Multivitamins - Your views / recommendations?

[RichUK]

Just researching if they're materially beneficial and what brands offer the best quality.

What say you?

 

[dullard]

If you are deficient in multiple nutrients, yes they help. Eating well tends to eliminate that problem better than doing a bandaid patch with a vitamin. But, it can be difficult to be sure that you always eat well. I take a multivitamin on days where I know I won't be eating well.

Brands vary so much (from bottle to bottle) you really can't recommend one. They are fully unregulated and can have absolutely nothing that they claim to have and can be filled with things that they don't claim to have. Just don't be fooled like so many people do that you need to spend hundreds of dollars at a specific store for a specific brand otherwise you'll die.

 

[lxskllr]

Unless your diet is abysmal, I don't think vitamins are valuable.

 

[Carson Dyle]

It would impossible for any one person to say whether they're beneficial based on their personal experience. If they tell you differently, they're full of it.

I guess you could look at taking a multivitamin as cheap insurance. They generally don't contain massive amounts of any of the chemicals in them, so at least the probability of them being harmful are fairly low.

 

[cbrunny]

I take them. I like expensive pee.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

None, its semi snake oil.

 

[Xstatic1]

Hubby and I take 'em weekly on Sundays (he takes one, two for me). We share a big bottle of SuperNutrition's Perfect Family Iron-Free Multivitamins.

They're on the pricier side, but other brands I've tried, suck.

 

[Xstatic1]

If you are deficient in multiple nutrients, yes they help. Eating well tends to eliminate that problem better than doing a bandaid patch with a vitamin. But, it can be difficult to be sure that you always eat well. I take a multivitamin on days where I know I won't be eating well.

Brands vary so much (from bottle to bottle) you really can't recommend one. They are fully unregulated and can have absolutely nothing that they claim to have and can be filled with things that they don't claim to have. Just don't be fooled like so many people do that you need to spend hundreds of dollars at a specific store for a specific brand otherwise you'll die.

This!

 

[Six]

I can assure you that it greatly helps reduce the recovey time after physical activities. I take smartypants. I used to take centrium, until I believe they snuck in caffiene or something into their vitamins.

 

[pmv]

In my entirely inexpert view, the only vitamin supplement a normal person might need is vitamin D. Depending on how sunny it is where you live.

 

[nakedfrog]

Hubby and I take 'em weekly on Sundays (he takes one, two for me). We share a big bottle of SuperNutrition's Perfect Family Iron-Free Multivitamins.


They're on the pricier side, but other brands I've tried, suck.

You take them once a week?
How do you compare their effectiveness against the other brands?

 

[MrSquished]

My friend is super smart and a health nut and researches things like crazy, so I trust his opinion. He said most vitamins your body barely absorbs any of them unless they are a live food. So I found these and use them. There are other brands as well but I found this one to be a nice balance of price vs quality:

 

[nakedfrog]

My friend is super smart and a health nut and researches things like crazy, so I trust his opinion. He said most vitamins your body barely absorbs any of them unless they are a live food. So I found these and use them. There are other brands as well but I found this one to be a nice balance of price vs quality:

It's difficult to find hard data on it, but yes, I've read things that support the idea that we'll absorb maybe 10% of what's in a multivitamin. The act of masticating is supposedly priming the body for absorption, so I take mine with lunch.

 

[IronWing]

Read the labels. Lots of vitamin/mineral supplements contain heavy metals your body doesn't need.

 

[Humpy]

I've convinced myself they are beneficial.

I buy Rainbow Light Men's One because it's for men and named after a rainbow.

Sometimes its too expensive (Amazon) so I'll get Orange Triad because the digestive support helps make for clean getaways.

 

[RichUK]

My friend is super smart and a health nut and researches things like crazy, so I trust his opinion. He said most vitamins your body barely absorbs any of them unless they are a live food. So I found these and use them. There are other brands as well but I found this one to be a nice balance of price vs quality:

https://megafood.com/store/en/mens-one-daily/

Not sure if I'm reading it wrong, but 1% or less for magnesium / potassium?

That's not very good.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

In my entirely inexpert view, the only vitamin supplement a normal person might need is vitamin D. Depending on how sunny it is where you live.

I started taking some and it has really helped with my mood/energy. It's sunny in CA but going from home to office to home everyday, I rarely see it at all.

Also I take fish oil every day.

 

[nakedfrog]

https://megafood.com/store/en/mens-one-daily/

Not sure if I'm reading it wrong, but 1% or less for magnesium / potassium?

That's not very good.

Depends on if your food is already providing sufficient magnesium and potassium.

 

[Zanovar]

Orange triad/spirulina with meals.i feel better after taking them after a drink/drug binge.when im eating healthily,probably a waste of money.

 

[RichUK]

Depends on if your food is already providing sufficient magnesium and potassium.

My diet is reasonably good, but I've suffered the odd heart palpitation which I've had confirmed is benign, so wanted to focus more on heart healthy foods and a good balance of magnesium and potassium is important.

 

[Mike64]

Not sure if I'm reading it wrong, but 1% or less for magnesium / potassium?
That's not very good.

Among other things, magnesium, potassium, and the other "major minerals" are seriously bulky. If significant amounts were included in "multivitamin/mineral" supplements, they'd all be "three-to-five a day" products, not "one-a-day" kinda tablets/capsules/pills.

As an aside, fwiw, if you're not on an intentionally low-potassium diet (like people with serious kidney disease) and you're not getting more than you need, you can take it as given that your diet isn't even remotely "balanced"…

 

[Imported]

Its probably a waste.. but I use the One A Day for Men's available at Costco. https://www.costco.com/One-A-Day-Men's-Multivitamin,-300-Tablets.product.100143268.html

 

[RichUK]

Stumbled across these, but very pricey!

https://www.thorne.com/products/dp/multi-vitamin-elite?affid=ThrnFx1072858

 

[LPCTech]

Multivitamins. I dunno.

But my doctor has specifically instructed me to take

vitamin B12
vitamin D
and Iron

cuz my diet is not sufficient to supply these in the amounts I need due to a medical situation. And when I take them, I feel better than when I don't.

So i guess it depends on if, and what you are deficient in. You can go to the doctor and get a test to show you if you are or not.

If you are not deficient in anyway, vitamins would be useless. Recent Studies have shown that you only need what you need and no more or less. Too much OR too little of certain vitamins can be bad.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Most will be wasted but you never know what your body might be short on.
Also, if you see a particular vitamin or mineral paired with some other substance - you might want to research the reasoning behind it. It's usually to aid absorption or metabolism, or maybe just replenishment (like zinc+copper).
Or you may find reformulations designed to facilitate the uptake of a substance by various systems: endocrine, circulatory, or the nervous system/brain; like lecithin transformed into phosphatidylserine for brain absorption.

So don't go out and buy a random ...let's say, magnesium .... supplement without knowing what form of magnesium will aid your body the most (in your non-professional opinion).