Vitamins and Supplements

I take iron and B12 (B12 because I got seriously low once, mysteriously). Iron is good for active women, especially if you do a lot of cardio and/or if you're diet means you avoid red meat, but it's best to get tested for low iron to see if you really need it. Actually red meat is also a good source of B vitamins as well so you may want to check your B12 as well.

Also (boys cover your eyes)...

Women who run a lot often skip periods or stop altogether. My (male) doctor told me this was normal and that I shouldn't be worried. Then I started eating tofu as a low-cal protein source and all of a sudden everything was back to normal. The reason? I wasn't producing enough estrogen on my own. Soy has estrogen. I know this isn't exactly a supplement suggestion, but I wish someone had told me earlier . . .

That reeeeeeallly long post said, amongst many, many other things, that vitamins are bad because wearing glasses is bad for your eyes. Wow. So the fact I couldn't see more than a blur as a child was because I wasn't using my eyes enough to see? Even though I hadn't had glasses for the first ten years of not being able to see?

Anyhow, just in passing, if you do take vitamins, it's useful to get a blood test done periodically, as there is a condition called hemachromatosis, where excessive iron can build up in the blood and then the vital organs. It can be hereditary or secondary to other conditions. It's dangerous. A friend is just being tested to establish what has caused it, but whatever the cause, he's going to have to be treated for the rest of his life for it.

I don't take any vitamins. It seems like every time they do a new study of multivitamins the evidence just keeps piling up that they don't really do anything in the absence of a specific deficiency, and that taking a vitamin supplement is really not the same as getting your vitamins from food.

I have one exception, I take Vitamin D because I was diagnosed deficient by my doctor and actually had to take prescription levels for a while. But that's not even really a "vitamin" anyway.

I'm a pharmacist and I'm big on evidence-based medicine. And the evidence for multivitamins is just lousy. It's just one more thing they are trying to sell you. I actually saw a commercial for a specific brand of multivitamin that touted how their brand had been used in a major study of multivitamins... except what they didn't mention in the commercial was that the study failed to show any benefit! It's all marketing spin.

I agree with the recommendation to see your doctor and actually find out if you are deficient in anything and go from there. If you don't need it, don't waste your money.

It's not a quick fix like chewing a couple gummies in the morning, but you really are better off eating a varied diet and getting your fruits and veggies.