To Take a Vitamin or Not To take a Vitamin? That is the ques

I take 2 vitamins on a daily basis & both were suggested to me by my doctor
Centrum - To help my insides stay healthy while I work on the outside.
Caltrate - To keep my bones strong as I get older
I have not gotten sick for more than a day since I started taking these vitamins (knock on wood) & my nails are a lot stronger than they ever used to be. My mom even thought that I had fake nails on because they are so strong.

I was taking Women's One A Day........ but it caused "issues".... I stopped taking it and those issues ceased. I was getting enough iron in my diet, so I didn't need the extra from the multi. I just take my vitamin D, calcium/magnesium, and vitamin B complex now. The vitamin D because I live in Northern British Columbia and don't get any sun at all in the winter (I work full time - indoors all day), and the B complex to help with stress. The calcium, well, because I'm a woman (and don't seem to get enough in my diet). I want to get a vitamin A suppliment, as I don't get nearly enough unless I eat carrots every day. I eat frozen mixed berries in my yogurt every day, so I don't worry about vitamin C unless I'm feeling sick.

I take a multi vitamin and I take fish oil and I have to tell you for the first time in my life I don't have to get sculptured nails. My nails are long and strong, my skin is clear, my hair is growing out of control. It took a while for me to notice the changes but I can tell the difference. But I do hear many people say they don't see the need to take one. I don't however like those packets that have like five or six different vitamins in them, I just think that's too much.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians :

"The decision to provide special dietary intervention or nutrient supplementation must be on an individual basis using the family physician’s best judgment based on evidence of benefit as well as lack of harmful effects. Megadoses of certain vitamins and minerals have been proven to be harmful."

I take a Women's One A Day and a Viactiv calcium chew each day. But I've taken some form of a multi-vitamin most of my life, so I can't say that I've noticed any specific pluses or minuses, it's just how I was raised.

I will say that during the couple of years I slacked off and wasn't taking a multi-vitamin I did get sick a lot more and since I've been taking them again over this last year I haven't been sick once. I can't prove that it's connected, but it lines up pretty well to seem like it is.

Watch the movie "food matters" It explains a lot about vitamins.

On another note I was reading an article that said if you you take mega doses of vitamins..it's more like a drug that can be dangerous.

The water soluble ones wash right out ....but the fat soluble ones ( A, D, E) do not, and you can overdo it on those.

I always thought eating healthy should give you all you need, but living in Alaska I need Vitamin D3, and I also take a multi vitamin...just to be sure I guess.... They always make me a little nausious when i take them...but just for a short while.

The foods we eat nowadays are not as nourishing as they used to be....as the soil they are grown in has been depleted of a lot of nutrients... There are several movies you can watch on this subject ( King corn, Food Inc....etc..)