Are vitamins a waste of money?

[marla]

I've always taken my daily vitamins, but I have a friend that says that there is no proof that vitamins help. Am I just wasting money buying them?

[abowers]

I don't think so. I've had low iron before (I found this out while donating blood) Just adding a once - a - day women's vitamin (including iron), in addition to the iron I already get from food, has helped me to maintain higher iron levels.

Not to mention I have no desire for osteoperosis, so I drink lots of milk and the multi vitamin also gives me more calcium.

[abowers]

PS,
I also work at a preschool. My doctor suggested that I buy some Vitamin C tablets in addition to my multivitamin to help keep me from getting sick from the little boogers.

[cercis]

They don't work as well as natural forms of the vitamins and minerals. Your body does not assimilate them as well as vitamins and minerals from food sources.

However, sometimes it can be extremely expensive to buy all the necessary foods (depends on season and availability).

That's one reason I like fitday.com. It allows me to check out my diet and see if there are any gaps and make a choice how to fill those.

[cercis]

Originally Posted by abowers

Not to mention I have no desire for osteoperosis, so I drink lots of milk and the multi vitamin also gives me more calcium.

You should look to vegetable sources of calcium. Your body absorbs it better than dairy calcium.

[cicy33]

I personally have always felt that as long as you eat a balanced diet you don't need vitamins. I personally am anemic all the time but allergic to iron pills, go figure! So I try to get my iron from food. My daughter was told at her last check up she is seriously low on pottassium (sp) and so we are pushing banannas (sp) on her. Lordy, I can't spell today. Most vitamins make me sick to my stomach.

[Fern]

I have spent an enormous amount of money over many years on vitamins. Have they helped? There's really no way of knowing. But I don't believe that modern agricultural practrices ensure you'll get the right nutrition from fresh produce for example, which sits around during transit from CA or other points to the east coast.

[Ima saver]

I have always been a strange eater, just like a little kid, but never outgrew it. I don't eat any fruits or vegetables and never had a salad in my life. I take a few vitamins and have hardly ever been sick in my life.

[mkdotson]

I do not believe they are a waste. I am into Natural/Alternative medicine.

I used to not believe into until a sickness developed that nothing medical science done worked, infact many times got worse.

I would not buy anything but from a Natural Health store (NOT GNC, Walmart etc.)

Vitamin shopp has a awesome selection of vitamins, and after 3 mths of a GOOD vitamin you should be able to tell a difference. I can tell in the way I feel (of course I sleep at least 8hrs too) my hair, nails and skin.

Melanie

[acezz4e_tish]

i believe they are worth it, if you go for what you need. i have found gnc as a good help in that dept. I told them my iron tests run on the high side of normal before i even eat, average of 14.6, the norm is 10-14. it was 16 when i was preggy. In case someone is wondering, thats when they poke ur finger and test a drop of blood. my kids all run in the 11 percent area, like .2 or .5 on any given day. So i look for vitamins for them with the least amount of iron in them so they wont get a stomach ache, cause i got them when i took iron sups. gnc has a gold bottle of thier own, they are gel tabs like vitamin e's are. you can take one or two a day, they have no iron, and higher quanity of biotin, which is essential for healthy hair, skin,eyes and nails, hair and nails most especially. I notice having good quality of the b complex vitamins also, you dont get bugged by misquitos either. So research it by your diet as someone else suggested. i lost my gall bladder and gastritis comes with that, it builds pressure in my chest, like id have a heart attack, and im alergic to oranges, so i need more antioxidents that you get from ruffage and the quality of oranges too. I get like a whole mouth full of canker soars from one small glass of orange juice and my skin breaks out in a red rash all over if it gets on my skin. apple juice and juicy juice berry is about all i can drink of juices, and i dont eat much fruit. i won a watermelon eating contest long ago and ever since, uggggggh near fruits.lol other then bananas. so theres lots of things i love that i cant eat now, not that i wouldnt if i could, i love brussel sprouts even, and bean sprouts in my salad. only things i can think of i dont like are beets, asparagus,radishes and rhubarb. Alot of things put me in sever pain if i eat it, and thats not the kind of pain you gain from.lol

[Bluezy]

I take them religiously every day. I don't have the time to eat correctly, so a time-released vitamin is essential.

Starting with pre-natals, I've continued the regime over the last few years and can tell a difference when I miss a day.

[Lady J]

I had surgery recently and post operation I never took vitamins. After surgey, I have to take them and I notice the difference. I have more energy.

[PrincessPerky]

They arn't perfect, prolly half what they claim, but halof is better than none.

Just don't use them to skip the fruits and veggies, foods you already eat (well should eat!)

[pennywise]

In the fall semester in my pathophysiology class my instructor had us do alot of reading on vitamins and antioxidants. At the time I was sick (major stress for 6 years) and thought I was going to die (seriously, I was telling my daughter I was dying, I could feel it) - read up on stress. I had pain, too. I read in the readings that vitamins are dosed on healthy average people. I thought I am not healthy and I am overweight (not obese yet, and hope never). I doubled my vitamin. In two days the pain stopped. I know take 2 multivitamins with minerals, one b Complex, one b12 (most women are deficient), and two co-enzyme Q10. I feel great! Vitamins are worth it, we cannot get the foods (healthy foods) we need. So many of the foods are contaminated with chemicals, and I eat organic when we get it, but question the purity here too. Antioxidants are important but there is much caution in the literature about over doing them. Please search the internet and look for medical information, not from people who are selling. Look at the research. With antioxidants there is reperfusion injuries and damage that occurs as a result of the lack of oxidation. Anyhow, I am very satisfied and will stick with my regime. Pennywise, the nurse practitioner.

[JBinKC]

I think supplements are much cheaper preventative than doing nothing and eventually facing a medical problem later on. Most foods today contain fewer vitamins and minerals than they did 30 years ago. I religiously take 1/2 a mulitvitamin, 500 mg of vitamin C, 6mg DHEA, 3 capsules of fish oil , yogurt cultures, and a glucosamine MSM and chondroitin combination daily and try to eat a balanced diet.

[acezz4e_tish]

did u know that taking half of a pill is not reccommended? your not insured what ingrediants are in the half, vs the whole, id switch to a multi that is a take 2 a day, then only take one. that is what i do. sometimes i throw one in my bath. its a liquid gel by gnc, it says take one or two daily. u should look in thier store, and tell them what ur looking for, i did and it turned out gr8. i have long hair too, and it takes alot of maintenance and i like how the one im taking gnc gold label, no iron in it, it has double the standard biotin that others have. Just a suggestion, but the half pill i seen that on tv, i think the same night they said coffee blocks diabetes setting in. check em out online at least, my bottle is expensive, but i get second one half off. so for 20 bucks i get two bottles. 100 capsules each.

[pyotr]

Your question is too broad. Not all vitamins (and trace minerals) are the same and there are numerous vitamins and minerals we need. You don't need over-dosing of vitamins by supplements if you eat a healthy diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, a variety of whole-grains, dairy or meat/fish/poultry. Many vitamins are absolutely required for you to live and function. Many of these vitamins are found in your typical food items.

For instance You get plenty of cyanocobalamin (B12) if you eat meat/dairy but get almost none if you are a total vegetarian - you will develop neurological problems and eventually die from it unless you take injection of B12. Another example Vitamin C is found plentifully in many foods we eat but many small poorly done studies suggested it could help fight infections, improve asthma, etc. Larger trials have shown that vitamin C in higher doesn't make a difference. Linus Pauling was getting senile when he started taking megadoses and he died anyway soon afterwards from prostate cancer.

You don't need to spend money to buy a big jug of multivitamins because you're basically spending money to produce expensive urine (something like >99% of these vitamins are urinated out un-incorporated). Many OTC vitamins are deadly if taken in large doses. Especially avoid oversupplementing yourself with the fat-soluble ones (A,D,E,K). VitA overdoses will kill you, especially kids. vitD ODs will give you calcinosis and a chain of syndromes which could kill you. VitE ODs are known to cause strokes (bleeding), VitK ODs will cause strokes (ischemic kind) and blood clots. Vit C ODs will give you kidney stones. Too much calcium will lock up your bowels and can cause all manner of other problems. Many B vitamins can wreak havoc with your nervous system at the neuronal level. All supplemental vitamins have the potential to kill off your liver from idiosyncratic toxic reactions at the level of the hepatic cells.

Short lesson: don't waste your money on supplemental vitamins unless specifically recommended by your doctor (example, folate for pregnant women so your fetus will be less likely to develop neural cord developmental problems, B1 taken while on therapy from meds that can injure periperal nerves, Vit C taken with iron if you're anemic to help in the absorption of the iron, etc.)

[acezz4e_tish]

actually too much vit c gives you the poops. and eating to much of it or drinking to much juice can give you piariah.

[pyotr]

Here's an article from CNN re-iterating the important points about vitamins - click on story link HERE

[boefixepa]

It's a balance. I take a mutil-vitamin that is deisgned to be taken 3 times a day with meals. Do be aware that if you take a mutlivitim at a give time, your body can only absorb so much so fast. To take alot a once simply means you have expensive pee....

Be healthy...due your homework...know what you are buying...not all vitamins are created equal.