Multivitamins

[chippper]

Wife says I should take a multivitamin but I say I eat pretty healthy. Do you really think I need one? How many of you take one?

[ricka182]

I take one. My diet isn't really bad, but I don't eat a lot of fruit or veggies..so I supplement my diet. I think depending on your goals, the multi may not be a waste regardless of your diet. Certainly after a hard workout, the vitamins and minerals will be put to use...

I take Controlled Labs Orange Triad. It's a great MultiV, plus joint support, and digestion support as well. The ingredients are also well sourced. And you can get 15% off the normal price of $30 for 45 days at the M&S store..

What kind of training do you do?

[Rich Knapp]

If you eat a balanced diet then the Multi is great to fill in the holes and suggested dose should be fine IMO.

[rippednmichigan]

I definitely feel the difference when I don't take my multi, you will be surprised by how much better you will feel when taking one.

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[Tannhauser]

Different opinion from me. I would say no, unless you have a very restricted or unbalanced diet, you absolutely don't need one.

I speak as someone who took multivits for years, swallowing (along with the capsules) the standard marketing line that it's a sort of 'insurance', in case you're missing something. When I stopped taking them, I experienced a modest increase in my disposable ncome and no other effects.

I now wouldn't touch multivits with a barge-pole. Some very large, well-designed studies have found increased cancer rates from quite a modest increase in supplemental vitamin A. Supplemental anti-oxidants looked like a good bet for preventing cancer (which is why the researchers looked at them), but when the results were in, they showed otherwise. These harmful effects were shown in smokers, so it might not be safe to extrapolate to non-smokers, but I think it shows that they're not necessarily benign substances/

I think it would be alarmist to call vitamin supplements dangerous. BUT I would go with the Cochrane Review (the best plain-language science/medicine reviews around): 'No evidence that they do anything beneficial. Some evidence that under certain circumstances, they may cause harm.'

[tank]

i've never tried orange triad, but i've been interested. i use opti-men by ON (i think that's what they're called). should i try orange triad after this bottle? what others do some of you suggest and why? thank you guinea pigs!

[TitanCT]

I use inner armour training peak for my multi. Yes you should take a multi.

[Rich Knapp]

I've been taking

The last few weeks and am very happy with it. I over all feel better and sleep better.

[Tannhauser]

A bit more.

The only way to establish whether vitamins actually do anything other than lighten your wallet is to do proper science: large scale, double-blind long-term studies.

Those studies are starting to be done and it's bad news for the vitamin industry. Take a look here: Vitamins: Research Shows No Benefit and Some Risks

Again, the Cochrane review is the gold standard:

We found no evidence to support antioxidant supplements for primary or secondary prevention. Vitamin A, beta-carotene, and vitamin E may increase mortality. Future randomized trials could evaluate the potential effects of vitamin C and selenium for primary and secondary prevention. Such trials should be closely monitored for potential harmful effects. Antioxidant supplements need to be considered medicinal products and should undergo sufficient evaluation before marketing.

At least one major study was abandoned because the supplemented group were developing significantly greater levels of mortality. I think this was a Boston based study (?) using doctors as partcipants.

As expected, the supplement industry went into default accusations of pharma-funding, yadda yadda, which makes no sort of sense where Cochrane is concerned.

The vitamin maketing machine rumbles on, but the science is gradually seeping out. Twenty years from now, multivits for the healthy population will have gone the way of boron, kelp and (hopefully) homeopathy.

[tank]

thanks for that perspective tann. i've reconsidered taking multis myself.