adequacy of vitamins?
Posted by VegHeadZealia on Mar 01, 2009 · Member since Mar 2007 · 1665 posts
so, if one takes multi-vitamins, some of the stuff says it provides 100% or more of the daily recommended amount of whatever vitamin...does that really mean 100%? Like, if a person was eating a diet devoid of all natural vitamins, would that really be enough? This seems highly doubtful to me... >:(
Yeah, definitely highly doubtful. Especially since there are many things that go into vitamin absorption (i.e. ratios of other micronutrients in foods). That's why it's best to eat a variety of foods so you'll get a variety of different nutrients in different ratios, which helps you get the most out of your diet. While multivitamins have the full amount of what you supposedly need, absorption is often hindered by conflicting vitamins/minerals and some people have difficultly extracting the nutrients in pill form.
I don't take a multivitamin all the time. I'll pop one occasionally if I haven't been eating all that great. There are so many more benefits to getting your vitamins from foods rather than pills, but nonetheless multivitamins are nice if you need a little "boost".
yeah, it depends on bioavailability of the individual vitamins - different forms of the same vitamin vary, and it varies from person to person, also if it's on a full stomach or not, etc.
To be fair, though, people do get fed intravenously (+ etc) with vitamin supplementation. I wouldn't say that they're perfectly healthy (being in a coma is not the picture of health...), but they live!
I don't really take a multivitamin anymore. I eat real good usually, and I take a b12 once or twice a week...
When I take a multi, I end up peeing really bright yellow...
I don't really like that... haha.
The bright yellow pee isn't a bad thing, it means you're getting a lot of vitamin C.
I take a prescription Iron + Vitamin C pill, and my pee is always bright yellow. Of course, now my goal is to drink enough water that it's a normal color instead of fluorescent. What a challenge!
::)
I also take a multivitamin to make sure that my vitamin and mineral levels stay where they should be. I don't always eat well, and I've noticed I don't have so many ups and downs as far as energy goes since I've been consistently taking vitamins.
You really have to take them all the time to notice the difference, though. If you only take one a month you won't notice much other than bright yellow pee.
Oh, and I wouldn't recommend taking vitamins on an empty stomach. Every time I have, I end up feeling like I am going to throw up. It's not good.