Vitamin Supplements

[Dante Hicks]

If I'm going to have a shit diet (and that's unlikely to change) are vitamin supplements worth it?

Do they actually have a notable effect on someone with a "normal" lifestyle?

What, if anything, should I take?

[Zar]

'apparently' cod liver oil is good for you...

[Deffeh]

oi, good thread. im interested too. thinking of taking a few to try and balance out my terrible diet (it isnt going to change)

[Nodrog]

Apparently a good multi-vitimin is recommended for pretty much everyone, and its fairly cheap so you might as well. I also take a vitamin B complex and some vitamin C, but you probably dont need to unless youre doing strenuous physical activity or whatever.

[KaneED]

multibionata

[Dace]

You get very few vitamins from semen Dante*.

Just incase you were wondering.

Or were indeed "experimenting".











*so i've heard (i've never actually tried getting my RDAs this way)

[Tactitus]

My wife swears she feels/functions better if she takes a vitamin in the morning; although she's borderline hypoglycemic and her family has a history of thyroid malfunctions, so that might have something to do with it. I don't know how "normal" her lifestyle is, but she bikes and does Tae Kwon Do.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by Nodrog

I also take a vitamin B complex and some vitamin C, but you probably dont need to unless youre doing strenuous physical activity or whatever.

Is that all you take? I seem to remember some photo floating around showing 8000 pills you had or something?

What does extra Vitamin B/C do? Most of these vitamin supplements seem to give you 300-400% of your RDA of various things. Is that particularly desirable? Are the RDAs just too low, or do you need more if you're weight training and such?

[IncubusGod]

I'm taking Vit C suppliments at the moment to try to help me shake off a nasty cold n various other things. Wasn't eating enough fruit n vitamins clearly. It's helping, I got progressivly worse until I started taking the Vitamin C and since then it's been a nice recovery period.

So clearly they cant hurt*


Unless they can.

[Sunday8pm]

Taking vitamin D is essential in these parts as during the winter the sun is too far away to get the amount you need from the sun and in the summer the UV is too strong to dare do it that way either.

[Obliterate]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

Is that all you take? I seem to remember some photo floating around showing 8000 pills you had or something?

What does extra Vitamin B/C do? Most of these vitamin supplements seem to give you 300-400% of your RDA of various things. Is that particularly desirable? Are the RDAs just too low, or do you need more if you're weight training and such?

Vitamin B, B12 and folic acid are all involved in things like respiration, protein synthesis, nerve function, red blood cell production etc... and Vitamin C is an antitoxidant (hence why they tell you to drink orange juice when you've got a cold), and it also helps with healing wounds and with the proper functioning of the skin.

The RDA's are supposedly set for the "average" person. Obviously the RDA will be higher if you're an athlete, or even if you're just very tall, for example. Some micronutrients (such as vitamin A) are toxic when taken in large amounts, although unless you swallow a whole pot of tablets at once, I doubt you'll ever be in danger of that.

[Flayer]

You can never have too much vitamins, eat as much as possible! (serious)

[Radical Edward]

actually you can flayer. if you disagree, try eating polar bear liver.

[JC]

If i remember correctly vitamin C and soem vitamin Bs are water soluble, so you just piss them out when you have more than you can take in. Bit of a waste of money on pills if you are just pissing them straight out.

Vitamins C and E are also anti-cancerous but i think an excess of E can do the opposite. Been a while since i studied all this so i'm not absolutely sure i've get the vitamins the right way round there.

[LHC]

I rather embarassingly have to take cod liver oil for my joints after my knee operation, which is a shame because it's for old people. I don't know if its working though, because I haven't tried without.

There's no real benefit from not taking vitamins I don't think. The worst they can do is nothing.

edit: or give you cancer.

[KaneED]

Multibionata is a good source of multi-vitamins, Next to taking that you can ahve your cod-lives, Vitamin C and what have you.

If you go to Savers they're much cheaper than anywhere else.

[MrL_JaKiri]

Originally Posted by LHC

edit: or give you cancer.

Anything can give you cancer though.

[Radical Edward]

Originally Posted by MrL_JaKiri

Anything can give you cancer though.

you need to paint with a broader brush.

[JC]

Originally Posted by MrL_JaKiri

Anything can give you cancer though.

Not everything has a direct link with producing free radicals which can then go on to cause lesions in DNA, which may cause cancer if its in a tumour suppressor or oncogene.

[MrL_JaKiri]

Originally Posted by JC

Not everything has a direct link with producing free radicals which can then go on to cause lesions in DNA, which may cause cancer if its in a tumour suppressor or oncogene.

Cheese and ham sandwiches don't, do they?

[JC]

I assume you know much more about all this than me but lets have a look.

Serving Size 1 sandwich (146.0 g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories
351.86
Fat Calories 139.3

% Daily Value*
Total Fat
15.5g
24%

Saturated Fat 6.4g
77%

Trans Fat N/A

Cholesterol
58.4mg
19%

Sodium
770.9mg
32%

Potassium
290.5mg
8%

Total Carbohydrates
33.3g
11%

Dietary Fiber N/A
N/A

Sugars N/A

Protein
20.7g
41%

Vitamin A
6%

Vitamin C
5%

Thiamin
20%

Riboflavin
28%

Niacin
13%

Calcium
13%

Iron
18%

Vitamin D
N/A

Vitamin E
1%

Vitamin B6
10%

Folic acid
1%

Vitamin B6
9%

Phosphorus
15%

Magnesium
4%

Zinc
9%

Copper
9%

Pantothenic acid
10%

Na, K and Ca arent linked to cancer afaik. A lack of them could lead to neurodegenerative problems, but i assume you arent eating a diet that only consists of cheese and ham sandwiches. Cholsterol and 'fat' will give you heart problems, but you should be fine as far as cancer is concerned. Same goes for carbohydrates and suger depending on how active you are, but they arent carinogenic. Vits A and D wont give you any problems. Vit E in excess might, but this is only 1% and so isnt in excess and so is actually an anti-oxidant, as is vitamin C.

Dont know what Thiamin, Riboflavin and Niacin, if you find me something saying they cause cancer i will agree with you. Folic acid wont cause cancer nor will Cu, Mg, Zn etc. Those transition metals are all involved in super oxide dismutase proteins, which reduce free radicals.

I think you could be ok with your sandwich. Doesnt mean you wont get cancer, but it wont be because of your sandwich if you do die of cancer.

[KaneED]

JC seems pretty darn intelligent now.

[Nodrog]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

Is that all you take? I seem to remember some photo floating around showing 8000 pills you had or something?

Yeah, the rest isnt vitamin's it''s dietary supplements (creatine/protein/etc). Half of it was my ex-roommate's too.

I took vitamin E for a while too to experiment with whether it would help my complexion, but I never noticed any effects.

What does extra Vitamin B/C do? Most of these vitamin supplements seem to give you 300-400% of your RDA of various things. Is that particularly desirable? Are the RDAs just too low, or do you need more if you're weight training and such?

The RDA's are considered far too low (even for the average person). For instance the RDA for vitamin C is just high enough to prevent people from contracting scurvy, but several studies have shown people getting benefits from taking many times more than the RDA (as in 800% of it and so on).

This is obviously geared towards athletes so take the recommendations with a pinch of salt, but it gives an outline of what various things do.

[roadrunner_0]

stopped taking them now, but i used to taek them all the time when i lived at home and it never did me any harm, thinking about taking them again as i really dont have anywhere near a balanced diet

[Ren]

let's see here, I probably take in excess of 30-40 pills a day, and then a variety of powders. (Why, intense training 6 days a week where your body down).

The regimen is something like this:
2 multi-vitamins w/ every large meal (3-5 times a day usually)
1 immune system booster w/ every meal (3-5 times a day)
Some pills to help me digest as many nutrients as possible, some other pills that do god knows wot but I take them w/ every meal as well
4 pills to help recovery before bed, some zma pills to balance testosterone whilst sleeping (actually makes me sleep a lot better too).
And then a bunch more for weightlifting.

My roommates think I am crazy, but I haven't been sick in over a year ( even when everyone I knew got a nasty case of the flu), and I recover from any rugby injuries faster than most people.

Take vitamins, just make sure they are good quality, cos some just pass right through you!!

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by Ren

Take vitamins, just make sure they are good quality, cos some just pass right through you!!

What do you mean by good quality? Do you mean by a certain manufacturer and stuff?

I was looking in the shop today on my lunchbreak and they had some multivitamins for about £10 for 30 doses (or whatever) and then they had other ones, 30 for 89p. The RDA was comparable on either. Does it make a difference?

[Dilly_D]

I cba to read everything here, so this may have been said already...if so, deal with it...if not, listen up

DO NOT take a multi vitamin without food...some of the vitamins need protiens and that sort of thing found in certain foods to break down. If the required preteins and whatnot are not present in the body, the vitamins will build up and eventually poision your system...making you extremely uncomfortable.

So, just to recap...DO NOT take a multi vitamin without food

[LHC]

No. They all have to comply to the specifications, so you are merely paying for a brand.

[JBOY]

a round of applause for JC, for shutting Mark up.

Well done JC!

[Nodrog]

Originally Posted by Dilly_D

I cba to read everything here, so this may have been said already...if so, deal with it...if not, listen up

DO NOT take a multi vitamin without food...some of the vitamins need protiens and that sort of thing found in certain foods to break down. If the required preteins and whatnot are not present in the body, the vitamins will build up and eventually poision your system...making you extremely uncomfortable.

So, just to recap...DO NOT take a multi vitamin without food

Got a source? This sounds like BS, no offence.

[Flayer]

Originally Posted by Nodrog

Got a source? This sounds like BS, no offence.

sounds realistic to me... vitamins are vital amins, so the stuff you have to take in because your body can't produce them itsself. They're necessary for certain chemical reactions, so if you've got the vitamins but not the other products for the reactions they _will_ build up and that might have a bad effect....

[Phang]

Originally Posted by Flayer

sounds realistic to me... vitamins are vital amins, so the stuff you have to take in because your body can't produce them itsself. They're necessary for certain chemical reactions, so if you've got the vitamins but not the other products for the reactions they _will_ build up and that might have a bad effect....

yes. in other words, vitamins are not a substitute for eating. i dont see a connection between that and this however

[Dilly_D]

Originally Posted by Nodrog

Got a source? This sounds like BS, no offence.

the source was one of my highschool science classes unfortunately, but certain vitamins will convert to a toxin if they build up in your system long anough...like, I'm not talkin a day or 2 here, but eventually...if you take them every morning when you wake up, and never eat breky, you're prolly gonna be hurtin at some point

[Flayer]

There's some crazy doctor here in belgium who claims he can stay young by eating a LOT of extra vitamin C (and some others), he seems to succeed until now so I suppose too much vitamin C couldn't hurt.

Originally Posted by Phang

yes. in other words, vitamins are not a substitute for eating. i dont see a connection between that and this however

Indeed, I do not know enough about it to comment though, I'd suppose the liver could break them down eventually.

[Tactitus]

Originally Posted by Flayer

There's some crazy doctor here in belgium who claims he can stay young by eating a LOT of extra vitamin C (and some others), he seems to succeed until now so I suppose too much vitamin C couldn't hurt.

We had a guy like that in the US by the name of Linus Pauling. He's dead now, but he was able to prove that large doses of vitamin C can cause Nobel laureates to make bizarre claims.

[Sunday8pm]

Originally Posted by Radical Edward

actually you can flayer. if you disagree, try eating polar bear liver.

Can't eat polar bear anymore anyway, at least in greenland, too many toxins in the food chain up there, giving the poor old inuit cancer damn fast.

[Sunday8pm]

Originally Posted by Nodrog

Got a source? This sounds like BS, no offence.

Does sound a bit woman's weekly to me but I will admit that multi-vitamins should be part of a regular healthy diet and taken with meals as indeed you do need certain proteins etc to absorb said vitamins or you'll just shit em out.

[Sunday8pm]

Originally Posted by Ren

let's see here, I probably take in excess of 30-40 pills a day, and then a variety of powders. (Why, intense training 6 days a week where your body down).

The regimen is something like this:
2 multi-vitamins w/ every large meal (3-5 times a day usually)
1 immune system booster w/ every meal (3-5 times a day)
Some pills to help me digest as many nutrients as possible, some other pills that do god knows wot but I take them w/ every meal as well
4 pills to help recovery before bed, some zma pills to balance testosterone whilst sleeping (actually makes me sleep a lot better too).
And then a bunch more for weightlifting.

My roommates think I am crazy, but I haven't been sick in over a year ( even when everyone I knew got a nasty case of the flu), and I recover from any rugby injuries faster than most people.

Take vitamins, just make sure they are good quality, cos some just pass right through you!!

Can you give us the exact names of said pills?

You know brand names/chemical names etc.

[Sunday8pm]

Originally Posted by JC

I think you could be ok with your sandwich. Doesnt mean you wont get cancer, but it wont be because of your sandwich if you do die of cancer.

Unless it uses certain flavourings/additives/preservatives/sweeteners to help lower it's calorie count.

[Nodrog]

If you 're going to make 4 one line replies in a row, at least turn your signature off after the first one.

[Sunday8pm]

Originally Posted by Nodrog

If you 're going to make 4 one line replies in a row, at least turn your signature off after the first one.

Hey I hear you can turn signatures off as well.

[JC]

Originally Posted by JBOY

a round of applause for JC, for shutting Mark up.

Well done JC!

Well someone had to .

[roadrunner_0]

we all <3 JC