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[Jay Sosa]

I started taking them about a month ago for no particular reason.... haven't noticed any differences. Do they really help you out long-term? I guess I'll finish the bottle and continue to take them but I don't think I'll re-buy them.

No.

I eat multivitamin, calcium + zinc, CoQ10 & collagen everyday.

Is that fucking Perrine? Thanks for reminding me of one of the most depressing shows ever.

 

[Korey]

I stopped taking GNC Mega Men, or any of their other vitamins, after I found out they use sawdust as a filler. Fuck that, I'm not putting that in my body anymore.

This reads like the urbanest of urban legend chain emails

 

[Jay Sosa]

This reads like the urbanest of urban legend chain emails

Don't know about that but I read enough research papers to know that Multivitams are at best not really helpful and sometimes even can do your body harm.

 

[fse]

4000 IU of Vitamin D3 daily.
I feel like my immune system is healthier.

 

[Korey]

Don't know about that but I read enough research papers to know that Multivitams are at best not really helpful and sometimes even can do your body harm.

Yea, I like how people in this thread are all "multivitamins don't do anything and in some cases can actually HARM you" and yet literally nobody has posted a single link, let alone one from a credible source

 

[Medalion]

I took multivitamins for the better part from 2004ish to 2009 or so religiously

I think it fucked up my health after awhile than made it better

 

[Jay Sosa]

Yea, I like how people in this thread are all "multivitamins don't do anything and in some cases can actually HARM you" and yet literally nobody has posted a single link, let alone one from a credible source

For what?

So you can say that this and that site is not credible enough? Like arguing on the internet really makes sense. Please.

 

[Moppet13]

Multivitamin, fish oil, and vitamin d.

Placebo effect must be working because I feel good since I started taking them. Especially the vitamin d.

Do you really? I supposedly had a terrible Vitamin D deficiency and was told to take about 8,000mg a day and I never felt any better/different while taking them.

 

[jaxword]

Do you really? I supposedly had a terrible Vitamin D deficiency and was told to take about 8,000mg a day and I never felt any better/different while taking them.

Vitamin D is produced generally from being in the sunshine. Most humans need it, and if you're an inside-dwelling internet guy, you probably have a deficiency. That's probably the logic behind whoever told you that.

 

[Freshmaker]

Do you really? I supposedly had a terrible Vitamin D deficiency and was told to take about 8,000mg a day and I never felt any better/different while taking them.

The advantage there is you don't have to worry about developing rickets.

 

[Diablos]

Multivitamins can be hard on the stomach and make me have to piss like a racehorse.

 

[Always-honest]

no.. i eat food.

Multivitamins can be hard on the stomach and make me have to piss like a racehorse.

i once took one on holiday (unhealthy food for a while). It made me vomit. Turned me inside out.

 

[Diablos]

Yeah, if I take one for more than a day or two, my stomach gets pwned. I don't vomit, though.

 

[MIMIC]

I don't think I've never taken one.

 

[Always-honest]

Yeah, if I take one for more than a day or two, my stomach gets pwned. I don't vomit, though.

it was one of those extra high dosis tablets. never again. It was right before i had to walk up a fucking mountain . That went well........

 

[Vandiger]

Nope, Omega-3/Fish Oil only.

 

[CiSTM]

I eat lot of fruits and veggies every day so I don't feel like I should take vitamin tablets too. I do take some fish oil every day but that's only because it's a habbit that has stayed with me since age of five when my mom made me drink it

 

[Kentpaul]

No.. I eat enough of everything to take care of my needs.

 

[radioheadrule83]

When I choose to eat well, I will, but more often than not I am ill disciplined and my circadian rhythm and daily routine are so scatty and all over the place that sometimes I go somewhere and forget to eat completely... there are a lot of mornings where I come into work without having breakfast for example... I take a multivitamin occasionally and although I always feel grim (I'm working 2 jobs and GAF keeps me awake until 2am every night), I do notice more than just neon-yellow piss... if I go through a few days of taking them I notice my face looks fresher, and I sometimes feel more alert going into the evening.

There are often scare stories about multi-vitamins, or certain supplements, I remember being a bit scared by this story, and stopped taking my multivits for a while:
BBC - Vitamin E linked to increased risk of stroke

However, reading the NHS (UK national health service) version of the story:
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/11November/Pages/vitamin-E-and-stroke-risk.aspx

It should be noted that both of these results were only of marginal statistical significance, which suggests the possibility that these are chance findings and that no true association exists. The decrease in risk of ischaemic stroke just reached significance (CI 0.82 to 0.99), but the 22% increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke was only of borderline significance (CI 1.00 to 1.48). In absolute figures there were 223 haemorrhagic strokes among 50,334 people on vitamin E (0.5%) and 183 haemorrhagic strokes among 50,414 people on placebo (0.4%). For ischaemic stroke there were 884 ischaemic strokes among 45,670 people on vitamin E (1.9%) and 983 among the 45,733 people on placebo (2.1%). These are small absolute differences.

Regarding supplements, the FSA reports that any potential harms from taking too much vitamin E are not firmly established. They currently advise that taking no more than 540mg daily is unlikely to cause harm.

My multivitamin has 83.9mg (839% RDA) of Vitamin E, nowhere near the 540mg daily limit that FSA have identified. So why the scare stories?

 

[PuppetSlave]

CRON-O-Meter is a useful tool.

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

I do not. Everything I've read seems to indicate that vitamin pills just go through you. Besides, eating a variety of vitamin rich foods is so much more fun.

First post nailed it.

End of discussion.

 

[CrankyJay]

First post nailed it.

End of discussion.

Pretty much.

 

[Zekes!]

I take men's gummy vitamins every morning; not sure if they even do anything, but it takes like 2 seconds and I don't think about it after that *shrug*

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Hmm so based on this thread I should switch what I take now (Mutlivitamin and fish oil) to Vitamin D and Fish Oil, anything else?

EDIT: Also I avoid the whole non-dissolving issue by taking adult gummy vitamins. Pill vitamins are way too huge (especially fish oil pills) and i'd rather not choke to death one day as I live alone.

 

[Leunam]

This is an article written by Steven Novella which touches briefly on multivitamins.

To back up a bit – let me say that I am a strong believer in good nutrition. From a basic science point of view, it just makes sense. We need specific nutrients for various biochemical reactions in our bodies. Deficiencies are clearly related to specific diseases. Further, in areas where nutrition is poor overall development is also poor. The connection is clear.

The question of routine supplementation, however, goes further. It asks whether or not taking vitamin supplements are necessary or helpful for someone who has a reasonable diet and does not have any specific disease or condition that would impact their demand for specific vitamins – i.e. routine. In most wealthy industrialized nations lack of quality food is not a problem for most people. Also, modern methods of growing, preserving, and shipping food means that more people have access to a wider variety of foods all year round.

In short, lack of nutrition does not appear to be a problem for the industrialized west. The modern nutritional scourge is, rather, too much of the wrong kinds of food. This gets back to the point about diets rich in fruits and vegetables – their benefits may be more in what they do not contain than what they do.

Right now the evidence supports the conclusion that for most people who have a reasonable diet there is no benefit from routine supplementation. Of course, what’s a “reasonable” diet? This opens the door for those who wish to take a multivitamin as “insurance” because they feel their diet is not very good. The evidence suggests that they would be better off having a healthy diet rather than living on steak and vitamin pills.

It's brief, so it's worth reading. Basically, multivitamins aren't necessary as long as you maintain a fairly varied diet which would provide you with many kinds of vitamins already found in food. However, there are people who really do have a deficiency in one area where they need very specific vitamins to account for that deficiency. This is a lot like the whole anti-oxidants/gluten free/other buzzword discussion. Normally, these things don't matter to the average person, but there are minorities that have cause for concern. Unfortunately, with the way these things are marketed, suddenly everyone thinks they need a multivitamin or gluten free diet.

 

[AnkitT]

I'm on it since the doctor prescribed me. However, I seem to be having an allergic reaction to something in it. Probably gonna pay him a visit this weekend and sort it all out.

 

[Sofo]

Nope, I eat healthy food and a lot of variety. Not always, but you could say about 7/10 times I eat, it's healthy and nutritious meals. I think that probably does more for your body than a bunch of supplements.

 

[Liquid Helium]

They can do more harm than good

 

[GodofWine]

I take vitamin D (6000ius daily) and Fish Oil (1g or more of EPA + DHA), and take psyllium fiber with most meals that don't have a veggie.

I'm of the thinking the most important part of the veggie in terms of health is the fiber content, not the vitamin content.

Vitamin D levels are correlated with good health / lack of good health, so I think its the single more important one to take, and no, if you have low D levels, sun exposure will not fix it.

They can do more harm than good

..in people who don't have an understanding on what vitamins do or do not do.

 

[WickedAngel]

They can do more harm than good

The weak-mindedness of people cannot be attributed to the vitamin. I could just as easily find people who eat horribly and justify it because they exercise.

 

[LosDaddie]

Mon-Fri because I keep the bottle in the office kitchen

I don't think they help, but eh, why not?

 

[The Power Of Snap]

Yes and i lift heavy.

 

[FOOTE]

No. They make my stomach sick.

 

[Deified Data]

My fiance started taking a whole host of them after her lupus scare - swears by them.

Personally, I think they're too expensive a thing to buy for an effect that I can't even notice. Feeling "healthy" is really only something you can feel when you've been "unhealthy" before.

 

[Leunam]

lol, 'cause steak doesn't have any vitamins in it after all.

Being familiar with his work, I can comfortable say it was probably a joke.

 

[scorcho]

i take adult gummy multi-vitamins. i pick different flavor combinations for each day of the week.

 

[Price Dalton]

Vitamin D3 (at least until I move out of SF with its shitty weather), CoQ10, Vitamin K2 (good for bone mineralization, prevents against calcium deposition in the wrong places, like the arteries), magnesium are my basics.

If I haven't eaten fatty fish, organ meats, and shellfish, I'll sometimes take selenium and zinc.

I'd like to rely just on food, but there's considerable evidence that overfarming has reduced the mineral content of our soils, so I'm hedging my bet by adding in a few choice supplements.

 

[BorkBork]

From Michael Pollan's Food Rules:

Rule 40: Be the kind of person who takes supplements - then skip the supplements.

Supplement takers are healthy for reasons that have nothing to do with the pills. They're typically more health conscious, better educated, and more affluent. They're also more likely to exercise and eat whole grains. So to the extent you can, be the kind of person who would take supplements, and then save your money. (There are exceptions to this rule, for people who have a specific nutrient deficiency or are older than fifty. As we age, our need for antioxidants increases while our body's ability to absorb them from the diet declines. And if you don't eat much fish, it couldn't hurt to take a fish oil supplement too.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I do not. Everything I've read seems to indicate that vitamin pills just go through you.

Even in the case of pregnant women? Seems to be a universal recommendation that they take prenatal vitamins not only to keep them healthy but to help reduce the risk of birth defects.

 

[Leunam]

Even in the case of pregnant women? Seems to be a universal recommendation that they take prenatal vitamins not only to keep them healthy but to help reduce the risk of birth defects.

Recommended by doctors? Yeah, I can totally believe that, as your own personal doctors would be more likely to understand what you need if there is a deficiency of some kind in your system or if you're pregnant.

I wouldn't put multivitamins in the same group as prenatal vitamins.

 

[Struct09]

Yep, along with fish oil pills. Only supplements I take these days.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I wouldn't put multivitamins in the same group as prenatal vitamins.

Prenatal vitamins are essentially the same thing, just with a lot more folic acid.

 

[Prez]

I recently changed my diet and it does seem to help with my mood. I make sure that every day I have:

- 1 bowl of soup
- A handful of nuts (especially almonds)
- A glass of apple juice and orange juice
- Two glasses of milk

 

[Korey]

This is an article written by Steven Novella which touches briefly on multivitamins.

They can do more harm than good

From Michael Pollan's Food Rules:

Ok so so far, we have...

"Multivitamins ARE USELESS ...if you already eat a varied, well balanced diet"

"Multivitamins AREN'T NECESSARY AT ALL ...because the people that take them are probably health conscious and exercise already."

"Multivitamins CAN ACTUALLY HARM YOU ...by giving you a false sense of security and encouraging you to eat un-nutritional food."

 

[AbsoluteZero]

I do drink a bottle of VitaminWater Zero every day.

 

[AndyD]

I started in the spring at the direction of my doctor. A men's multivitamin (specifically men's not general), 1000mg of vitamin C and vitamin E I think every day.

Only thing I noticed is that my nails now grow much faster, so I need to clip them once a week. Fingers and toes. Before it was every two weeks or so.

 

[Enco]

I tried some chewy vitamin sweets before.

Tasted goood. Felt no different though haha

 

[Leunam]

Ok so so far, we have...

"Multivitamins ARE USELESS ...if you already eat a varied, well balanced diet"

"Multivitamins AREN'T NECESSARY AT ALL ...because the people that take them are probably health conscious and exercise already."

"Multivitamins CAN ACTUALLY HARM YOU ...by giving you a false sense of security and encouraging you to eat un-nutritional food."

I've got another one.

"Vitamins CAN BE DANGEROUS ...if you take too large a dose."

I think what should be taken from this discussion is that as long as you have a varied diet that touches on different types of food then vitamins supplements are completely unnecessary and a waste of money, unless they are specifically recommended by your doctor. Otherwise you're just taking something 'just to be safe' which is, more than anything, a waste.

 

[way more]

It's better for you to simply eat a cup of blueberries daily with grapefruit and a pomegranate.


I don't know why anyone even bothers with multivitamins.

 

[hwalker84]

I take GNC Mega Men Sport + Triple Strength Fish Oil Sport + 1 Gallon of water a day.