Vitamins and Supplements - when is enough... enough?

itecson

I started taking vitamins daily maybe about 3 years ago after some advice from a friend. I'm currently taking:

Consistently/Daily:
1 one-a-day multivitamin
1000 mg - cinnamon
30 mg - zinc
500 mg - vitamin C
500 mg - B Complex
100 mg - B6

Every 3 days:
St John's Wort
Ginkgo Biloba
Glucosamine
Calcium Citrate + D w/ Magnesium

I get about 1 to 2 hours of cardio per week day and between 4-8 hrs of cardio per day on weekends. My diet consists mainly of: breakfast = oatmeal with fruit, powdered milk, sunflower seeds, 1 boiled egg, raisins; lunch = protein + baby greens/spinach, juice/diet pepsi; dinner = rice/potatoes + protein, and something along the lines of cookies/milk or one or two bite sized candy bars.

I am concerned that, in the long run, I might run into health problems dealing with over nutrition. I hear conflicting stores - some people tell me your body just gets rid of the vitamins/nutrients it does not need, some people tell me that it will build up to toxic levels.

lizard053

Most people find they are good with just a daily. I entirely depends on your diet, your sunlight exposure, and how much money you have. LOL!

Looking at your list, I take a lot of those too! Here's my supplements:
Twice Daily multi
Magnesium (Chelate of some sort)
D-3
B-12
Endotrim (herbal with lots of energy boosters)
C
Fish Oil

If you are not diabetic, cinnamon may be a waste of money. Glucosamine I found only works about a year, then you get diminishing returns, and it's wicked expensive. You're getting B6 in B-complex. Throw in some weight lifting and you can eliminate some of the calcium.
Everything but the D is water soluble. Which means you'll excrete out any excesses. You don't have to worry as much about toxicity for most. Careful with the St. John's Wort, if you are taking certain meds, it can create serious side-effects. I've heard HTP-5 works the same with fewer issues.

LabRat529

I am concerned that, in the long run, I might run into health problems dealing with over nutrition. I hear conflicting stores - some people tell me your body just gets rid of the vitamins/nutrients it does not need, some people tell me that it will build up to toxic levels.

This, exactly, is one of the many reasons I have "issues" with the supplement/alternative medicine industry. It's so hard to tease out the reliable info from the nonsense.

That said... here's the scoop on vitamins, since that info is a bit more standardized:

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/lifestyle-guide-11/vitamins-minerals-how-much-should-you-take

You're safe with the water-soluble vitamins: Vitamin C, the Bs. You need to be careful with the metals (zinc, magnesium). You also need to be careful with any 'fat soluble' vitamins like Vitamins A, E, and D. The fat soluble vitamins can accumulate over time.

But you don't have to be THAT worried about it. You have to work hard to OD on them :P

As for St. John's Wort.. antidepressant meds need to be taken daily. If you're using St. John's Wort to help with mood, I suggest you consider an every-day dose, not a once every three day dose. If you're taking it for other reasons... your guess is as good as mine.

Good luck.

psuLemon

I only do a one a day and fish oil. You really don't need a lot of others as most of it is in the one a day. The rest you will just get rid of.



One side note, you might want to look into decreasing the cardio and increase strength training.

IveLanded

WHY are you taking all those supplements?

Are you looking for how you can eat to get those?

I only take supplements that my body tells me it needs. I currently take B complex and Cal/Mag, and I take those because I have really horrible 1)insomnia and 2) PMS problems, both of which can be caused by B and Calcium deficiencies. My body was telling me I needed extra, so I got them. As far as everything else, I try to incorporate real food into my diet to make sure I'm getting enough other things. Generally, if you are deficient in something, your body is going to tell you somehow.

I have heard that SOME kinds of supplements can cause problems with long term use. There is this really amazing book called The Prescription for Nutritional Healing you might want to check out. It's basically a giant glossary. One half of the book is problems and ailments and the other half is a dictionary of supplements. It gives detailed information on what supplements to take for what and what problems then can cause and if they should be avoided long term, etc etc.