Do you take vitamins or any other supplements?

dandy-candy

Do you take vitamins or other health pills/powders? I used to think of them as a bit of a waste of money, but now I'm not so sure.

In the past I've had to take vitamin D and Iron when ive had blood tests come back low. I would nip into health food shops to grab nibbles and see people spending £80-100 on pills and be shocked.

Recently I've read more and more people swearing by them and saying the RDA is the bare minimum (I know the water soluble stuff you can't OD on, but the fat soluble you can), and I also only just read that vegetarians should take vitamin B which I never realised.

If you take them then do you find they have made a difference?

asajj

I do take supplements but I don't spend that much on them and I don't take them every day.

Every other day, I do take cod liver oil, evening pimprose oil, calcium & magnesium tablets. From time to time, I do take Vitamin D (during winter).

Cod Liver Oil was suggested by a nutritionist.
I also think it helps with skin.

Calcium&magnesium helps with my tiredness after gym.

However I do have a balanced diet already and don't think they would fix anything broken.

Have you tried speaking to your GP to have a test to look at your levels ? This might be a good start.

Mojisola

dandy-candy wrote: »

I also only just read that vegetarians should take vitamin B which I never realised.

Vegans and veggies should supplement with B12.

https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-health/vitamins-minerals-and-more/vitamin-b12-your-key-facts/what-every-vegan

stephen77

just omega 3 fish oils if I do not eat much oily fish that week.

Timpu

dandy-candy wrote: »

Do you take vitamins or other health pills/powders? I used to think of them as a bit of a waste of money, but now I'm not so sure.

In the past I've had to take vitamin D and Iron when ive had blood tests come back low. I would nip into health food shops to grab nibbles and see people spending £80-100 on pills and be shocked.

Recently I've read more and more people swearing by them and saying the RDA is the bare minimum (I know the water soluble stuff you can't OD on, but the fat soluble you can), and I also only just read that vegetarians should take vitamin B which I never realised.

If you take them then do you find they have made a difference?

Vit D as a blood test showed levels to be low (I get it on prescription). In addition I take a high concentration of fish oils.

Do they help? Yes definitely. I was in a lot of pain when vit D levels were low and my skin is much better when I take fish oils. The fish oils can also help with all the fun of...ummmm...monthly cycles.

Hedgehog99

I used to take a daily multivitamin, but they changed the formula so that it was no longer veggie and included ridiculous doses way over the RDAs.

Later on, I needed to be referred to an NHS dietician & I feel much healthier now that I know which foods to avoid. I think years of undiagnosed intolerances were reducing the efficiency of absorbing nutrients from my food (thanks to the, errr, "fast-track" reaction to eating the wrong things!), so now I am getting everything I should.

I cook from scratch most days and no longer feel I need self-prescribed supplements. I don't trust all the pseudo-science in the ads!

I take Echinacea if I have the inklings of a cold.

stephen77

Hedgehog99 wrote: »

and included ridiculous doses way over the RDAs.

Later .

Take one tablet every other day?
Or even just say on a Saturday & Sunday.

Lizling

Mojisola wrote: »

Vegans and veggies should supplement with B12.

https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-health/vitamins-minerals-and-more/vitamin-b12-your-key-facts/what-every-vegan

Vegans should, yes, but that link doesn't mention anything about vegetarians. Eggs and dairy are good sources of B12, so most vegetarians should be fine.

I don't take any supplements, have been vegetarian for 25 years and am perfectly healthy.

I do wonder if I should be taking Omega 3 supplements, but I did a fair bit of research once and discovered that the only vegetarian source of it that's actually the right kind seems to be algae. There are algae-based pills out there, but only available over the internet as far as I can see.

Wantobeasaver

I take a cheap (own brand) multivitamin. No idea if it makes a difference or not, have read conflicting things about cheap/expensive vitamins...hard to know what to think

Mojisola

Lizling wrote: »

Vegans should, yes, but that link doesn't mention anything about vegetarians. Eggs and dairy are good sources of B12, so most vegetarians should be fine.

I don't take any supplements, have been vegetarian for 25 years and am perfectly healthy.

But not all vegetarians do eat lots of eggs and dairy so they should be aware of possible problems.

G_Model101

I've always been ardently against this image that Men's Fitness etc want to put across that if you buy the same supplements as an athlete, you'll be just like them....

But that said, I do take a few...
Generic Berocca- Either covering my bases in terms of a healthy diet or giving myself very expensive urine....that said, I never got bit by any mosquitos on holiday & I was the only one of my friends on it....


Whey Protein- Post workout

Cod Liver Oil

Garlic (It was like £10 for a years supply)