On the other hand, glucosamine seems to be pretty safe, and placebos work well for pain, and honestly, there’s no real downside to taking a placebo for pain so long as the pill isn’t, itself, dangerous.
As for vitamins, every year my doctor asks me what vitamins I take. And while some of them are probably placebos (I took vitamin E for years) I’ve been careful not to take too much of any of them – when the first studies came out showing the dangers of too much vitamin E, my intake was already below the level at which they saw problems. I sometimes take vitamin C, knowing it is probably a waste of money. But it’s something I can DO when I have a cold, and it’s pretty safe. I can afford to literally piss it away.
The only vitamin I take on my doctor’s advice is vitamin D. I live in the north. Even though I am pasty white, I don’t always get enough sun to meet my needs for vitamin D. At least, that’s what my blood tests say.
Honestly, for $100/month, you were almost certainly taking more of something than is safe.
My mom was hospitalized and in intensive care on a ventilator for longer than that before they diagnosed her myasthenia. So maybe I’m less skeptical.
I take D on the advice of my neurologist and Folic Acid due to a family history of heart disease and a genetic mutation that can cause high homocysteine levels.
It is possible to get too much iron, especially if you eat a lot of meat, which is why some multivitamins don’t include it. (Vegetarians and, especially, vegans should know what nutrients they’re in danger of missing out on, to make sure they get enough of those through their diet or supplements.)
As I understand it, it’s more common for women who menstruate to need supplementary iron (because of the blood loss), so iron is more common in women’s multi’s than in men’s multi’s.
I think this bears repeating - you should only take vitamins/supplements on the guidance from your doctor.
The whole “insurance” and “couldn’t hurt” and “just in case” is overplayed, IMHO. Unless you have training, education, and experience in this field, you do not know more than the armies of health professionals who have looked into this, and your online source does not know better, either. I have no problem with someone who decides on their own to take vitamins and/or supplements, for whatever reason, but when someone asks if taking these is worthwhile and the near consensus from doctors, pharmacists, and other people who’ve studied this is a hard “no”, it does not mean one should continue to pursue their own online research to see if there is any wiggle room. No, they are not worthwhile, but if you want to go ahead and take them anyway, go right ahead.
And the idea that the “medical industry is a scam that wants to make you sick” reeks of conspiracy theory and sounds like it’s emanating from purveyors of woo.
Adult men do not need as much iron as women in the menstruating/pregnancy age range.
Post-menopausal women also do not need as much iron as pre-menopausal women.
A certain percentage of people have genetic variation that results in them absorbing too much iron. Adult women with the disease are not as badly affected due to their regular monthly blood loss (although it can be serious in them, too, just not as likely) until they hit menopause. It is treatable if caught in time - by bloodletting, of all things although these days it’s done under sanitary conditions rather than medieval barbers with dirty razors - but it’s not always caught early enough. I had an internet acquaintance die of complications of this syndrome about 8 years ago.
Differing nutritional needs is one reason for age-categorized multi-vitamins. Iron overload is not something anyone wants. In some countries where this gene is more common they don’t fortify breakfast cereals with iron, either, because that’s just one more avenue to cause problems.
Once again - more is not always better. “Enough” is what you need to aim for. That’s one reason why getting what you need via diet is often the best route as it’s much harder to over do some of these things by way of eating, as opposed to having them refined and concentrated in pill form.
On the flip side - thank Og we do have such pills for those people who need them. Properly used vitamins and supplements have saved a lot of lives over the years.
Clear huge and wide benefits to health and tastebuds from eating a varied diet which includes a reasonable variety of real vegetables and fruits, which delivers adequate vitamins and much more.
Not doing so is of major negative impact to health that vitamin supplements will do little about.
Real food is the value proposition. You gonna eat; eating some carrots and oranges and nuts isn’t much more than one would spend on candy bars and donuts.
If everything else you ate had zero ascorbic acid (which isn’t the case), but you had access to some OJ, a litre of orange juice contains about 300 milligrams of vitamin C, which is five times the recommended daily dose for adults. A glass a day covers requirements twice over.
I think the OP should question their primary doctor as to why they are promoting the scam.
F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG made a literal mountain of money selling a dietary supplement that but a handful is uneccessary for $100/gm which cost $0.10/gm to make … even managed to convince the heath food industry that it was a natural product.
My thought too. My multivitamin pills are from Costco, and you can get a year’s supply for $25 or less. Add in glucosamine and Omega-3 I’d be surprised if I spend more than $100 in a year. Cheap insurance. If I thought it cost $100 a month, I probably would not be doing it. This would be about $US19/yr
As I’ve said. they are just chemicals - there’s nothing special about the source or manufacture, if your goal is to take vitamins. It’s all generic. The Name Brand companies that charge big bucks would just like you to think they’re special.
The same can be said of one’s diet, too. Particularly, here in civilization we get up to some peculiar eating habits, and food shamers have no problem telling us how terrible some of our choices are. I suppose if your diet leans toward beer and pizza, Hawaiian is the best choice.
If you overdose with a standard multivitamin, your problem is not that you are taking a multivitamin. If you need more than what a standard multivitamin delivers, your problem is not that you are not taking those pills.
But yes, you are right, it is a very good idea to let your doctor know what you take and have them decide whether your situation calls for something to be different.
But it shouldn’t be an either-or. A pill doesn’t excuse you from eating well, but eating well does likely mean the pills are of minimal value at best.
Factors that should be considered when you’re told that supplements do some nifty thing: 1) what’s the quality of the evidence, and 2) what exactly was the substance under study?
For example, this study lending support to the idea that glucosamine and chondroitin could lower odds of ischemic stroke used a prescription formula. Even if this finding holds up, it doesn’t mean that the OTC stuff you get in a bottle at the supermarket will have the same effect. Supplements are notorious for not containing what the label claims, and/or not having it in a form that the body can readily absorb.
B6, Iron (mostly in women) Vitamin D, Vit C, and B12 deficiencies are not that rare. Over 10% have a B6 deficiency. Vegans need to take B12.
Personally, IANARD, I take Vit D, as a Vit D deficiency is a very bad thing if you catch Covid (it does not prevent Covid, but the symptoms tend to be quite a bit worse if you have a deficiency).
Vitamin D deficiency was not associated with a higher chance of infection by COVID-19 (OR = 1.35; 95% CI = 0.80–1.88), but we identified that severe cases of COVID-19 present 64% (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.30–2.09) more vitamin D deficiency compared with mild cases. A vitamin D concentration insufficiency increased hospitalization (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.41–2.21) and mortality from COVID-19 (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.06–2.58). We observed a positive association between vitamin D deficiency and the severity of the disease.
We have identified a potential crude association between the mean vitamin D levels in various European countries with COVID-19 cases/1M and COVID-19 mortality… Vitamin D deficiency is a major public health problem worldwide in all age groups [8, 9] but vitamin D status deteriorates with age, above 70 years of life, due to decreased sun exposure and cutaneous synthesis [10]. I
The severity of coronavirus 2019 infection (COVID-19) is determined by the presence of pneumonia, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), myocarditis, microvascular thrombosis and/or cytokine storms, all of which involve underlying inflammation. A principal defence against uncontrolled inflammation, and against viral infection in general, is provided by T regulatory lymphocytes (Tregs). Treg levels have been reported to be low in many COVID-19 patients and can be increased by vitamin D supplementation. Low vitamin D levels have been associated with an increase in inflammatory cytokines and a significantly increased risk of pneumonia and viral upper respiratory tract infections. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increase in thrombotic episodes, which are frequently observed in COVID-19. Vitamin D deficiency has been found to occur more frequently in patients with obesity and diabetes. These conditions are reported to carry a higher mortality in COVID-19.
So experts and cites differ. Certainly “Vitamin D deficiency is a major public health problem worldwide in all age groups” so even if it isn’t a big help with Covid, it is a good idea.
The formulation may be relevant, but all the studies I have seen used the same dose of 1500mg. The study you quote uses prescriptions, which I see as a plus for study purposes, since ithe documentation shows compliance and one presumes the amount taken was slightly more consistent.
The NHANES study went on for a long time, as you would expect on a mortality study, and involved many people. Yes, better studies are required and one might read too much into conclusions. Still, the benefit of glucosamine for arthritis is modest in some studies and insignificant in many others. If it replenishes brain glycogen or whatever to reduce morbidity and mortality from stroke or all causes, so much the better.
I’ve no dog in any fight about vitamin D but studies like these being used to support a case often annoy the crud out of me.
Low measured 25 hydroxy vitamin D correlates with lots of things.
Being Black. (Active 1,25 hydroxy vitamin D levels, not standard to measure, are actually fine.)
Being infirm and housebound - they’re getting less sunlight.
Being baseline ill, as ongoing inflammation causes more 25 hydroxy stores to be converted to the more active 1,25 hydroxy form.
Being correlated with those things does not mean that low 25 hydroxy vitamin D causes any of those things. But any of those things may be correlated with greater morbidity from a Covid-19 infection.
If those and other known confounders are not controlled for the study is worthless garbage.
Anyway. If someone isn’t eating a varied diet that includes real vegetables and fruits then the health action required to gain odds of better health now and long term is to start doing so. Taking a multi will not give them many, if any, benefits. Taking some cocktail “upwards of maybe 20-30 various supplements daily from A-Zinc” will not only not give many benefits but has potential for harms, including cashopenia.