Multivitamins and Minerals

richiechowns

Hi,

I've not been putting my daily multivit into my food diary, is it something others do? I ask as I'm never completely convinced by supplementation, for example, my vits have 14mg of Iron, which is 100% of the RDA, however, Iron absorption is compromised by Calcium which is also in the vits and at 15% of RDA.

cmriverside

I enter mine.

Up to you.

So many of the food items in the database have incorrect data on nutrients, so I try to check them all before I used them. Try to. Sometimes I just can't be bothered if the Macros look close enough.

I used to track Calcium, now I'm tracking Iron, and I don't think it much matters as long as I'm eating a mostly whole foods, varied nutrition plan.

AnnPT77

I don't enter mine. I prefer to get as much nutrition as possible from food, rather than supplements. But I do take a partial-dose multi as insurance, and some other things for specific reasons (like my doctor telling me to!). But I don't log them, because I want my totals to reflect what I get from food (also, I'm lazy ).

As a li'l ol' lady, now 64, I've seen quite a few essential nutrients "discovered" over my lifetime, plus many more nutrients that are merely beneficial. After the "discoveries", they became available in supplements. Before that, they'd been in foods all along. I figure we're not done discovering things yet, so a balanced, well-rounded, varied diet is a good bet-hedge.

richiechowns

Thanks @cmriverside @AnnPT77

I'm vegan and very much eating plant based wholefoods at the moment, so I'm mindful of certain nutrients I may need to consider on a plant based/vegan diet. I had thought some foods on the database might be incorrect and should I worry so much if my multi is topping it up to the correct levels? I've had tests in the past and not seemed to lack B12 or Iron etc.

Ann it must be interesting to look back on the history and see when/where all these nutrients and so called superfoods came into play, such huge money makers! I suspect a lot of it, even if it does have benefits, is of very poor quality anyway...

AnnPT77

richiechowns wrote: »

Thanks @cmriverside @AnnPT77

I'm vegan and very much eating plant based wholefoods at the moment, so I'm mindful of certain nutrients I may need to consider on a plant based/vegan diet. I had thought some foods on the database might be incorrect and should I worry so much if my multi is topping it up to the correct levels? I've had tests in the past and not seemed to lack B12 or Iron etc.

Ann it must be interesting to look back on the history and see when/where all these nutrients and so called superfoods came into play, such huge money makers! I suspect a lot of it, even if it does have benefits, is of very poor quality anyway...

SInce you're vegan, I'll mention the site linked below, in case you haven't discovered it. It's a really level-headed, evidence-based source of nutrition for fully plant-based eaters, and (sadly) it swims in a larger sea of vegan advocacy sites that are selling products and misrepresenting science for profit or for ideological reasons. I think veganism can be a healthy lifestyle as well as an ethical one (even though it wasn't the route I chose myself), but bad science (and even outright lying in some cases!) are bad business, in any context, vegan or otherwise. (Just my opinions, obviously.)

https://veganhealth.org/

And, yes, there more of trumpeted supplements and superfoods now (part of which is due to regulatory loosening at a particular stage, BTW). But my main point is that it's very, very likely IMO that foods contain nutrients that are essential or beneficial, that humans have not discovered are essential or beneficial as yet. Eating well-rounded variety of food is a way to play that assumption, to get the "undiscovered" nutrients/beneficials.

It's good that you're being tested for nutritional issues, and hope you'll continue doing that periodically. Eventually, I expect you'll need to supplement at least B12 (unless you're getting it from foods already supplemented it with it, such as some brands of nutritional yeast). Check out the site I linked above, for other suggestions. Not being vegan myself (I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, 45+ years so far), I'm far from knowledgeable about details in that realm.

One thing I do, that may be helpful to you, is spot-check a couple of my typical eating days to see how I'm doing on nutrients that MFP either doesn't list, or for which its accuracy is iffy (such as potassium). I use an outside source of more detailed nutrition data to do that (such as the USDA database), not adding up every detail from the sample days, but checking foods that I think may be providing the under-reported nutrients, to see where those stand. (Another option is logging at a site like cronometer that's more nutrition-focused.)

Once you dial in an eating pattern that checks the nutritional boxes, I don't think it's necessary to worry much, unless that pattern changes in a big way, or your periodic blood tests (or whatever) show up an issue, or you have symptoms of concern. Humans have a long history as adaptable omnivores.

Best wishes!