Are vitamins a waste of money?

[acezz4e_tish]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

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]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

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]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

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]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

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

[boefixepa]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

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.

[bama20]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

try them for about a month and see if you can tell a difference in the way that you feel. but, during that month, try to do the same thing you did while taking and not taking the vitamins. that is the best way to see if they will make a difference in your body.

[asha]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

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

this is 100% incorrect. The oxalates and phytates in vegetables bind the calcium and make it very poorly absorbed. Dairy calcium is extremely well absorbed because of the phosphate and other minerals in it that aid absorption. I think its really impt not to give uninformed medical advice on the internet.

Vitamins are important if there is a deficiency. Iron is a mineral but impt to replace if a deficiency but excess iron can mediate free-radical oxidative damage and be bad for you. The jury is out on whether big doses of vitamins are good for you but it seems not.
I take them anyway because of the anti-oxidant effect, more than anything.

[Broken Arrow]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

My personal anecdotal experience has been that taking them indeed gives me an energy boost. This is especially true when my recent food intake has been poor. That's when I do take one as a supplement. I think that averages out to about 2 or 3 times a week.

[shengmei]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

You can always get a pill splitter and cut them in half. You don't need a whole vitamin a day. Half would be sufficient.

Also, check your local health food store. Many of them have baskets of free samples. My hubby gets mad at me because I always get one of everything everytime I go there. LOL.

[tgavin71]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

I too notice a difference if I forget my multi-vitamin. May be just the placebo effect I don't know. I buy mine at Aldi for $3.50. The kids I buy for $13. Aldi doesn't have kids vitamins.
My daughter doesn't eat vegies and hardly any fruit. So they are good for her.

[Roupey03]

Re: Are vitamins a waste of money?

I have always been told by my doctors to take a multi-vitamin. So if spending the extra money on a vitamin will help me with my health even if it is something small I am all for it.

[rizzmo]

Vitamins are a waste of money! I have been unable to find any non-bias, properly conducted studies that have shown that a healthy person benefits at all from taking vitamins ... there are actually a few studies that show, inconclusively, taking vitamins may undermine health. The only people who stand to benefit from vitamins are people who have a medical condition that either blocks absorption or depletes their body of specific vitamins and minerals. The only other exception, maybe a person suffering from bad nutritional habits (think very unbalanced diet) or malnutrition, but even then vitamins will only increase health to the point of being at the same level of health they would be at had they eaten a balanced diet in the first place. I have a few friends who believe taking vitamins increases their immune system, wards off illness, and makes them some how better, health wise, than other people. In reality it seems to add between $15 - $100 to their monthly bills. Also, vitamins and supplements are the hot new product pushed by many of the MLM scams, err I mean legitimate companies.

[webcontacts00]

Not all vitamins work. And not all are good. But I have seen iron supplement working. I have also seen Zinc supplement increasing immune power of the body. Husband had wart. Nothing helped. Many treatments. Finally he took zinc supplement for a month and wart it gone. Before he took he tried all sorts of treatment for almost 5 years. It kept on coming back.

[Johansen8]

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.

Precisely! ferrous sulfate has been helpful in improving my iron count and I am looking and feeling better now I heard iron and vitamin c should go together though

[cschin4]

Many of these supplement companies are NOT regulated. How do you even know what is in much of this stuff? Could be rat poison for all we know. We now see that China and many other countries and unscrupulous manufacturerers are not below putting anything and everything into this stuff just to make a buck. So, I for one am not going to take any supplements or spend on them. I can see taking a multivitamin made by a reputable company. But, I have friends that take all kinds of expensive shakes, supplements, etc. They are not any healthier than we are who don't.