Multivitamins...Do they work?

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by photon

I forgot about that, that's awesome.

EDIT:


Holy, never thought of that, for sure.

Had a patient try to sell me usana. Smh

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by Hes

Probably just making your pee more expensive then.

My multivitamin makes my pee bright neon yellow. It's awesome.

[bigtmac19]

I agree about the sugar. I started cutting almost all sugar out of my diet last September and I feel so much better since I did.

I take a multi vitamin and a probiotic daily. Placebo effect is certainly possible, but I feel good so will continue to take them.

[steve9981]

Nm

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by steve9981

I take multi vitamins and fish oils every morning. Do they make a significant difference that I can notice? No, not really. Will I continue to take them? Yes, as long as they are on sale at Costco.

I'm the same plus extra vitamin C & D, same results.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Pizza

A friend of mine suggested I start trying some multivitamins. After having them for a week, my friend claims he felt better overall and is less immune to illnesses and has more energy.

How do you tell if you're more or less immune to illnesses, nevermind after a few weeks?

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Hes

Probably just making your pee more expensive then.

Yea probably, as long as it doesn't hurt me. I'm taking these anyone know a good place to get supplements not the United States? Even with exchange prices are still lower.

Originally Posted by Torture

How do you tell if you're more or less immune to illnesses, nevermind after a few weeks?

Inject yourself with pathogens and document the results.

[Robo]

I take them as a top up as I don't think my current diet gives me enough of the good stuff.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by zamler

Yea probably, as long as it doesn't hurt me. I'm taking these anyone know a good place to get supplements not the United States? Even with exchange prices are still lower.

Inject yourself with pathogens and document the results.

Look at some of the percentages of daily intake in there. You could actually be doing some harm.

Large images

Spoiler!

Vitamin A (beta carotene) is shown to increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers and is fat soluble. So you do not pee out the excess.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18429004

Vitamin E is a blood thinner. Take an aspirin and you increase your risk of a hemorrhage
http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supp...d/hrb-20060476

100% of your Zinc intake. How many other sources of zinc do you have (meat, poultry, fish etc). Excess Zinc could be linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer in men older than 50.

https://academic.oup.com/jnci/articl...rostate-Cancer

Some of the extracts in there could have negative properties as well

I will get you some links when I get to my computer.

[Fuzz]

I just take Centrum for men. Big bottle from Costco is only around $25 for a year. I'm celiac so I don't absorb as much as I need. When i was first diagnosed I had all sorts of problems like numbness and tingling, which cleared up after a few months of vitamins. I can't say for sure that is what helped, but it made a lot of sense given what a deficiency in some minerals can cause.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

When people talk about proof they usually mean the kind of process drug makers go through, years and years and hundreds of millions in research and testing and study. No one is going to do that for bee gunk that anyone can sell for .10 cents a pill. Curing hep c for $1500 a pill is another story. So a lack of clinical proof doesn't mean every otc supplement is bunk. There are several products that have believed to be positive results or potentially positive results.

The only reason testing does not exist is that it is not required by law. There are billions at stake in this industry. So if there were regulatory requirements to prove efficacy before sale they would be met for many of these products. 10 cents per day for all of North America is about 40 million per day or 12 billion a year. You can do a lot of testing for that amount of money.

And if there were no requirements to prove your Hep C drug worked you would have many more people selling fake Hep C pills. Kinda like the holistic cancer cures already out there.

The industry also actively lobbies to avoid being force to provide testing as it would likely destroy them.

[Party Elephant]

I went gluten free and I feel so amazing.

[Azure]

https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-a-multivitamin/

The only site worth checking for topics like this.

Also, I think it isn't a good idea to take any kind of supplement, vitamin or anything else and judge the result of doing that by how you 'feel.' Get yourself tested for deficiencies.

Most people will be deficient in Vitamin D. Most active people will be deficient in Zinc & Magnesium. Some people with a crappy diet will have low iron levels, etc, etc. All of these things can be checked by your doctor. And if you do it once per year and supplement with vitamins based on what your needs are wouldn't that be a much better idea than just going by how you feel?

[Pointman]

For what it worth, I found out that Siberian ginseng in pills really works for me. For some reason the liquid Siberian ginseng does not. Nor does a real ginseng.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Azure

https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-a-multivitamin/

The only site worth checking for topics like this.

Also, I think it isn't a good idea to take any kind of supplement, vitamin or anything else and judge the result of doing that by how you 'feel.' Get yourself tested for deficiencies.

Most people will be deficient in Vitamin D. Most active people will be deficient in Zinc & Magnesium. Some people with a crappy diet will have low iron levels, etc, etc. All of these things can be checked by your doctor. And if you do it once per year and supplement with vitamins based on what your needs are wouldn't that be a much better idea than just going by how you feel?

Yeah, but who does that?

If you're the kind of person who has the regurarly goes to a doctor to check for vitamin deficiencies, chances are you live a pretty healthy lifestyle anyway.

Supplements are a way for people like me to feel a bit better about their diet, and possibly it actually helps with some deficiencies I'm not aware of.

In other words I like my placebos

[GreenLantern]

May have already been mentioned but honestly the best energy booster is exercise. Not sure if you are already working this in but if not do some research, find something that interested you and start off trying to do it 2-3 times a week and build from there.

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by Pointman

For what it worth, I found out that Siberian ginseng in pills really works for me. For some reason the liquid Siberian ginseng does not. Nor does a real ginseng.

My bet is theres something else in the pills thats giving you whatever effect thats causing you to say it really works for you. Theres little to no regulation on supplements. It could be anything like caffeine or ephedrine or any sort of herbal or pharmaceutical ingredients thats in those pills.
Do and search and youll find a lot of testing thats been done on prodcuts on the store shelf and they contain a lot of ingredients that arent on the label and some of them dont even contain what is supposed to be in them.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by blankall

There isn't a thing you need in a supplement that you won't get from a proper diet. And by proper I mean a diet that includes a basic amount of proteins and plant matter.

That's kind of old school thought. Lots of supplements work better in combinations and in supplements form than what you can get in your diet.

How often have you heard the claim that whole foods are better than supplements? It’s been repeated so often that the word “natural” has a positive connotation whereas “synthetic” or “chemical” has a negative one. The truth, of course, isn’t so clear-cut. Some compounds are more effective in supplemental form. One example is the curcumin in turmeric, which is often supplemented with piperine (a black pepper extract) or taken in liposomal form to increase its otherwise low bioavailability.
The same goes for vitamins. For instance, phylloquinone (K1) is tightly bound to membranes in plants and so is more bioavailable in supplemental form. Likewise, folic acid (supplemental B9) is more bioavailable than folate (B9 naturally present in foods), though that may not always be a good thing.
Many supplemental vitamins have natural and synthetic forms. This makes them accessible to more people. For example, if B12 could not be synthesized, it would be prohibitively expensive as well as unsuitable to vegans.

https://examine.com/nutrition/awful-nutrition-myths/

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by ikaris

I'm in this program called Pure North, they cite some research with respect to their program:

http://purenorth.ca/research/information-papers/

Allan Markin actually founded this organization and is focused on continuing its work.

Yes, I'm sure a company selling supplements and hawking "health assessments" for your money is going to be conducting unbiased research of high scientific merit. Hopefully they can 2-for-1 bundle the vitamins with some penis enlarging pills.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

Yes, I'm sure a company selling supplements and hawking "health assessments" for your money is going to be conducting unbiased research of high scientific merit. Hopefully they can 2-for-1 bundle the vitamins with some penis enlarging pills.

Usana watchdog:

http://usanawatchdog.blogspot.ca/

A pamphlet a friend showed me explaining the evidential "quality" of Usana vitamins, was prepared by a Chairman on the Usana board. No conflicts there!