

Can I get a consensus on what our members think of taking vitamins-any vitamin supplement…

I had been taking B-12 to help my brain. It seems to work but ya know power of suggestion :eek:

My doctor said I dont need any supplements and not to take any, but I have a slight anemia and she wants me to take iron. I eat food all day long with iron. I dont see where I should be anemic.

She also said that my levels have been stable over the past few years so I should be ok…um. :smack::smack:

I’ve also heard that taking vitamins only supply enriched pee.

What do you all think??

Old thread.

Short version is that a typical Westerner eating the typical Western crap diet (not an ideal one) is highly highly unlikely to benefit from a multivitamin and indeed it could hurt.

That typical Westerner eating that crap would very very likely benefit from eating less crap and more less highly processed food including some vegetables and fruits, with lower risks of future disability and disease.

[Chimera]

On the other side, I find expired multi-vitamins to be a great source of nutrients for my house plants.

[GrumpyBunny]

@snowthx

Multivitamins. Large clinical trials have repeatedly found that multivitamins don’t improve the health of the average person. People who might need a multivitamin include women who are pregnant, breast-feeding, or trying to conceive; dieters consuming fewer than 1,200 calories a day or cutting out an entire food group (carbs, for example); and those with medical conditions that affect digestion and food absorption.

I take a multivitamin for one of the above reasons.

And I take prescription D in the spring, fall, and winter. I just don’t get enough D3 otherwise to not feel awful. In the summer I spend enough time outside with waaay fewer clothes on, so I get a lot of sun. (I grew up in Florida and couldn’t wear sunblock as a kid because all of it had scents and ingredients that I was allergic to. So I’m going to get skin cancer anyway.)

[Shodan]

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

Sure, they work if you have a legitimate clinically significant deficiency. Which happens in maybe one out of every 250 people. (Save for Vitamin D, more people do need that. But even there, clinically significant Vitamin D deficiency (levels low enough to cause physiologic disease states, not just levels lower than normal lab values) affect fewer than 1 in 100 people.

Are there hard figures on what percentage of people who take a daily multi-vitamin who experience clinically significant symptoms of vitamin or mineral overdose? Please note I am not talking about massive doses, but the person (like myself) who take a daily dose of 100% of various vitamins and minerals.

I am not taking it in the belief that it is going to do anything more than avoid a deficiency. What are the health risks of that?

Regards,
Shodan

[Bill_Door]

Here’s what I posted back in 2007:

[QUOTE=Bill Door]
I eat a diet that is rich and varied, but I do restrict many carbohydrates. I don’t eat flour of any kind, which is the source of a lot of B vitamins. I use Fitday, which is an online food analyzer that calculates vitamins based on your RDA. In an unsupplemented diet I have trouble getting enough calcium and magnesium, and I’m sometimes light in thiamine, vitamin D, and niacin, so I take daily supplements of a multi-vitamin and a multi-mineral. I figure I’ll use the stuff I need, and use the rest to give my urine a nice color.

I buy the cheap multis at Costco, You know, the ones that say “Compares to”. I think anyone spending more than a few cents per day for supplements is probably being taken.

I consider myself fit and moderately healthy, although it has been some time since I could be called young, or middle aged for that matter.
[/QUOTE]

Not much has changed since then, except I’ve added an AREDS2 supplement to help out with age related eye disease on the advice of my retina guy. When you’ve only got one eye, you tend to be careful with the other one.

[Athena]

I take B-12 every day, and take vitamin D supplements on occasion, both on my doctor’s recommendation. The B-12 is because along with my T1 diabetes diagnoses several years ago, they also said “oh, by the way, did you know you had pernicious anemia?”

The doc that diagnosed me said that I’d have to go in for B12 shots for the rest of my life, but my local doc said he’d had good luck treating it with vitamins, so we tried that first. So far, so good; my B levels are normal.

(On a side note, I had no idea that pernicious anemia used to be fatal until they highlighted it on Downton Abbey. That was quite an episode: him: “I’m dying of pernicious anemia!!” me: “hey, I have that! It can kill me?!? :eek:”)

The D fluctuates, I mostly go on it in the winter. Like the B12, my bloodwork confirms it’s doing the job.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Shodan

I am not taking it in the belief that it is going to do anything more than avoid a deficiency. What are the health risks of that?

As a semi-educated guess I’d say the risks are very low and mainly theoretical. But it has been clearly demonstrated that there is no apparent benefit to taking supplements in that way. So the most likely outcome is that you’re at pretty low risk for harming yourself, but you’re unlikely to be helping yourself either.

And I doubt anyone could calculate precisely what the typical healthy person’s risks would be from that approach.

The best current scientific data indicates that it probably won’t hurt you, but it’s even less likely to be of benefit to you, and it costs money.

[puzzlegal]

I’ve stopped taking a multivitamin, but as best as I can tell, there’s no evidence that vitamins in those doses can hurt you, and they are very cheap.

I take a vitamin D supplement (when I remember), because when I don’t, my blood tests always come out low in D. I take a vitamin E supplement because I believe in magical thinking. But when the studies showing that excess vitamin E was harmful came out, I was pleased to see that all the doses that were found to be harmful were significantly greater than what I was taking. I do take it less often, now. There are quite a lot of good studies showing that large doses of many vitamins are harmful – sometimes in unexpected ways. Like, it seems some of the antioxidants promote cancer because they help the cancer cells protect themselves from your immune system.

Oh, and I sometimes take vitamin C when I have a cold, because it tastes good and placebos are good for what ails you. But I have to admit that olives (and other salty foods) make a much bigger and more immediate difference in how sick I feel when I have a cold than does vitamin C.

[Shodan]

Thanks for your response. ‘Probably won’t hurt, probably won’t help’ is pretty much what I understood.

FTR, I make sure my multi-vites have iron because I am a regular blood donor, and vitamin D because I live in a northern clime, and sunlight doesn’t penetrate parkas. The others are just to avoid the obviously low risk of scurvy, pellagra, beri-beri, and whatever.

Regards,
Shodan

ETA - addressed mostly to Dr. Qadgop, who probably needs extra nutrition for his xmexlike snout.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Shodan

FTR, I make sure my multi-vites have iron because I am a regular blood donor

Be careful with that. You could inadvertently end up with iron overload, a serious condition. I saw it once, in a male blood donor. His liver was getting damaged because of excess iron in his diet, to “make up for donating blood”. But he was also eating a TON of red meat in addition to taking iron supplements.

Best let your doctor advise you on that, possibly after checking your actual iron levels plus a few other relevant tests.