Multi-Vitamin.....which one is best?

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uidb5259
uidb5259 Posts: 138 Member
in Food and Nutrition
In the process of living more healthy, I also believe I am lacking some vitamins in my diet and was wondering what multi-vitamin everyone uses. I had used Centrum Performance in the past but not sure if this is the right one....

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  • ShrinkinMel
    ShrinkinMel Posts: 982 Member
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    tough one. Some will say none some will say they are all the same. ;) There is things like absorbency to consider. Sometimes separating certain ones like calcium and iron are best. Taking them at totally different times and some combining like Vitamin C and iron. Calcium, magnesium(and some say A and D).

    Very few vitamins have ever had "overdosing" or death from them so I think its pretty much an open thing. I take a generic(Kroger brand) childrens chewable(not daily just when I know my diet is low on some things) as the iron in adult ones almost always make me sick. Typically I also take a calcium with D3 and a magnesium but I ran out so until payday I'm just doing my chewable and mag.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    I suggest you go to your doctor for a health check and ask if there is any areas where you are deficient.
    Once you know what you are low in, then you can find a multivitamin (or better still, a real food source) to fill that gap.

    Otherwise you run the risk of creating very expensive pee and not getting any real benefit. Don't get sucked in by the multimillion dollar "health" supplement industry trying to convince you that everyone needs multivitamins!
  • ShrinkinMel
    ShrinkinMel Posts: 982 Member
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    I agree ask for a vitamin count work up with your primary care provider. I found out I was low in calcium and I've always been low in iron. Food sources unfortunately do not always make it any better. Even when food sources is at RDA I am ALWAYS a little low on iron. But definitely its good to ask the Dr. to check on them. I'm not a big meat eater but I do eat a lot of greens and even when I do increase meat iron has stayed low. Calcium is a tough one for me as I'm lactose intolerant but I do love almond milk.
  • spozzybear
    spozzybear Posts: 216 Member
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    I have had the vitamin dilemma for years - there are so many choices. I must say though, that since I started eating healthily, I haven't actually needed to take one at all - I get everything I need from my food.
    Having said that, I do understand that this isn't possible for everyone, especially if you have a defieciency of some kind. When I was taking multi-vits, I found that Swisse was by far the best.
    A lot of the ones, like Centrum, claim to have every vitamin known to man, but they have such small quantities of each one, that it hardly seems worth it!
  • Kate_D_68
    Kate_D_68 Posts: 7 Member
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    I used to be convinced that I could get all the nutrients I needed from diet alone, but I'm not sure anymore. I've been reading about how the minerals have been depleted from the soil and that our food just isn't as nutritious as it used to be. I've been taking a multivitamin by Calton Nutrition for about a month and a half now and I feel healthier than I did before I started - for what it's worth. It's a twice-daily vitamin that's formulated to minimize the interactions between vitamins by separating the ones that interact into the AM and PM doses. It's a powder that gets mixed into 16oz of water, so another benefit is that I've been drinking plenty of water these days :)
  • uidb5259
    uidb5259 Posts: 138 Member
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    Thank you all for the comments. I agree that talking to my doctor may be a good choice before starting. Also, I have heard about some vitamins don't mix well or absorb together so the 2 a day plan may be more beneficial. Thanks again.

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