Vitamins: Too much of a good thing?

Factual Questions
1

(Sorry if this is a repost but I got a “cannot find server” from my original post and I don’t see my original text except for the title portion.)

I’m going to consult a nutritionist about this but given the wide variety of knowledge here, I thought I’d throw it out to the board as well.

Here’s the brief background. I’m male. Late 30’s. Physically fit and very active. I’m 5’ 8" and 190lb (trying to lose that last 10 or 12 has been a lifetime hobby!). My metabolism is slow to moderate and I tend to keep weight on as opposed to burn it off readily. My regimen is 80 to 120 miles a week on the bike and 4-5 days a week in the weight room. I don’t take any kind of training supplements except for the occasional ephedra/caffein capsule when I need the extra boost for the gym session. Even then, I only take 25% of the recommended amount specified on the bottle.

I am essentially healthy except for an ongoing battle with Ulcerative Colitis which is more or less under control without the aid of medication and several years of experience of what food I can or cannot eat and when I can eat it.

To make a long story short, I generally don’t eat breakfast before gym for practical reasons. I know it’s the most imprtant meal of the day but I’ve learned that a SlimFast shake and a handfull of vitamins gets me through the morning with enough energy for the workout and then some.

My vitamin intake is as follows:

Multivit:
B1(Thiamine) 35mg
B2(Riboflavin) 35mg
Niacinimide 50mg
B6 15mg
B12 30mcg
Biotin 15mcg
C 500mg
E 30I.U.
d-Pentothenic Acid 20mg
Folic Acid 1mg
Calcium 150mg
Magnesium 75mg
Zinc 5mg

Cod Liver Oil:
A 1,250 I.U.
D 100 I.U.

E caps:
E 800 I.U (1333%)

Garlic caps:
Allicin 4200 mcg
Thiosulfinate 4750 mcg
Allin 9500 mcg
Gamma-glutamylcyteins 6400 mcg
Sulphur 3400 mcg

Flax oil caps:
Omega 3 3420 mcg
Omega 6 1080 mcg
Omega 9 960 mcg

Zinc caps:
Zinc 50 mg (333%)

Iron caps:
Iron 50mg (300%)

C caps:
C 500 mg

Which brings me to my question…

Is this too much, not enough, or just about right for daily intake for a person of my age and physical condition?

Keep in mind that some of the supplements like Iron, garlic, flax oil and Zinc were recommended to me by doctors because they are said to aid my ailment. The rest are to help supplement the meals I miss out on because of my gut condition.

If you can point me to a reputable web site that can help me address some of these questions, then that would be wonderful as well.

Thanks much.

QS.

2

Quackwatch has a good thing on the selling of unnecessary supplements. Eat right and you probably can dispense with the vitiamin pills.

3

Clarification on breakfast: Do you not eat any breakfast, or do you have the afore-mentioned Slimfast shake at breakfast time? It’s important to have breakfast, but it’s not necessarily important to have a big breakfast.

4

Since you asked:

JCHeckler -

I would love to eat right. Nothing would please me more. By right, I presume you mean at least three balanced meals a day, correct? Well, I question the three meals a day wisdom as a global kind of answer to every person’s nutritional needs. But I’m not trying to put words in your mouth either. Yes, it would be nice to eat more regularly but alas, I cannot. When I do have a meal I try very hard to make sure to concentrate on good variety and nutritional value rather than volume.

My ailment does impede my absorption of nutrients to a lesser or greater degree depending on how active it is. When it flares up the first thing to drop is my iron levels.

Chronos -

I will have a shake occasionally but not every morning. Say a couple of times a week. I’ll also have breakfast if I know I’ll be home for most of the morning that day and not out doing errands or taking a long car trip.