Thoughts on vitamin supplements?

Personally, I don't recommend supplements, but not for the reasons you think.

In the US, vitamins are not regulated at all. The FDA has no oversight for the vitamin industry. Therefore, if you buy a bottle of B12, say, or Vitamin D, you don't know what's really in it. Sure, the label will give you stuff--but it hasn't been verified by an outside agency. It's quite possible that the bottle does contain what it says, but maybe not in the amounts it claims. Or, there may be other substances in there that you aren't aware of.

So, to me, you buy a bottle of supplements, but you don't know what's actually in there.

For a while, since I'm a vegetarian, I was taking B12 and iron supplements. And I realized that these pills turned my urine a darker color and made it smell funny. I was just peeing out the supplements, they weren't getting absorbed by my body. I did further investigating into the supplement industry and wasn't pleased with what I found.

So, for me, they're not worth the many. You don't know what's in the bottle, and you don't know for sure if your body is absorbing it. Often vitamins and minerals work in tangent--you need fat to absorb these vitamins, or you can't absorb this mineral unless you get a big dose of this vitamin, or extra amounts of this vitamin block absorption of this one. Eat a variety of foods, lots of colors, and eat with the seasons, and there should be no reason to take supplements.

Caveat: OBVIOUSLY, if your doctor has given you different instructions, or if you have an underlying health issue, you should discard anything anyone says on the internet, and follow your physician's orders.

A few points to keep in mind.

- Not all MFP entries are complete for the vitamins and minerals. A pet peeve of mine is I can eat natural foods like fruit and it won't credit me for the fiber, vitamins and minerals whereas a bar coded item will. Potassium is often missed.

- You may not be deficient. A round of blood tests can check for the usual culprits like iron and B Vitamin.

- Nearly everyone in the Northern hemisphere is short on vitamin D so you can safely take that. The test is also more expensive.

- Not pertinent to you but young women of childbearing age should take folic acid to prevent a known birth defect. The defect forms in the first few weeks of pregnancy so taking the vitamin after the pregnancy test is too late. Also pertinent to women is iron levels. We have a tendency to deplete our iron every month. Men have to concern themselves rather that their iron does not go too high.

- Omega 3 oils are good if you are wanting to keep your cholesterol levels down, also worked out with a simple blood test.

- I have known malabsorption issues so I've learned to time my supplements for maximum absorption. I take iron alone or with vitamin C. Calcium and vitamin D are another good pairing.

kthompson601 wrote: »

For a while, since I'm a vegetarian, I was taking B12 and iron supplements. And I realized that these pills turned my urine a darker color and made it smell funny. I was just peeing out the supplements, they weren't getting absorbed by my body. I did further investigating into the supplement industry and wasn't pleased with what I found.

It's not that you micturated them out with zero absorption. You eliminated what in the formulation was in excess of what you needed. Then again, nobody needs 300-1,000+% of DV in B12 every day as so many are formulated.

This is why I specifically chose a carefully researched and selected low %DV (1.5-25% across the board) multivitamin. Because I got tired of the odor and neon yellow urine from hundreds of percentiles above % DV of riboflavin. And since I am deficient in a couple things supplementation to correct is needed/recommended, it's easier to just take one tab with all of them (despite contents I don't need) versus many.

As I say every time I respond to supplement threads, only supplement what you are medically confirmed deficient in beyond perhaps EPA/DHA as those FA's are not a routine panel and most will likely meet resistance when insisting on one. This advice even includes D3. I made it 40 years of my life without supplements just fine. And if/when I can, I'll be dumping them again. Can't wait for the day, in fact, since I pay out of pocket.

I personally like my multivitamin. It's one of those fizzing tablet types and taking it makes me drink a big glass of (tasty) water... water which I wasn't getting previously. Despite a balanced diet and knowing most of it will be peed out pretty quickly, I still like knowing that anything I might be a little low in will be topped up. Also, even though it is likely a placebo, I find after having my multi I have a boost in energy. Considering it wasn't all that expensive, the benefits outweigh any "negatives"

The supplements i use are Magnesium, fish oil and i drink 1 litre of green tea a day.
I use to take a multi vitamin dissolved in water but then stopped and it made no difference other than no more fluorescent pee.
I couldnt help but think that i was just pissing the vitamins straight out.

I think it's a good idea for anyone on a restricted calorie diet to take a multi-vitamin. It's one o those can't hurt, might help things. When restricting calories in order to lose weight it can be very difficult to get everything one needs even when eating very well.