Which Vitamins and supplements do you swear by?

[mr-rubix]

Are you a great believer in Vitamins and Supplements? Have any of these contributed to your health in any way?

[johnk]

There is enough of everything in a varied diet of basic fruit veg meat fish. If youeat properly and stay away from junk you won't need any extras

[mr-rubix]

Thanks for your answer john but this is mainly untrue. Due to gm crops, cooking methods pesticide deterioration and low bioavailability of many vits and supps It's sometimes better to supplement an already good diet with extra vits.

[Sqad]

I agree with John..............in a normal healthy individual Vitamin supplements are totally unnecessary..

[joannie10]

I feel I eat a varied healthy diet it and really would consider myself a healthy person other than the odd cold here and there over the winter. At my brothers recommendation (he was always getting bad colds), I started taking a 500 mg Vitamin C tablet every day and have stuck with it and not even had a sniffle for two years. I also take a vitamin b complex tablet just cause someone suggested I should - cannot say if that does me any good. Perhaps there is something that is lacking in my diet that has caused the Vitamin c to help or perhaps it is just coincidence but will stick with it for now. As soon as people start sniffling I tell them they should be taking them, sometimes they start but dont stick with it so I feel they don't get to feel the benefit.

[dennisb66]

A daily dose of 1000mg Cod Liver Oil for my general health and 1500mg of Glucosamine Sulphate for my Osteo Arthritis.

[LazyGun]

@Mr-Rubix - You comment that johnks post is "mainly untrue" - evidence please, rather than your suppositions and speculations?

Only certain sub-groups of the population should ever need vitamin supplementation of any type, assuming a reasonably varied diet.

I do think the latest research on Vitamin D is interesting though, and a redefinition of the RDA may well occur.

[mollykins]

Well my mum makes me have those orange jelly early health ones as apparantly they stop me from having as many colds.

[carlton23]

I have been taking two ACE tablets each morning for about 18mths and haven`t had a cold, I recommend them, and health shops stock them.

[nohorn]

I think one should always consider how they are overloading your liver with supplements. That's why it's better to intake natural foods, it is easier on your liver. I agree with the statement that the units of Vitamin D will soone be upped. (MDR).

[boxtops]

Because I know I don't eat a sufficiently varied diet and often eat on the run, I take a cocktail of supplements each day, and I do feel well on them:

multivitamin + iron
odourless Garlic
CQ10 (which also helps counteract negative aspects of taking a statin)
gingko biloba for the brain
glucosamine & chondroitin for the joints
cod liver oil ditto

[zzxxee]

sanatogen jelly baby vits for kids so sweet its like eating sweeties not vits

[NoMercy]

Spirulina (wild blue/green algae) - it's got every vitamin, mineral, phytonutrient and enzyme you could possibly think of. It's anti-cancer, anti-tumour, anti-metastatic, cardio-protective, prevents alzheimers, osteo diseases, protects the liver.... it has one of the most dense nutritional compositions of any food. It's also a complete food containing all the essential amino acids and can even help suppress appetite. It's also great for the digestive system.

I buy in tablet form in Holland and Barratt. It is worth googling and reading up on it.

[TheOtherHalf]

No, I dont take many. Like dennisb666 I take cod liver oil and glucosomine for arthur.
Im a veggie and eat very healthily. Dont feel I need any more unlike my hubby who takes all sorts. Ginko for his memory and I can you you now its not doing him any good, sometimes he even forgets to take them ( ha ha )

[NoMercy]

http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-spirulina.html

That's a good link and worth reading. Instead of taking 20 different supplements for their various protective abilities, chances are you could get all those benefits from Spirulina alone. It's even been shown to reverse tumours and inhibit the aids virus. I took it when I had a recurring bout of glandular fever and started to feel miles better and had dramatically increased energy levels within 3 days.

[TheOtherHalf]

That looks interesting NoMercy. I take another look when I get time

[johnk]

Rubix, I have never used vitamins or any sort of supplement. I row 4 times a week and row competetively and cycle twice a week. I am rarely ill and am on no medication and at 63 thats pretty good going so why use the supplements

[RATTER15]

I never have taken and don't take any vitamin supplements, I really on a good diet, im very rarely ill and in the last 10 years have probably had 4 or 5 days sickness apart from a hernia operation recently.

I see taking extra vits and supplements a waste of time and money unless a specific need has been identified.

[mr-rubix]

Lazygun its a well documented fact that over cooking kills the vitamin content.
Which vitamin D research?
Johnk wow, Don't you use creatine? That would help with muscle contractions and help build even more strength and speed if you compete. Im guessing your diet is very good?

[LazyGun]

@Rubix - severe overcooking may decrease the vitamin content of foods but not necessarily completely remove it. This fact, rather amazingly - that cooking can degrade the vitamin content of food - was taken into account by the medical scientists who devised the RDA schedules in the first place - but thats not what you said.
You commented on JohnKs post that "a varied diet of fruit, veg meat and fish contained all the vitamins you needed" was "mainly untrue", which most certainly is not "mainly untrue". All your other comments regarding GM drops, pesticide and low bioavailability are purely your unsubstantiated supposition and speculation, when applied to your typical Northern Hemisphere foods.

If someone wants to squander their money on vitamin supplements, fine,thats their choice, but don't try to assert that such supplements are either necessary or essential for the overwhelming majority of the population that are following a basic,varied diet.

To be frank, even a pretty rubbish junk food diet will contain a very large proportion of your needed daily requirements - The Internationally recommended daily amounts are usually deliberately overstated.

Only certain subgroups, such as the elderly, those with severe dietary challenges, kids etc should ever need any form of vitamin supplementation. Vitamin D for those living in the Northern Hemisphere may be a special case, and there is some interesting research going on which may result in an increase in the RDA ,but thats a different area.

[tamirra]

Sorry for butting in, but has anyone got any good herbal remedies for the libido please. XXXX