Forums >Health and Nutrition>Runners Vitamins?
I need to re-stock my vitamin supply. Does anyone have a good suggestion for a one-a –day vitamin and mineral supplement? I have tried multi-dose brands and more often than not forget to take the PM dose…
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GreyBeard
I take "Alive" from Nature's Way. Made from whole foods rather then engineered.
I often forget the PM dose as well but in looking at the amount in each capsule I feel like, combined with food, I am doing pretty well. If I do remember it then bonus.
2020
SMART Approach
Not a huge fan of one a days because of absorption issues. I prefer capsule like multis. The Alive brand is pretty good but 3 per day is more ideal. Natrol has a decent one in tablets called My Favorite Multiple Take One. They have a multi that I like in capsule form also called My Favorite Multiple but 6 capsules per day is recommended. 180 ct bottle. Another good one a day is from Vitacost call SYNERGY (Version 3) in capsule form. I particularly like the antioxidant content in it and it is one a day even though I would personally take it in morning and evening to keep blood levels up. Here is link.
http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-Synergy-Once-Daily-Multi-Vitamin-Version-3-60-Capsules
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I don't have any specific instructions but avoid tablets. A lot of the vitamins/minerals/etc are degraded by the heat required to create tablets.
I've managed to get to 47 years old without taking a vitamins. If you eat moderately sensibly you won't lack any vitamins.
I've made it to 48 taking them
Sure - I'm not suggesting that they're detrimental (except to your wallet) - just unnecessary.
I think to say they are unnecessary for everyone is overgeneralizing. If I weren't taking iron supplements, I would still barely be able to run 7 miles. Easy to say eat right to get what you need, but I'm allergic to red meat. Getting enough iron through my food is extremely difficult.
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Sure - if you know that you have a deficiency then you might need either to modify your diet or take some supplements. But that's not the situation for the vast majority of people taking vitamin pills.
MTA: and of course there's a difference between knowing you have a deficiency (because your doctor has carried out appropriate tests) and thinking you might have a deficiency. A doctor friend of mine said "if I had a pound for everyone who comes into the surgery telling me - incorrectly - that they're anaemic, then I'd be very rich". I said - "you're a doctor - you're already very rich" :/
Those on this site are probably in the minority of eating healthy. I agree if we eat a balanced diet high in grains, fruits, vegetables and lean meats on a daily basis - no need to supplement. The other 90% plus of Americans don't eat balanced diets including many physicians. These people may not have deficiency diseases but more than likely they may not be taking OPTIMUM amounts of key nutrients. The debate is achieving optimum health and optimum nutrition vs just preventing deficiency diseases. This is the only reason I am an advocate of a quality multinutrient formula and it doesn't have to be expensive. I pay about 7 bucks a month for a high quality formula by Nature's Way.
... they may not be taking OPTIMUM amounts of key nutrients. The debate is achieving optimum health and optimum nutrition vs just preventing deficiency diseases....
I don't buy this idea that there's some OPTIMUM amount that needs to be carefully calculated (and if there is then you'd need to carefully monitor what you'd taken in your food before deciding on the dose you need through supplementation).
We can agree that there are many people who have poor diets. But often this involves a surfeit of pretty much everything. For example I would expect that most Americans eat *more* meat that is normally considered healthy - so they would not need to be adding iron, zinc vitamin, B2 through supplementation - they already get more than they need.
Where people do have deficiencies in their diet - no doubt there are a fair few who lack enough fresh fruit and veg - the solution isn't to start popping pills, but to actually eat proper food. There are many problems with a diet that lacks enough fruit and veg that can't be fixed by simply taking a vitamin pill - and promoting thoughts along the lines of "hey - it doesn't matter that my diet is crap - I take a vitamin pill once a day" doesn't do anybody any favours.
Is there any research to say that while you may completely healthy and getting your right dose of vitamins through your diet, some level of supplementation wont make you "better"?
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Not that I'm aware of. Certainly some can be harmful when taken to excess - although it's quite hard to get to excessive amounts through any kind of reasonable consumption of regular food or of supplements. Although there have been cases of death through taking iron pills - usually when children eat a whole bottle or some such.
Linus Pauling, quite famously, believed in the beneficial effects of large doses of vitamin C, but despite a lot of studies there's nothing reputable to show that taking more than a normal amount has any benefit (and excessive amounts can be harmful).
Other studies have shown that there's no measurable benefit in taking vitamins - e.g. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/study-finds-no-benefit-from-daily-multivitamin/
The study referenced says that multivitamins did not decrease cancer or heart disease rate in women.
That said, it does bring up a point for the OP that you might want to look at taking specific vitamins rather than taking a multivitamin.