Do you take vitamins, or have you? Typically, I have taken Vitamin E, zinc, and selenium. Right now, I'm out of zinc and selenium. I couldn't tell if they did any good or not but, in talking to the person at the vitamin store, that seemed like a good trio for an adult man. Of course, they want to sell you even MORE vitamins, so you have to draw the line somewhere. What has been your experience? Which ones do you take? Do you feel any difference?
I take Berocca if I have a hangover or am feeling tired/run down in the morning. It has a mammoth dosage of vitamins i.e 595% RDA of Vitamin C, 945% Vitamin B1, 971% Vitamin B2 etc etc. However, this sounds amazing, but biologically speaking it's not so useful, as you get most of this stuff that you need from food you eat throughout the day, and that keeps you topped up. Your body will only use what it can if it's water soluble so you pee most of the above stuff out. However - the reason I still take these, is that in the morning (only in the morning) your body is lacking a lot of vitamins, so taking this mammoth dosage will ensure you're at your maximum vitamins at the start of the day, which can give you a massive energy boost/increase focus ability and generally improve your day from the get-go. So if I'm feeling fine I'll usually skip it, but if I'm feeling tired or generally run down/hungover, Berocca really does help so much in my experience. Since it's water soluble it takes effect really fast too. Other than that I don't really take other stuff. All the best.
I take Centrum Silver (for the over-50 crowd) and also take iron and B12 supplements because of a genetic condition I have that involves weakness in some capillaries and frequent nosebleeds and minor internal blood loss. The nosebleeds, etc. resulted in pretty severe anemia, which I didn't realize and chalked up to being overweight and middle-aged. Once I went on the iron and B12, I felt drastically better within a couple weeks. Not sure if the Centrum makes a difference or not, but I figure, I started it all at the same time, and if it doesn't seem to be broken, why fix it?
I take around 7000iu's of vitamin d per day, most people are deficient in it because we spend so much time indoors, or if you are like me, you live in vancouver where it's cloudy 90% of the time (vitamin d is produced when sunlight hits your skin). I also take a vitamin k complex, and magnesium before bed. Not every day, but some days i'll take vitamin c for some extra anti-oxidants, or a b complex pill. I also take l-gulatmine (an amino acid your body produces) fairly often when i am tired or have a headache. Zaio is right that much of vitamins you supplement will not make it into your bloodstream, unless they are water soluble. Fat soluble vitamins will only be absorbed if you take them with fat, which I do (coconut oil or grass fed butter.. or both!)
I am suppose to be taking Vit D because I am insufficient in it, but unfortunately, I must have a really sensitive tummy. All vitamin tablets tend to make me nauseaus, even if I eat before taking them. I'm not a picky eater though, so feel pretty much like I probably get everything I need in my fruits and veggies. If I could handle vitamins though, I'd probably take Centrum Silver, because all my friends swear by it!
pippi, you can get a vitamin d liquid solution. just put a few drops in your coffee, smoothie, water, etc.. none of the issues some people have with digesting pills with all the capsules / fillers. i generally think taking centrum and other multivitamins is pretty pointless. could be useful i guess for some people, but generally there isn't enough of anything in those pills to have much effect, and they tend to have lower quality ingredients.
I take a whole slew of them: Super B-Complex: ton of different B vitamins Vitamin C: 1,000 mg, to help absorb the iron Iron: 100 mg in 4 doses glycemic vitamin: lots of chromium, helps keep blood sugar stable zinc: 50 mg to try to get my acne to calm down digestive enzymes: to get all the nutrients out of my food Vitamin D3: 2,000 IU It's been a good year and a half since I've been sick. I think that's due to the D and C, and maybe zinc. The iron, chromium, and b vitamins help with my blood sugar, metabolism and energy level. Mostly I take these vitamins because as a college endurance athlete my body gets put under a ridiculous amount of stress. I used to take CoQ10 and I thought that helped a lot. But I know what you mean about drawing the line somewhere because I know what I take seems ridiculous. I probably wouldn't be taking as much if I weren't competitively running. I've heard the same about the multivitamins having horrible quality ingredients. They make me really nauseous too. But a way to get around that is to eat food on top of vitamins.
