Are multi-vitamins beneficial, or just compeling?

My doctor (and another one also) both told me that most vitamin supplements on the market today are essentially useless. This is because most are sold " isolated" rather than from whole food sources. The body cannot readily use vitamins w/o the enzymes from food they come from to break them down. My recommendation is if you're going to take a vitamin (to make sure you dont lack in one nutrient or something) take a multivitamin that is made from a whole food substance. A good one is ..Nature's Plus Brand vitamins or Garden of Life's "Living Multi". I personally have been taking the former for several weeks now and have been feeling significantly better and increase in my energy level. (and for me, thats a miracle).

Also, several lines come with an energy complex so be 'ware of the that when buying and also, to note, B vitamins give you energy. This is important because when taking them late in the day, you may want to rethink or you may not be able to sleep at night. :) I can attest to that!

Greetings,

There is no proven evidence that taking any vitamin or mineral in high concentrations is of benefit. Almost every vitamin and mineral taking at too high a level can cause one problem or antoher. That said multi-vitamins are beneficial. This is because not everyone has a well-balanced diet and therefore vitamins can help some Americans on some days. The quantity of vitamins and minerals in a vitamin is well below that which is harmful. Omega-3 is good for you. People get plenty of Omega-6 but Omega-3 is commonly lost during food processing so many people benefit from a suppliment. If you have a diet high in fresh fish or other sources of Omega-3 anyway you might not realize as much or any benefit from a suppliment. The most dangerous part of taking a multivitamin is the false sense of security it can give a person making them think that it is then OK to eat a diet which is not well balanced with proper exercise and rest.

Unless you're a strict vegan, there's really no need for vitamin supplements for the vast majority, but they're cheap insurance. Many of them also contain iron, which should generally be avoided in men.

Omega-3's and most other supplements fall into the great unknown. What is known is that Arctic tribes have huge amounts of fat in their diets but their rate of heart disease isn't as high as you'd expect with that diet. It is supposed that this phenomenon is not simply genetic but probably due to the amount of fish in their diet, which is also very high. To jump from that to omega-3 supplements is a large leap of faith, but it doesn't seem to do any harm, so it isn't unreasonable. On the other hand, medicine is chock-full of associations that make sense, and the biochemistry behind them makes sense, but they don't work out. Omega-3's could be in that category, and only time and further study will tell.

The vast majority of supplement sales, though, are advertised like this: A requirement for a minimum amount of a substance is needed, and its needs are fairly well understood. The sales rely on the false assumption that if some is good, more must be better. The sales pitches discuss things at the cellular level or expand from deficiency states, and don't correlate to real life situations.

With modern Western diets, it is almost inconceivable that any American would have any type of vitamin or mineral deficits that require supplementation. The only exception would be strict vegetarians, who may benefit from iron supplementation.

Go back 70-80 years, and you will see that the average height of Americans was shorter, reflecting poorer diet and possibly deficits in some nutrients. Back then, it may have been helpful to have vitamin supplementation, but today, probably not.

The only exceptions would be those people with a known metabolic problem that prevents them from making or using a particular nutrient. For example, some people with Crohn's disease are unable to absorb enough vitamin B-12 from their food, so they do benefit (and in some cases require) B-12 supplementation.

Certainly there is almost no evidence to support vitamin and mineral megadosing (more than the recommended daily amount). This is common practice with today's society's delusion of "more is better." Luckily, it is probably harmless with water soluble vitamins like vitamin C, but with fat-soluble vitamins (like most of them), it may not be safe, and with some (like vitamin A), it is known to be harmful.

Best advice is to avoid any type of supplementation unless it is recommended by your doctor. In general, I would expect your doctor will almost never do so except in some rare circumstances.

Stories from your friends (or TV commercials) to the effect of "it worked great for me" are probably not good enough evidence to screw around with your body.

There are risks to taking a daily multi-diet while you're taking better than one variety, considering which you may finally end up getting better than the cautioned volume of specific supplementations, and a few supplementations would be poisonous in too intense of doses. diet supplementations are purely advantageous while you're unfavourable to start with. in any different case, you're purely throwing away your funds, as a results of fact your physique is purely going to excrete them. So in case you have a unfavourable weight-help plan, such as you do no longer consume alot of vegetables and consume rapid nutrients alot like me, definite, take diet supplementations. yet once you consume very healthful, you're probably dropping a while with maximum diet supplementations. so a methods as issues like Omega-3, while you're no longer eating meals that incorporate them and you sense they could be advantageous to you, then definite, bypass forward and take them.

Jay W and malevolentbutticklish are correct. They are merely compelling in no way very beneficial. They can cause certain problems when taking in a substantial dose. Check with your doctor before taking any pill.

a daily multi vitamin is good for you, because everything produced now days is garbage and don't have a good daily value of vitamins and nutrients.

They are not very necessary unless you aren't eating correctly or are sick. When you eat right and eat the right foods you don't need multivitamins.

As long as you are taking them as directed and not overdosing, they are not harmful.

take every second day

allow your body the ability to get it from food