Do vitamin supplements work for you?

Post Reply New Topic

I don't think vitamin supplements work for me. Of course, I have a crazy sleep schedule, a poor diet, and an abysmal workout routine.

With very few exceptions, Vitamin supplements do exactly what they are designed to do -- transfer the money of those who buy them into the pockets of those who sell them.

One exception would be supplements for vegetarians who are less likely to get enough vitamins by rejecting meat. That is especially true for things like Vitamin B12 that is not found in a normal vegetarian diet.

Another exception would be Vitamin C for those of us who do not get enough sunlight during the middle of the day.

And folic acid for expectant mothers to help reduce the chances of the baby having neural tube defects.

I take the opposite position, but all supplements are intended to do is give you what you are not getting in your diet.

There are legitimate health issues that can be the product of malnourishment...especially of trace minerals your body needs but likely does not get.

Just my opinion, It's better to just eat healthy and exercise 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes a day, even if it's just walking. Vitamins aren't supposed to replace healthy habits. BUT it doesn't hurt to take them, especially if you're on a limited diet where you might not be getting all your vitamins and minerals in your food.

I personally don't see or feel a change in myself when taking vitamins, but I know some people do, it may be more of a placebo effect though.

I was told by my doctor to take vitamin D and when I started taking it, I felt better in general, but the huge difference was that my period became regular. It had never been regular before so I was so surprised.

I also take vitamin Bs which make my skin a lot better. I don't feel much difference from vitamin C or E.

I feel like vegetables in the US don't have as much nutrients as they supposed to have.

I don't usually take any vitamin supplements but there is one exception - Vitamin C. I am quite addicted to it.
Well... nothing happens when I don't take it (and most of time I just don't) but once I see it I eat it like a candy. It's just so tasty for me, so sour. When I buy it I eat like 10-20 pills a day (100-200mg each...) so you can say I am taking too much of them. But the next day I am 100% healthy even if I bought them because felt like I am getting a cold so I guess they work. I even read somewhere that a huge amount of VitC (about 1g) can really prevent a sickness if taken fast enough so it isn't just my imagination.
They also tend to make my period cycle longer (to 34 days instead of normal 29 days) and the blooding is shorter (4 days instead of 6) if I take them in 2nd half of the cycle so I also eat it when I want to move/shorten my period.
Oh, and a pill of VitC can prevent me from car sickness when I already feel dizzy. But it might be just the taste. Sour is something my stomach likes.

This is a global issue.

We're raising crops in overworked fields. We add only the most essential nutrients to the soil to ensure production levels, but the nutrient value of the foods themselves is very poor.

We need minerals more than we need vitamins, because the minerals help make the vitamins work properly. Plants don't produce minerals...they extract them from the soil they were grown in. Depleted soil = depleted nutrients.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7dkj0BncwU
What this guy said

I get most of the stuff I need from eggs, fruits, and some vegetables, but I do take supplements.

Around here, as a pregnant woman, you get usually recommended during pregnancy a medication that has B12, iron, magnesium, omega and fol acid in it. I have nothing to compare to, but at least I have not suffered any of that mystical food-cravings during my whole pregnancy. So no need, to send my partner at three in the morning to the shop for a certain food. ^^

Yes, I eat very little meat and do take B supplements for this. I'll have chicken breasts or fish once or twice a week, but I don't feel that's enough and don't count things like pepperoni on pizzas.

I should learn to proofread better. That should have been:

Plenty of people who eat meat have vitamin B12 deficiency.
Either exclusively or along with other vitamin deficiencies...
It's not like meat is a bountiful store of assorted vitamins and minerals, after all...

I've never knowingly had trouble with vitamin deficiency.

I've found vitamin D3 to be miraculous in getting rid of coughs and colds. It would take me weeks to get rid of a cough before, for instance. I take a very high dose of vitamin D3 for 3-4 days and it's gone.

You'll find plenty of it in egg yolks. If you're a vegan, it might be a bit more difficult to get what you need cheaply, though...

afaik the B content of eggs really depends on where you live and what they're being fed. i've heard that some egg companies feed their chickens synthetic vitamins in their food rather than feed them fresh or semi-roted vegetable mater (and bugs?) that they convert into b12. (supposedly the b12 goes down when you cook them too.)

for instance, check out this chart on vitamin k and eggs, another good reason to eat them still, it's depressing how much worse the US eggs are, i assume due to factory farming methods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K#Vitamin_K2

i find vitamin k from fermented vegetable or animal sources helpful, but i know i have absorption problems from being given antibiotics as a baby.

i also take cod liver oil (mostly vitamin D some A), beef liver powder (vitamin A, b12, some other Bs) + fish oil. i notice a benefit. also, it's stuff that i would probably eat as whole foods anyway if it was easy to obtain legit sources that were tested for heavy metal and other contamination and weren't super expensive.

my family background is that a lot of them lived near the water and i theorize that they never needed to be very good an synthesizing some vitamins in their bodies, like carotene to A for instance because they got them from food sources.

the placebo effect is interesting, i suspect it could be a case of "tricking" people into doing a small amount of meditation. when they ask people how they're feeling they take on a small amount of mindfulness practice.