Multivitamins- C or D?

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for me, they're very important. i'm just about to complete my next online order and have decided to stock up on 2 or 3 months supply, haven't decided yet(66 or 96 bucks). if i carry on for a year, it will be $380 or so, but i think it's well worth it to buy the quality product even if it might dig into my student budget a little. while taking them this winter, i have yet to actually get sick which is a minor miracle for me.

as i'm finding out, practically nobody i know takes them. most college friends of mine think this extra expense is frivolous, but then again, some of them survive on ramen noodles, doritos, and an apple a week.

who else takes them?

― Leese, Monday, 8 December 2003 03:12 (twenty-two years ago)

vitamins are far more effective if you get them through the actual, y'know, foods from which they are derived

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 8 December 2003 03:15 (twenty-two years ago)

yuh, but there are also spotty days when you slip up and don't get the vitamins you need from whole foods, right? sure, my diet is not too bad, but i know that most of the food in american supermarkets is not up to snuff and that includes most of the crap fruits and vegetables in the produce section.
sure, it's more effective to get vitamins from actual FOOD, but how realistic is that?

― Leese, Monday, 8 December 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

sure, it's more effective to get vitamins from actual FOOD [only], but how realistic is that?

to add, yeah, most of the stuff in supermarkets now is crap, i.e. genetically modified and full of preservatives and shit, so supplementation is not a bad idea.

― leese, Monday, 8 December 2003 03:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not going to deny anything you said, but I'll bet you live near a farmers market - food that's good for you and may well be cheaper than a supermarket.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 8 December 2003 03:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, I cant see how food being from a supermarket makes it any less loaded with essential vitamins and minerals if you're eating fresh fruit n veg (n meats if not veggo).

I'd much rather get my supplemebts from a huge plateful of brocoli, garlic, carrots and a nice steak than from a pill. If you want to argue foods are no good due to GMs or preservatives then vitamins are no better. FOr starters, you dont know whats in them (cf the company here in Aus who had all their shit recalled recently cos some of it was found to have no active ingredient, or some such).

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 8 December 2003 03:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry that came out garbled. I'm extremely stressed and exhausted and very addled in the brain today :(

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 8 December 2003 03:52 (twenty-two years ago)

mostly organic from the co-op downtown. yuh, i do eat fresh food, and happen to not just swallow pills. i also allow myself to eat a lot of fatty, starchy foods all of the time, but in moderation, of course. i am also seriosly considering a subscription to this organic farm's service when i move to sf. my parents subscribe to it here in northern california and basically this farm delivers boxes full of organic produce to a place near your home. it's reasonably cheap. http://www.terrafirmafarm.com/

http://supernutritionusa.com/womens.blend.html
and that's the multivitamin i take. i trust the berkeley, family company that makes them.

― leese, Monday, 8 December 2003 04:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I prefer trying to get my vitamins through real food. But on the days when I don't manage to ingest any vegetables or the like, it's nice to have a multivitamin as backup. I don't take anything that is stronger than than 100% RDA though. Some of those mega-multivitamins give me a headache.

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 8 December 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I take food-based multivitamins every day, and have done so for over ten years. It's the one consistantly good thing I do for myself (I also eat relatively well.) I can feel the difference in vitality if by chance I run out or forget to take them.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 8 December 2003 07:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Hasn't it been shown that vitamins in pill form don't get properly absorbed by the body? and that you have to drink that nasty liquid vitamin stuff instead?

― oops (Oops), Monday, 8 December 2003 07:40 (twenty-two years ago)

that's what that dude on the infomercial says so it must be true

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Monday, 8 December 2003 08:18 (twenty-two years ago)

*polite applause*

― oops (Oops), Monday, 8 December 2003 08:26 (twenty-two years ago)

money down the toilet, literally.

― Aaron A., Monday, 8 December 2003 08:33 (twenty-two years ago)

My mother insists that I don't eat healthily enough, and every time she visits (or I visit her) she gives me a bottle of multivitamin pills. I now have about 3 years' supply in the kitchen cupboard.

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:28 (twenty-two years ago)

One of the more subtle and interesting spam threads, I'll give you that.

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Hi Leese, I like your handle, it has the proper amount of e's.

Pills are generally harder for the body to absorb, plus there are certain nutrients that the body regulates with extreme prejudice (e.g. iron) and that if you intake more than what you need it just gets peed out. It's more effective and not to mention CHEAPER to eat square every day. You said you live in the Bay Area; there are abundant places to get fresh stuff.

The "feeling good because I take them" may just be a placebo effect.

All that said, I've been trying to increase my weight & muscle mass, so I'm taking some supplements from Trader Joe's.

― Leee Trevino (Leee), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 01:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Leee,

I may have something that you're looking for. Please contact me.

Vic

― vic conte (gygax!), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey Vic. I'll have what Barry's having.

― Leee Trevino (Leee), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 06:03 (twenty-two years ago)

i take them as well as omega 3.

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I have some Vit C tablets, and they do the trick nice. I defo feel better after munching on one a day.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

i take a whole bunch of supplements - cod liver oil because somehow it seems less cruel then eating the whole fish (yeah, yeah, i know..); vitamin b (very good for your nerves - and a lot of people don't absorb it very well at all - the more expensive tablets have a huge amount more than the rda to make up for the fact that you actually absorb something like five per cent of it); gingko biloba (for circulation problems - and it has helped) and was taking calcium tablets but wasn't getting much from them so have given up.

yes, its a lazy way to back up your diet. a brief and half-assed attempt to go completely veggie (again) turned out to be something of a disaster, health-wise and a few of the things above were necessary.

supplements bring their own problems, though. turns out if you're taking cod liver oil that can be very BAD too, because a lot of it comes from the fish in the north sea and, basically, if you're not getting the filtered stuff you're ingesting all the crap that stayed in the fish from the pollution, which is being concentrated as it passes up the food chain.

and the nasty liquid stuff works better, too, with most supplements - and if herbal supplements the whole plant extract works better than something that's just made from the leaf.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

what's the scoop on glucosamine/chondroitin supplements? i've been thinking of trying this for my arthritis but it's damn expensive. is it worth the cost?

― president carter loves repetition (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 08:12 (twenty years ago)

I dislocated my ankle a couple of years ago and despite some intensive physiotherapy at the time, I had significant residual pain for a long time. I started taking glucosamine, and it made a huge difference - the aches and pains disappeared within about a week. I'm not one for taking vitamin/mineral supplements really, but I was genuinely surprised at how effective the glucosamine was for me. I know it's expensive, but I'm sure you can shop around (I bought mine from a half-price sale at a well known high street health store in the UK).

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 08:30 (twenty years ago)

i have been doing some shopping around actually -- trader joe's sells them at a reasonable price, all things being relative.

― president carter loves repetition (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 08:33 (twenty years ago)

i'm curious how vegetarians feel about these supplements since they're extracted from animal cartilage.

― president carter loves repetition (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 08:48 (twenty years ago)

shark cartilage!

― Ô¿Ô (eman), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 11:30 (twenty years ago)

I take iron pills. I don't know if my iron intake is too low, or folic acids or vitamin C which prevents me from absorbing iron in the necessary amount. But safe to say that if I wouldn't take my iron pills, I'd have iron defiency. I was near anemic about three years ago and it wasn't much fun. Now that I'm pregnant it's even more important. Other than that, I don't think I need vitamin suppliments, I think it's just overly expensive and not as necessary as people think it is. Actually it can be quite dangerous to some vitamins too much.

― nathalie's body's designed for two (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 11:35 (twenty years ago)

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