Posted on 07/06/2008 10:56:21 PM PDT by neverdem
Last year Americans spent $22.5 billion on dietary supplements, taking everything from a standard multivitamin to fish oil for the heart to magnesium for healthy bones. But how do we know which vitamin pills we need and which we don't? And at what doses do the risks outweigh the benefits?
Dr. Eric Rimm at the Harvard School of Public Health sat down with ABC's Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson to discuss some of the more talked about vitamins, how much of them we should be taking and whether too much can be detrimental to our health.
In a field filled with controversy, most nutrition experts agree on one thing: food, not pills, is still the best way to get essential micronutrients. Our bodies seem to process the vitamins in food better. And people who eat a healthy diet getting at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, along with whole grains and lean proteins get the vitamins and minerals they need.
Unfortunately, these days most Americans are falling short of that goal. But reaching for a vitamin pill should not be the first step toward solving that problem, Rimm says. "A supplement is called a supplement because it's supposed to be supplementing a healthy lifestyle," he said.
If your diet is just average, here's Rimm's advice: "Get yourself off the average diet and move to a healthier diet, and exercise three times a week."
Your A-B-C's A diet that includes breakfast cereal, juices,...
--snip--
So what's the bottom line? According to the experts, eat a healthy diet, but a generic multivitamin is a good nutritional safety net, and don't forget to add 1,000 units of vitamin D. Rimm reminds people to watch their weight, exercise and stop smoking. It's still the best way to stay healthy.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I notice a huge difference when I take my vitamins and when I don’t. I ‘d rather continue taking my vitamins. thanks.
Protect your skin from the sun at all costs, but take a vitamin D capsule.
Your body would produce the “d” you need, but you might get skin cancer.
Nutritionists and doctors who write tripe like this article deserve the reputation they have for quackery. It’s a pity they reflect so badly on the good ones.
I take a multi Vite, Fish Oil and a couple of other only my Keeper knows and she is sound asleep
So I can’t take dietary supplements with my beer or Jack Daniels?
I need some really strong legal uppers. I need energy
Mountain Dew?
That is still illegal in these parts. :^)
Something more like an over-the-counter version of meth. And I don’t mean methadone.
Something to make me not feel like I’m dragging a ship anchor.
Are you taking any Statin drugs? I take Zocor and it does that to me most of the time...
No, I’m just taking Synthyroid for an underactive thyroid gland.
A couple of questions:
How's your exercise? Start off doing SOMETHING every day, set up even the weakest of routines. Start off with walks, even slow walks. Then move up to power walks. After that's going for a week or so, start throwing in some short jogs into your walk. You get the idea....
Next: How's your diet? I know when I'm on a diet with high-glycemic carb items (and not exercising at a true race training level) I get lethargic too. Take a serious look at the South Beach diet. (http://www.southbeachdiet.com)
Even though everyone gets a bit weak in the 2-week long "Phase-I" period (where all high- to moderate-glycemic index foods are eliminated), I feel SO much better for going through it. For one thing, I'm no longer feeling sleepy after lunch!
Of course, go to the doc, too. But I'm telling you, FRiend, you can work through this!
Get your TSH level checked. They have tougher quality control problems with hormones. Are you getting the real Synthyroid made by Knoll, or are you getting some other company's Levothyroxine Sodium?
The pituitary gland is tied to your optic nerve and is sensitive to sunlight. When light enters your eyes, it triggers your pituitary gland to produce a melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) that activates your melanocytes to produce melanin. This means that wearing sunglasses can actually cause sunburn.
If we were not so bombarded with GMO seeds/food and exposure to pesticides and mercury....this might be a true statement....
I swear by vitamins.
My regimen:
Ester C (1,000mg, cap)
B-Complex (”100”, cap)
A/D (20,000iu/800iu, softgel)
Coenzyme Q10 (100mg, softgel)
Big mouthful of raw bee pollen
Big gulp of flax seed oil
Occasional softgel of natural E (200mg)
The benefits from the sun are much greater, less depression, anxiety, vitamin D and evidence that it may have a positive effect in preventing internal cancers.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/coenzyme-q10/NS_patient-coenzymeq10
Your body stops producing it when on statins.
Americans have the most expensive urine in the world.
How did humans ever get by by eating a balanced diet only? LOL
Try to convince your doctor to either switch you over to armour thyroid, or to add T3 (cytomel) to your prescription.
I’ve heard that getting both T3 and T4 helps some people.
“I take a multi Vite, Fish Oil and a couple of other only my Keeper knows and she is sound asleep”
If you are a smoker, or an ex-smoker, check the vitamin label to see if it contains beta-carotene. (It probably does) Beta-carotene in supplements increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers and ex-smokers.
http://cancer.about.com/od/foodguide/f/cancerbetacaro.htm
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/final-CARET1204
There were less of them, and the soil was less depleted.
I hope you’re taking a full spectrum vitamin E (Tocopherols + Tocotrienols) with the fish oil ...
There are some folks for whom Synthroid aren't as effective as natural thyroid (Armour). Also, some people benefit from supplementing T3 as well as T4.
Talk to your doctor. You probably need a higher dose of Synthroid.
The North American life expectancy is almost a third longer than it was 100 years ago.
For all the loonies squawking about toxins in our environment, the life expectancy argument trumps all.
Most people don’t even come close to eating a balanced diet. That’s the point.
I started taking DHA about three months ago and it really seems to have helped my power of concentration. I can work a lot longer without getting distracted than before.
Then, about a week ago, I started taking a multi-vitamin every day and a B complex, thinking that that would round everything out and (combined with my new diet and exercise plan) make me healthy.
Yet, strangely enough, last week I was dragging. I could barely keep my eyes open in the afternoon after lunch and even got some complaints from my coworkers that I was snoring at my desk.
I talked to one of my coworkers and one of his first questions was, have you started taking a lot of vitamins? If so, stop. All they do is make you sleepy.
I’m still taking the DHA, but I stopped both the multis and the B on Saturday — today I was back to normal. Worked the entire day without a problem.
Go figure.
Just in case anyone is interested, they are all Nature Made brand.
I’ve heard great things about Armour.
If the person w/out alot of energy is a woman, and you’re close to menopause, get on a progesterone cream. That should really boost your energy.
I didn’t start to feel better until I switched from Synthroid to Armour.
I am also Adrenal Insufficient, which is very common in hypothyroid people.
One more thought-you may be undertreated and in need of more thyroid hormone.
Many demes of Italians, Chinese and Japanese famously live very long lives on their balanced diets of whole foods: avoiding saturated fats, artificial additives, corn syrup, sugar and so forth.
But wait: it can’t be their diets. It must be due to their heavy imports of non-depleted soil :0)
I've almost gotten the Syndrome X nullified, and away from the diabetes precusors.... so I will eat the old-fashioned way.
Isn’t the increased life expectancy due to dropping the infant mortality rate than anything else? I’m sure there are also things done that lengthen life at the other end to, but adding a few 0 years into the average can really bring things down in a hurry.
Don’t know if it’s hype but it’s claimed that the Q-gel form is better absorbed with a lesser amount..
I second that progesterone. I’m taking micronized progesterone and it’s restored my ability to sleep through the night.
A low carbohydrate diet is foundational though. These recommended diets are killers. Many problems (PCOS, hypothyroidism, diabetes etc.) are traced to high carbohydrate diets. Mostly fruits, vegetables and grains with only lean meat means your diet is high carbohydrate.
Totally agree Varda. I have a hard time cutting out sugar and I definitely see how it affects mood, sleep, energy etc. It’s something you need to be constantly cognizant of.
They’ll never take away my Ester C. It cures about everything.
The Powers that Be don't want us energetic for some reason.
those are the kind I take. I do not fall asleep at my desk. Funny how it reacts different on people. Maybe taking them at night might help you rebuild for the next day?
http://personal.lig.bellsouth.net/w/u/wurmstei/
Read that. (No, it’s not an ad and nobody’s trying to sell you anything. This article saved my mother’s life.)
I sometimes wonder about that. I've been playing with genealogy and found relatives who routinely made it to their 80's and 90's. These people lived in the sun and ate a meat and eggs diet with seasonal fruits and veggies.
When you factor *out* infant mortality, accidents, diseases we can now treat with antibiotics, illnesses which can be treated surgically and death from child-birth, I don't think we've really improved the human life expectancy at all. Modern medicine gets us through all that, but hasn't found a solution for old age.
Nutrilite is made in America. Best vitamins and supplements out there.
Nutrilite is made in America. Best vitamins and supplements out there.
Totally organic, too!
Touche.
I agree with you. People have been so over-hysteriaed about sun exposure it’s unreal. There’s nothing dangerous about moderate and careful sun exposure.
Can’t exactly do power walks, I get some wicked shin splints if I walk fast for too long.
I tried with added Cytomel, it didn’t help in how I felt.
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