I’ve gone back and forth on taking a multivitamin since I know my diet isn’t all that great. Ideally I should be working to improve that diet but let’s say due to certain circumstances that’s a bit difficult at the moment.
Would it be worth taking a 1 a day multivitamin to at least correct some possible deficiency or is it very unlikely that it would have any effect?
Not asking for professional medical advice or anything, mostly looking to see if anyone else is taking a multivitamin and if so why?
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If your diet lacks certain vitamins, a vitamin supplement may help. If not, it won’t. Excess vitamins are eliminated by a healthy body.
Some vitamines can be had too much too, so “overdosing” is a real possibility. A and D for example.
Also taking too much vitamin C can lead to kidney stones.
You can do it, but you need to try really hard to overdose on C or D.
If you are Australian all ‘medications’ have a code on them whether they have been scientifically proven to do what the label says. Aust R - right on they’ll do what they say, Aust - L - loser no scientific proof. So yes some iron supplements work really well, others less so for example
Legendary info, cheers cobra
Cobber
How about “U” – “Unstudied” If there’s no money to study a supplement, it doesn’t get studied. Or maybe “unmonied”, because the particular studies the governments want cost $$$.
Most doctors today will tell you NOT to take iron, especially if you are a man. Apparently iron has been associated with various health concerns.
Some random thoughts:
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For vegans it’s adviced to take certain extra vitamins, for instance B12
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Also, when you are talking about health, i would not underestimate exercise, even a brisk daily walk. I don’t know for sure, but i suspect this will have more impact on our health, than taking multivitamins.
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As someone else commented here, i think fibre is also very important. And drinking enough healthy fluids.
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As a personal aside; i did notice a difference when i started supplementing vitamin D. I was surprised to notice that my energy level seemed to go slightly up.
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Also, never mix iron (not a vitamin btw) with dairy or tea. And take it with some vitamin C
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Finally, be careful and don’t randomly start to mix and match certain vitamins. For instance, magnesium and calcium have a certain balance, where too much of one will have a negative effect on the other.
Small caveat on the iron. The body doesn’t have an efficient mechanism of getting rid of iron so that one is easy to over supplement.
At least for men. I’m very certain this is one of the cases where science is done upon men. Men don’t have good mechanism of getting rid of iron, but women do. 👍
Yes, and so do for instance vitamin A, D, E, and K because those can heap up in fatty tissues. Also, always check your personal circumstances. Dealing with periods for instance can sometimes (not always) make one anemic, so then you might need some supplementation.
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A nutritionist friend of mine was big on diet but she wasn’t necessarily anti-vitamin pills. She said they can be an “insurance policy” against gross deficiencies in your diet that you’re not aware of or which happen because you’re not getting your diet right for whatever reason.
They’re not a substitute for eating right but they can be a good alternative to nutrient deficiencies.
That’s how I view them. It’s a supplement, to ya know, supplement your diet in case you missed any vital nutrients.
You just pee out the excess anyways just don’t go overboard. Looking at you B vitamins…
I take a multivitamin every day, because my diet can sometimes be poor, and I don’t get much sunlight. However you should understand that they’re a ‘bonus’ and not a substitute for a good diet, I always have fruit & veg in the house and make sure I eat some everyday.
It couldn’t hurt. But most medical professionals I know don’t recommend it.
If you want to get a multivitamin that’s more bioavailable, consider eating an egg a day, or liver. These are some of the most available multivitamin sources in nature
One liver a day, got it!
Make sure it’s a polar bear liver (don’t do this).
don’t do this
i don’t think anyone was planning to travel to the artic circle to hunt a polar bear, and eat the liver, after reading the first half of your comment
Speak for yourself! I was half-way out the door with my snow boots and plane tickets in hand.
Oh yeah? Prove it
I’ve seen rich people do worse.
With some fava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti
happy Hannibal noises
Blended
Liver shake! Liver shake! Liver shake!
yeah but I know my diet is shit and I’m definitely not going to eat those things daily, so I think a multivitamin helps me at that point lol
You definitely can’t eat a single egg daily? It takes 5 minutes maybe to cook and eat a single egg, unless you have an allergy to eggs it’s pretty hard to say you can’t do it
Just wanna scoot in here and mention that yes, it can be very difficult for some people to do very mundane tasks, such as cooking an egg. Trust me, I know how depression fucks with your system and it indeed sometimes makes you incapable of spending five minutes on boiling an egg :(
You don’t have to boil it and wait for that, put a pan over heat and crack an egg into it. If depression stops you from doing that then your depression will starve you
Yes, depression can starve you. When I was depressed I couldn’t keep pans clean, never mind crack an egg and stand by the stove whilst it cooked.
People who haven’t been through it don’t seem to understand it. When my depression was really bad I lost 60 lbs in a few months and couldn’t gain any back for 2 years. Even grabbing a premade salad out of the fridge or putting a microwave meal in the microwave was too much work.
Yeah it’s maybe hard to imagine what it feels like if you don’t know. I couldn’t brush my hair for weeks at a time, it was so much effort.
As a side note, it feels weird to reflect on that time now, like looking at a different person. If anyone suffering with depression is reading this now, just know that it can pass.
You can hard boil a bunch of eggs at once, then keep them in the fridge for a daily pick me up
An egg a day instead of a multi-vitamin? And then you get high cholesterol.
I’d be lying if I said I put that much effort in daily
My dude you heat a pan and crack an egg, it’s the easiest way to feed yourself there is. Even getting fast food is more effort unless you doordash every single meal, I fear for your wallet if so
I always take Vitamin D in November/ December because I don’t get enough sunlight.
If I don’t I get very tired and depressed.
Just don’t take a lot or you can royally fuck up your blood calcium levels.
You’re supposed to take vitamin D and K together for this reason. They make combo pills.
My sister, who did her master’s in nutrition or some related field, says multivitamins are a waste of money. She suggests getting bloodwork and seeing if you’re deficient in anything. And if you’re deficient, it’s better to change your diet than buy multivitamins (if possible).
With that being said, I still take a multivitamin…
Vitamin D super dose works really well, as food high in vitamin D is already a big part of most people’s diets (fish, milk, cheese, eggs, beef livers).
Personally I have always taken a multivitamin/mineral and my labs have been good except for occasional low iron because periods. Now that I’m old (and yeeted the uterus) my iron was fine until I had bad hemorrhoid bleeding. So I got that taken care of, and my ass doc prescribed daily Metamucil to keep it from recurring.
I like the OneaDay Petites because it’s easier to swallow 2 of those (that’s the dose, because petites) than one of the regular horse pills. Gummy vitamins do not have iron or other minerals, btw.
I don’t think it’s necessary to take any super-supplement, just enough to keep me at the RDA once I add in my food. If your diet is bad, fiber might be missing as well, so consider Metamucil for both your ass and your heart.
Fibre is important. You can get many high fibre foods these days, but they aren’t necessarily what you’d think is high in dietary fibre. Pears are awesome.
I think multi-vitamins are more important as you get older. Your body simply doesn’t absorb as much of the vitamins in food as it does when you’re younger. So all that advice “Just eat a healthy diet” isn’t quite as true.
Yes, they do. They improve the profits of some companies.
It’s generally not micronutrients like vitamins that are problematic for people with bad diets, it’s macronutrients that cause problems, and those can’t be fixed with supplements.
It’s pretty unlikely you’re going to notice much of anything from taking multivitamins, most likely you’re going to be paying a bunch to be pissing it right back out, but if you can trivially afford it then just buy a small pack and see if taking it makes you feel better.
Do buy the cheapest most generic one though, no reason to pay extra for fancy packaging.
Basically, it could prevent vitamin deficiency. But in developed countries, vitamin deficiency is pretty rare, and many forms take years of constant deficiency to really show up.
Basically, it probably won’t hurt. The research is very vague about it because we generally don’t wait until someone actually gets a vitamin deficiency disease before correcting it. Nor can we deliberately starve someone of a vitamin for years and watch the effects. Any subtle effect is often masked by larger issues like genetics, diet, exercise, etc.
But in developed countries, vitamin deficiency is pretty rare, and many forms take years of constant deficiency to really show up.
Depends. Some people (myself included) simply don’t absorb vitamin D as easily as others. I had my vit D tested and it was so low that they couldn’t accurately give a result. Had to take a supplement once a week for 8 weeks which contained about 300 times the amount which is in a normal daily supplement, which I now take daily.
Posted this above, but reposting here since it’s relevant to your comment:
Vitamin D deficiency was also shown to be a co-morbidity with COVID. So to answer the question “do multivitamins do anything?” I’d say they could potentially have saved your life and you might not have noticed.
Before COVID, my wife nagged me into establishing a primary care physician since I hadn’t gone in a while. So I did, they did a blood test, and showed that I was vitamin D deficient. I took some prescription vitamin D for like a week then my doctor told me to start taking a multivitamin. When they later announced it being a co-morbidity, I felt like I dodged a bullet.
I find they take the edge off my food cravings. But if you have a balanced diet with no natural deficiencies then you’re probably fine.
Yeah I find that a couple of things about my mood, metabolism, and energy level are slightly better on a week when I am taking my vitamins than on a week where I didn’t. It could all be about one specific nutrient that my diet is poor at delivering to me, but I am not aware of because I’m lazy, not very educated and focused on other things. As long as they don’t harm me, I’m content to piss 99% of them out as long as the other 1% is valuable. Anyway all my urine goes into my compost pile so it’s just micronutrients for my garden.
Not usually, but if you think you might be vitamin deficient because of disease or eating habits, then they can actually be useful. Reminds me of this video, for whom they would certainly have been useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VINtwoyaF_8
TL;DW: Eat crap, get sick.
Ideally you’d want to get tested for deficiencies and/or plug your meals into something like MacroFactor or Chronometer for a few weeks to see if you’re over/under in anything. Then just take those vitamins individually (OR, even better, adjust your diet).
I get taking a multi as an insurance policy, but there some vitamins or minerals that you can get in excess or that don’t really help.
If you’re wondering if they might help you live longer, the answer seems to be no:
https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)05424-2/fulltext
Conclusion: Multivitamin-multimineral treatment has no effect on mortality risk.
