Vitamins and supplements

Does anyone know of an easy way to track or log vitamins and supplements on MyFitnessPal? I take both however I may be taking too much of some depending on what’s in the foods I eat. Too much of some can be toxic.

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    MFP is not a very good place to track micronutrients. Only certain micronutrients are required on food labels and since that's where most database entries come from, much of that information is lacking. MFP really only has categories of micronutrients that are required by the FDA to be included on food labels so in general you're not going to be able to see very many of them.

    Most vitamins aren't an issue in regards to having too much...you just pee it out. Some like vitamin D for example, you shouldn't be supplementing in large amounts unless you have a diagnosed deficiency. The amounts of vitamins in a multivitamin are fine for most people and won't cause toxicity if you're just taking one per day. It's over supplementing with vitamins on top of those multivitamins or taking multiple multivitamins that can be an issue.

    In general I would say that a multivitamin is pretty safe and basically covers your bases. I don't think I'd take more than that unless I was actually diagnosed as deficient in something. For example, I'm D deficient without supplementation as diagnosed by my PCP. I was on a very high dose for awhile to get my numbers up and have been on a 2,000 IU maintenance dose now for about 9 years which keeps my numbers normal per my blood work.

    Specifically I wouldn't supplement with vitamins A, D, E, K or the mineral potassium outside of the amounts included in one daily multivitamin unless diagnosed as deficient per your blood work.
  • ONUnicorn
    ONUnicorn Posts: 45 Member
    I scan the barcode on the multivitamin I take at breakfast and it logs it just like everything else.
  • ehju0901
    ehju0901 Posts: 394 Member
    I added a category to my log that is just Vitamins & Supplements. I like that because I can see how much of my nutrients are from that vs how much I am getting from the foods I eat. Just helps put it into perspective for me.