mens multivitamin

[Don Carlos]

+1 on the rec for not splurging on the expensive stuff

Despite what marketing and packaging will claim, pretty much all multivitamins will do the same job for you. All that matters is whether you feel like paying $5 or $50 per bottle.

 

[Kerrick]

I guess the one caveat to that might be dosing on vitamins which compete for absorption, but I'm not certain if that's even an issue providing someone isn't megadosing on something specific (Vit. C to name a popular one)

 

[patrickBOOTH]

This woman that I work with is a vitamin nut. She has her desk drawers filled with them and yells at me for taking a centrum. She prints out lists of these different supplements for me to take and try. I can't find any definitive proof that the cheap, or expensive vitamins really do anything at all so I am not going to bother with the expensive stuff. I just figure it can't hurt to pop a centrum daily.

 

[Connemara]

My chiropractor, who is rather odd, claims that the mass-market multivitamins don't actually have any vitamins in them. He says they're made from waste and byproducts harvested from garbage dumps.

 

[HgaleK]

Originally Posted by patrickBOOTH

This woman that I work with is a vitamin nut. She has her desk drawers filled with them and yells at me for taking a centrum. She prints out lists of these different supplements for me to take and try. I can't find any definitive proof that the cheap, or expensive vitamins really do anything at all so I am not going to bother with the expensive stuff. I just figure it can't hurt to pop a centrum daily.
It doesn't hurt, but it probably won't do much either. Take the magnesium in it for instance. It's 50mgs of magnesium by way of magnesium oxide, which is the least bioavailable form of magnesium that I know of. You aren't going to be getting much of that magnesium. It's the same way for a lot of the others. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/405307/Multivitamin-Guide

 

[syracuse1976]

Originally Posted by Don Carlos

+1 on the rec for not splurging on the expensive stuff

Despite what marketing and packaging will claim, pretty much all multivitamins will do the same job for you. All that matters is whether you feel like paying $5 or $50 per bottle.

Right on. Buy an inexpensive and USP-verified men's multi and take consistently with plenty of water.

 

[syracuse1976]

Originally Posted by Connemara

My chiropractor, who is rather odd, claims that the mass-market multivitamins don't actually have any vitamins in them. He says they're made from waste and byproducts harvested from garbage dumps.

Unfortunately, it is common for some chiropractors to claim just about anysupplements are junk, but this is never backed by anything legitimate. These are the same providers who also often believe many, if not most, health problems are caused by bogus "subluxations" of the spine.

To the the best of my knowledge, USP-certified supplements are the gold standard.

 

[alex99]

I don't take any multivitamin anymore, just fish oil. I stopped after reading about the link between multivitamins and prostate cancer (the main culprit seems to be folic acid). I asked my doctor if he took a vitamin and he literally said "I take vitamins every day, they're called vegetables. Don't take pills, they're all a scam."

See this article on the reevaluation of "it may not help but doesn't hurt"

http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_...nd-cancer-risk

If your doctor finds that you have an actual vitamin deficiency, then you may need a specific supplement. If you don't live where there is a lot of sun or get much exposure, then you may need Vitamin D. Otherwise I would avoid and concentrate on a healthy diet.

 

[HgaleK]

Originally Posted by alex99

I don't take any multivitamin anymore, just fish oil. I stopped after reading about the link between multivitamins and prostate cancer (the main culprit seems to be folic acid). I asked my doctor if he took a vitamin and he literally said "I take vitamins every day, they're called vegetables. Don't take pills, they're all a scam." See this article on the reevaluation of "it may not help but doesn't hurt" http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_...nd-cancer-risk If your doctor finds that you have an actual vitamin deficiency, then you may need a specific supplement. If you don't live where there is a lot of sun or get much exposure, then you may need Vitamin D. Otherwise I would avoid and concentrate on a healthy diet.

Colorectal cancer A recent meta-analysis of seven cohort and nine case-control studies found that folate from foods was inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk; however, total folate from foods and folic acid supplements was not associated with colorectal cancer risk (25). It is important to note that the case-control studies examined in this meta-analysis were highly heterogeneous, and that the authors stated that dietary fiber or other vitamins could have confounded their results. Overall, the role of folate in the possible prevention of colorectal cancer provides an example of the complexity of the interactions between genetics and nutrition. In general, observational studies have found that relatively low folate intake and high alcohol intake are associated with increased incidence of colorectal cancer (1, 26, 27). Alcohol interferes with the absorption and metabolism of folate (5). In a prospective study of more than 45,000 male health professionals, current intake of more than two alcoholic drinks per day doubled the risk of colon cancer. The combination of high alcohol and low folate intake yielded an even greater risk of colon cancer; however, increased alcohol intake in individuals who consumed 650 mcg or more of folate per day was not associated with an increased risk of colon cancer (28). In some studies, individuals who are homozygous for the C677T MTHFR polymorphism (T/T) have been found to be at decreased risk for colon cancer when folate intake is adequate. However, when folate intake is low and/or alcohol intake is high, individuals with the (T/T) genotype have been found to be at increased risk of colorectal cancer (29, 30). While dietary folate may be protective against colorectal cancer, high doses of supplemental folic acid may actually accelerate tumor growth in cancer patients. A recent chemopreventive trial in patients with a history of colorectal adenoma associated supplementation of 1 mg/day of folic acid (more than twice the RDA) with a statistical trend for advanced colorectal lesions as well as with a significantly increased risk (>2-fold) for the presence of three or more colorectal adenomas (31). In this study, folic acid supplementation was also associated with an increased risk for cancers at other sites, primarily the prostate. Human observational studies as well as animal studies on high-dose folate and cancer have reported mixed results. Thus, more research is needed to determine the role of high-dose folate in cancer progression.

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/fa/ Linus Pauling Institute Recommendation The available scientific evidence shows that adequate folate intake prevents neural tube defects and other poor outcomes of pregnancy, is helpful in lowering the risk of some forms of cancer, especially in genetically susceptible individuals, and may lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The Linus Pauling Institute recommends that adults take a 400 mcg supplement of folic acid daily, in addition to folate and folic acid consumed in the diet. A daily multivitamin-mineral supplement, containing 100% of the Daily Value (DV) for folic acid provides 400 mcg of folic acid. Even with a larger than average intake of folic acid from fortified foods, it is unlikely that an individual's daily folic acid intake would regularly exceed the tolerable upper intake level of 1,000 mcg/day established by the Food and Nutrition Board (see Safety).

 

[alex99]

Originally Posted by HgaleK

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/fa/

Linus Pauling Institute Recommendation

...it is unlikely that an individual's daily folic acid intake would regularly exceed the tolerable upper intake level of 1,000 mcg/day established by the Food and Nutrition Board (see Safety).

This is the part that makes me really wonder since the article I linked to says:

"Researchers speculate that high intakes of folic acid, which was first added to grain products in the 1990s, may have contributed to an increase in colorectal cancers in the mid-1990s.

What does all of this have to do with multivitamins? Now that folic acid is added to so many grain products, it's easy to see how a healthy diet, combined with a multivitamin, could boost a person's daily intake to 1,000 mcg or more, potentially increasing the risk of colorectal and possibly prostate and breast cancers.

In light of this research, Harvard Men's Health Watch suggests that the average man give up the multivitamin, at least until scientists solve the puzzle of folic acid and cancer."

So the article I linked to says precisely that many people likely ARE exceeding the 1000 mcg limit in Folic Acid due to the addition of folic acid to grain products.

 

[AB01]

Just checked my multivitamin. It has 600 mcg of folic acid.

 

[ektaylor]

God damnit, would you Luddites look past the quackish words of your good-old family doctor. Yes, the vitamin and supplement industry is infested with ****. Mainly, those trying to make a fast dollar on fools who shop at WalMart. HOWEVER, There is an INCREDIBLE difference in vitamin quality and more importantly bio-availability. As a previous poster mentioned, magnesium has a very poor bio-availability in its oxide form (your body uses -- due to its ability to absorb -- very little of the ingested chemical. But, when magnesium is taken in its chelated form, bio-availability and function rises tenfold. This is the same with all vitamins or supplements. Please, do some research and look past the advice you received from your aging family doctor who got his MD when jogging was for Europeans or queers. This sort of ignorance is so repulsive, I cannot contain myself.

 

[Bohe]

Originally Posted by HgaleK

It doesn't hurt, but it probably won't do much either. Take the magnesium in it for instance. It's 50mgs of magnesium by way of magnesium oxide, which is the least bioavailable form of magnesium that I know of. You aren't going to be getting much of that magnesium. It's the same way for a lot of the others.


http://www.docstoc.com/docs/405307/Multivitamin-Guide

According to your link only a hand full are worth taking

that's incredible.

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by ektaylor

God damnit, would you Luddites look past the quackish words of your good-old family doctor. Yes, the vitamin and supplement industry is infested with ****. Mainly, those trying to make a fast dollar on fools who shop at WalMart. HOWEVER, There is an INCREDIBLE difference in vitamin quality and more importantly bio-availability. As a previous poster mentioned, magnesium has a very poor bio-availability in its oxide form (your body uses -- due to its ability to absorb -- very little of the ingested chemical. But, when magnesium is taken in its chelated form, bio-availability and function rises tenfold. This is the same with all vitamins or supplements. Please, do some research and look past the advice you received from your aging family doctor who got his MD when jogging was for Europeans or queers. This sort of ignorance is so repulsive, I cannot contain myself.
I have been injecting myself with a solution of equal parts piss and vinegar, on the recommendation of my admittedly rather aged doctor. Granted, I'm not 100% sure if his instructions were meant to be followed literally. But he chased the Kaiser out of Belgium, so what do I know?

 

[runner-guy]

Originally Posted by Connemara

My chiropractor, who is rather odd, claims that the mass-market multivitamins don't actually have any vitamins in them. He says they're made from waste and byproducts harvested from garbage dumps.

A chiropractor would say something stupid like that. I take this multivitamin along with 2000 IU Vitamin D daily since I live in Michigan and it's never sunny. You can get 150 tablets for about $22 through Amazon and it's only one tablet daily: http://www.rainbowlight.com/Categori...3-ccc7606ea87e