Do you need a multi vitamin?
Cyclist84
Posts: 11 Member
Usually you hear it’s to fill in a gap since our soil is depleted. But what about cereals and bars breads and drinks that already have added vitamins? The story is we don’t eat enough fresh veggies and so on and so forth but of our processed food has the added vitamins in them then wouldn’t taking an extra pill be too much?
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Multi vitamins have been extensively studied and there is no evidence they improve overall health outcomes like getting vitamins naturally from your food does. As far as "vitamin fortified food", I am not sure that has been studied enough as to whether or not they provide any benefit.
I think if you are trying to focus on health, I would skip the multivitamin, only used fortified foods as a last resort, and try as much as you can to get them from foods where they occur naturally.11 -
Usually you hear it’s to fill in a gap since our soil is depleted. But what about cereals and bars breads and drinks that already have added vitamins? The story is we don’t eat enough fresh veggies and so on and so forth but of our processed food has the added vitamins in them then wouldn’t taking an extra pill be too much?
While they're not really necessary for people eating a healthy, balanced diet, mainstream commercial multivitamins are unlikely to be injurious in recommended doses. They rarely contain large amounts of the fat-soluble vitamins, and the others are quickly eliminated (usually in urine) if consumed in excess of need. Only a very few have a a narrow tolerable dosage.
It's not mostly worth worrying about one way or the other, IMO.1 -
I take a complete multivitamin. I think it's personal preference. I don't eat nearly enough we'll balanced meals so it does benefit me. You also absorb vitamins differently based on how you eat. Iron for example shouldn't be taken with milk, dairy or calcium supplements as it inhibits absorption.
Until recently I was anemic and vitamin d deficient. Now taking it every morning is just part of my routine. I also take fish oil supplements.2 -
I've been taking a daily multivitamin since I started my diet. It just seems wise to take one while on a calorie deficit. Mine has 1,000 mg of D, which my dr recommended, so there's one thing it's doing that's definitely useful. Who knows if you're getting all the C, calcium, magnesium, etc., you're supposed to be getting, while eating 1,000 cals under maintenance? Can't hurt. Easy enough to just pop the pill every morning.2
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Multi vitamins have been extensively studied and there is no evidence they improve overall health outcomes like getting vitamins naturally from your food does. As far as "vitamin fortified food", I am not sure that has been studied enough as to whether or not they provide any benefit.
I think if you are trying to focus on health, I would skip the multivitamin, only used fortified foods as a last resort, and try as much as you can to get them from foods where they occur naturally.
In the U.S. you would have to pretty much skip any commercial baked goods, breakfast cereals, standard milk, and I don't know what else to avoid "vitamin fortified food."0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »Multi vitamins have been extensively studied and there is no evidence they improve overall health outcomes like getting vitamins naturally from your food does. As far as "vitamin fortified food", I am not sure that has been studied enough as to whether or not they provide any benefit.
I think if you are trying to focus on health, I would skip the multivitamin, only used fortified foods as a last resort, and try as much as you can to get them from foods where they occur naturally.
In the U.S. you would have to pretty much skip any commercial baked goods, breakfast cereals, standard milk, and I don't know what else to avoid "vitamin fortified food."
I am not saying you need to avoid them. What I mean is that I wouldn't necessarily rely on them as a source of vitamin and minerals, vs getting them from foods where they are naturally occurring.3 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »Multi vitamins have been extensively studied and there is no evidence they improve overall health outcomes like getting vitamins naturally from your food does. As far as "vitamin fortified food", I am not sure that has been studied enough as to whether or not they provide any benefit.
I think if you are trying to focus on health, I would skip the multivitamin, only used fortified foods as a last resort, and try as much as you can to get them from foods where they occur naturally.
In the U.S. you would have to pretty much skip any commercial baked goods, breakfast cereals, standard milk, and I don't know what else to avoid "vitamin fortified food."
I am not saying you need to avoid them. What I mean is that I wouldn't necessarily rely on them as a source of vitamin and minerals, vs getting them from foods where they are naturally occurring.
Ah, OK then. Carry on.
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If you’re light on something, like anemic and need more iron, they help. Like others have said, studies show taking them for no real reason don’t help. You just get brighter urine.3
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Is it true our souls are depleted?8
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At GNC the guy working there says if you without sometimes you lose vitamins so you should replenish with a multi vitamin.0
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I take a multivitamin at the direction of my GP.2
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For me having the right product has been the greater part of my life saving regime, I'm not house bound and reacting to laundry residue on others and stuff, as much. If someone has a condition which compromises their ability to absorb all nutrition from their diet they really do help. It is possible for vegetarians and women to be high in copper which can cause issues, its not everyone's issue but some of us can be too high in copper so products containing copper can add to issues rather than simply support nutritional availability.1
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »Multi vitamins have been extensively studied and there is no evidence they improve overall health outcomes like getting vitamins naturally from your food does. As far as "vitamin fortified food", I am not sure that has been studied enough as to whether or not they provide any benefit.
I think if you are trying to focus on health, I would skip the multivitamin, only used fortified foods as a last resort, and try as much as you can to get them from foods where they occur naturally.
In the U.S. you would have to pretty much skip any commercial baked goods, breakfast cereals, standard milk, and I don't know what else to avoid "vitamin fortified food."
I am not saying you need to avoid them. What I mean is that I wouldn't necessarily rely on them as a source of vitamin and minerals, vs getting them from foods where they are naturally occurring.
I agree with this and with trying to rely on food vs multis.
I don't take a multi because I eat a reasonably balanced diet with lots of veg and some fruit and don't see the point. I do take D3 in the winter, and when I am eating 100% plant-based, which I do from time to time, I supplement DHA/EPA and B12 (although since I never do it for long the B12 is not necessary, probably).
I would avoid multis with iron unless diagnosed low iron, as it is possible to overdose iron (although for most likely not from a multi). I'm sensitive about it since my mom had a condition called hemochromatosis that leads to iron build up and ended up with serious liver damage before it was caught.4 -
"Need".
As in an absolute requirement for ongoing health or just something that might be beneficial?
Who is "you"?
Someone like me with a 3,000+ calorie allowance maintaining weight and having a varied diet or someone losing weight on a restrictive 1,200 diet?
What is "too much"?
More than is necessary or something that might be actually harmful?
If the latter then that's highly unlikely from a low dose multi-vitamin.
BTW - the guy at GNC is hardly an unbiased source of information!
BTW2 - slightly disappointed that this thread hasn't (yet!) ticked off the two contradictory responses that vitamin threads normally do ("expensive pee" and "inexpensive insurance policy"). 7 -
Last I heard, there are very few vitamins that most people need to supplement. Even then, it makes more sense to actually have your doctor order a blood test before taking vitamins that you don't need or not taking enough of a specific vitamin.
If I wanted I could take OTC vit D3 daily. That said, I'm more than willing to bet that taking it as recommended on the package wouldn't be enough to pull me out of my likely severe deficit. It would be smarter to have my GP order a blood test and then prescribe the appropriate amount.2 -
All I take is fish oil and Vitamin D (Fall thru Winter). I get enough of everything else with food.2
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Really it depends on you’re personal goals. If you are trying to build muscle it is very likely you are not getting the proper amount of each nutrient through diet alone.0
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michaeldevine545 wrote: »Really it depends on you’re personal goals. If you are trying to build muscle it is very likely you are not getting the proper amount of each nutrient through diet alone.
Yet throughout history, even before multivitamins existed, people who had adequate diets and did challenging things got bigger and stronger. Hmmmm.7 -
Seems like someone trying to build muscle (and thus eating more cals) would be MORE likely to get enough nutrients, not less, unless they live on some insanely limited bro diet.9
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A multivitamin is a supplement, which by very definition means that it cannot prove effectivity.
...and yet the supplement industry boasts revenue in the billions.4 -
They're expensive. I've just started taking one for immune system and lung health.0
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my doctor described it as really expensive pee.4
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I probably don't 'need' a multivitamin. But as I'm a vegetarian, I take a multivitamin-with-iron a couple of times a week just to cover all the bases. I'd rather not discover that I'm B12 deficient or anaemic the painful way.4
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A multivitamin is a supplement, which by very definition means that it cannot prove effectivity.
...and yet the supplement industry boasts revenue in the billions.
What definition of supplement is that? There absolutely are some supplements that have been demonstrably effective at certain things.
If you're loosely referring to how supplements in the US are held to different regulatory standards about claims than prescription drugs, you're still off as there are prescription standardized vitamins that can treat or aid specific conditions.0 -
Oddly enough, the epidemiology research actually tends to show that people taking multivitamins are at increased risk for death. Though admittedly, that is probably not from the vitamins themselves causing a harm but because the people taking them are probably more likely to be people with health conditions that can't eliminated by statistic corrections to the epidemiology.1
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I take fish oil because I don't eat fish almost at all. If you regularly ate healthy, fatty fish, you would not need it.
I take magnesium because it is the second most common vitamin deficiency in the developed world, and yes because our soils are depleted. It's incredibly difficult to test in blood serum, so your doctor cannot test you for it effectively. It makes a measurable effect on my mental health.
I take a multivitamin to cover my bases because some days I eat a fantastically varied diet with lots of fruit and veg, and some days I have a bagel for breakfast and pizza for dinner with a peanut butter sandwich for lunch or something like that. I feel like 70% of my days are good days, and far too many are not, so I take a multi.
The more I look into it, the more I think I probably need to supplement more. I'm going to further look into my mineral consumption because I need to remineralize my teeth...that magnesium helps with that too apparently.6 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »Multi vitamins have been extensively studied and there is no evidence they improve overall health outcomes like getting vitamins naturally from your food does. As far as "vitamin fortified food", I am not sure that has been studied enough as to whether or not they provide any benefit.
I think if you are trying to focus on health, I would skip the multivitamin, only used fortified foods as a last resort, and try as much as you can to get them from foods where they occur naturally.
In the U.S. you would have to pretty much skip any commercial baked goods, breakfast cereals, standard milk, and I don't know what else to avoid "vitamin fortified food."
I am not saying you need to avoid them. What I mean is that I wouldn't necessarily rely on them as a source of vitamin and minerals, vs getting them from foods where they are naturally occurring.
Unfortunately in US only 1 of 10 adults get the recommended servings of fruits and veggies (which are a significant source of vitamins). A daily supplement might not be bad for most people.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p1116-fruit-vegetable-consumption.html4
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