What is the current view on vitamin supplements?

gentle_sir_hulk
gentle_sir_hulk Posts: 52 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have only ever taken vitamin D. I wonder how much supplement works given that some require other substances (fat soluble) to be effective. Views?

Replies

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    It sounds as though you think fat-soluble vitamins have to be taken with fat to be effective? That's not the case. It just means your body will store them in fat, and excess amounts will not be passed in your urine. This means a greater potential for negative side effects if you take high doses over a period of time.

    Personally, I would only take vitamins I know from bloodwork I am deficient in, and preferably only at a doctor's direction (although I am in the habit of taking a multi with iron ahead of blood donation appointments, because I've been turned away for low iron in the past). Like you, I take vitamin D, because a deficiency showed up in my bloodwork and my doctor directed me to take a specified amount every day.
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,155 Member
    I generally think it's wise to follow a doctor's advice/bloodwork indicators for supplements. I take a prenatal all the time, calcium+D while breastfeeding, and regular D when not (though also spending a lot of time outdoors), on my midwife's recommendation as a woman of childbearing years. I follow the instructions given on the bottle (or ask my pharmacist friend :D) so that I get the most benefit/less chance of nausea or other side effects, etc.

    I think a lot of supplements are just fads and are not well supported, at least not in pill form. Some things that are popular now are way cheaper to get from food and it kind of boggles my mind that people would pay for them. That said, I'm not a picky eater and tend towards frugality, so the "convenience fee" for a pill strikes me as way too high. YMMV, of course. :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I take my fat soluble vitamins with food, which is also what the bottles say to do.

    I don't take a traditional multivitamin as I am particular about strengths and forms. I learned from my anemia and reading that the form can make a big difference.
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    Supplementation should be done under the supervision of a medical professional. Most people can get what they need by eating a varied and balanced diet, but if you have a specific need for a particular micronutrient, you should hear that from your actual doctor and follow their advice for addressing that need. You can actually OD on vitamins and side effects range from "weird-looking pee" to organ failure, so it's not something I personally want to roll the dice on, but YMMV.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    I personally think that multi-vitamins are a racket and the only supplements that I take are things that a blood test has shown that I am deficient in. So right now, I take Vit D, Iodine, Magnesium, and Zinc, all at my doctors discretion.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,420 Member
    I agree, vitamins are overkill except Vitamin D, which since I take it I think it's awesome. :)
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    I take a multi vitamin at my doctors direction, simply because for the past 6 months, I have not been eating enough (side effect of a med I am on). Typically though, I do not take any supplements unless a blood test indicated that I needed one.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,464 Member
    I take some because of my age.
  • gentle_sir_hulk
    gentle_sir_hulk Posts: 52 Member
    This is good feedback.

    I always lacked Vitamin D and also took it because recommended by a doctor; since Covid I have taking it religiously. I used to like the idea of supplements but I increasingly think that we need to make sure the quality of food and environment makes us healthy.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    I took a multi-vitamin for years (Dr. suggestion), and then stopped for years. Did not feel different, but blood labs showed subsequent vitamin D deficiency, so I do pop one of those now and then.

    My thinking was somewhat informed by investigations and subsequent criminal charges (notably in New York state) against several large vitamin makers in the USA. Since supplements are unregulated, they really could contain anything and none of what they claim. As it turns out, they often do. If you live in a country that actually regulates supplements, maybe you would have a different outlook on it. In the US there are various industry self-regulation certifications, but I dunno.... self-regulation... we all know how that turns out. I didn't feel it was important enough for me personally to research what's legit and what isn't. Buyer beware.
  • Jabba2Hans
    Jabba2Hans Posts: 4 Member
    I take multi gummy a couple of times a week, but really as a treat. 😋 I've been taking a vitamin d supplement most days since early on in the pandemic, but am questioning it now that my aunt's bloodwork showed she has levels of vit d that are too high. Guess there's such a thing as vit d toxicity which causes stuff like bone pain and calcium stones. She was taking 2,000 ui a day (which isn't an obscene dose, right?) after having a vit d deficiency. Go figure!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,255 Member
    I think the very best bet is to have a high-quality diet in the ways one can manage, i.e., foods > supplements.

    That said, I go through phases where I take more supplements, others where I take fewer.

    I always take the ones my doctors have told me to take, to the levels suggested. For me, that's vitamin D and calcium, primarily. (I have osteopenia.)

    I usually take some that, after an assessment of my eating, I'm not already overconsuming, that supplementing won't take even near a risky level based on USDA TULs (tolerable upper limits), and that I have reasonable scientific-study hints to suggest may help with something I have difficulty around. (Example: magnesium for sleep issues and digestive throughput). These start as experiments, may become long term practices if I subjectively perceive benefits. (I know subjective assessment can mislead. Repeat: Not going near a risky level, so the cost is about the only downside.)

    Sometimes I take something on pure whim, as an experiment, but only if I'm *quite* certain (have researched pretty carefully) it won't cause a problem. Example right now, vitamin K2.
  • al0481113
    al0481113 Posts: 67 Member
    Aloe Vera gel. That's it)))
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 978 Member
    I try and get my vitamins from real food generally but I supplement with multi vitamins if I'm unwell and not eating properly, or if I'm feeling a little run down. I do also take vitamin D in winter as directed by my GP because it really helps my mood.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Where someone has defined health issue/s especially those which include digestive aspects then under supervision vitamin/mineral supplements can be invaluable.

    Please note, not all vitamin/mineral/medical supplements are created equally. Not only do some vitamins require a small amount of fats generally available to enable their absorption these things can come in a more, bio available form. Returning to the vitamin thought, vitamin b 12 requires a specific enzyme in saliva to "coat" the food containing b 12, usually meat, from the mouth down to the, Iles of Langerhans where it is absorbed. This is why many of these specific b 12 supplements need to be placed under the tongue, closest to the blood supply hopeful of a cross over.

    Our bodies require the right vitamin and mineral input to enable the body to make our many different enzymes too, our microbiome play a large part in this process breaking down foods into the most easily absorbed form. If our digestive tract has an imbalance in digestive microbes because at sometime in our lives we have taken some medications, something as common as antibiotics which are helpful, invaluable because they remove the cause of the swelling or what ever they are being taken for, they can also significantly reduce our beneficial microbes too.

    (In my childhood over a period of some years, 6-9, till a friend had her tonsils removed, I had tonsillitis and many rounds of penicillin, I'm that old. Then when I was 11 the cycle started again till this new friend, change of school, had her tonsils removed! My system never recovered even though I had the best my parents could provide.)

    Our bodies are complicated things, they need to be taken care of and for one person the right collection of vitamins/minerals are a lifesaver for others they are surplus to requirements because their bodies systems works so efficiently the body can maintain the necessary reserves, some minerals require reserves, so the only option is for the excess to be eliminated.

    Vitamin D however, is commonly required by those who are in the northern, or southern hemisphere where the days can be very dark and short in the winter. Where the population does not necessarily go out in the sunlight to achieve optimum levels or are elderly whos ability to make vitamin d can be compromised. Vitamin D has now been found to have a wide range of roles in our bodies, more than back in the '60's when it was considered good for bone health, it now has been found to play a large role in mental health and much more.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    I have a history of low iron, to the point I'd get turned away from donating blood. I eat a lot of iron-rich foods in general but even so, I've been too low on multiple occasions. I started taking a basic multi-vitamin and that has done the trick.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,223 Member
    If a full panel comes up that shows deficiencies then supplementation is in order and prescribed by your Dr.
  • AlexandraFindsHerself1971
    AlexandraFindsHerself1971 Posts: 3,106 Member
    I take a multivitamin because I have a diet that doesn't have a lot of vegetables in it. (I have IBS.) Also due to that, I take fiber pills and stool softeners in the hope of not being constantly bound up and miserable.
    I also supplement B vitamins, take cranberry tablets because I drink a lot of water and sometimes I can get a little sore peeing it all out, and I don't when I take the cranberry. Plus there is nothing wrong with more vitamin C. Ginger to help soothe my gut, and cinnamon to help my blood sugar not take a nosedive when I run out of calories, because that way I can think enough to figure out what to do, instead of just putting my head down and weeping. I do notice an effect if I don't take them, so they are actually doing something for me.

    I don't take iron because it does not help the slow gut at all, quite the reverse. But I cook acidic foods in cast iron skillets, and that has been shown to work to supplement iron also. And I also supplement Vitamin D because I really don't get outside enough.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,284 Member
    I take no supplements.
    I have in the past taken an iron supplement and in pregnancy folic acid supplement.

    But both of those were for specific reasons and under medical recomendation.

    No harm in taking a general multi vitamin if you want to - but I don't think one should do any more than that without medical reason.

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