Do you take vitamins or any other supplements?

socks_uk

I've recently had some blood tests that show I am very low in Vitamin D and yesterday my doctor has prescribed me with 2 a day (I pay £10.40 a month for my prescription card so I don't feel guilty about them being on prescription).

But the thing is that I'm a natural redhead with very pale skin and have always avoided direct sunlight or used a high factor sun cream (just as we have always been advised as to avoid skin cancer) so I now wonder if I should have bothered.

Also, after doing a bit of 'Googling' I find out that being deficient in vitamin D can cause you to put on weight... I've slowly become heavier since I became an 'indoor/undercover' person. I'm looking forward in seeing if, over time, the vitamin D will help me loose weight as no other diet I've tried never did! Well, time will tell!

Gloomendoom

My mother has stayed out of the sunlight for over 70 years. It didn't stop her getting skin cancer though. Luckily, it was caught early and successfully treated.

There seems to be a fair bit of evidence to suggest that while sun exposure does increase the risk of skin cancer, it also reduces the risk from other illnesses and cancers. You can't win!

Everything in moderation seems to be the key to healthy life.

A.Penny.Saved

ciaccino wrote: »

Like I said before, the problem with multivitamins is that vitamins are in the "oxide" form (eg Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Oxide, etc), which is the cheapest and least effective. The best absorbed form are: gluconate, picolinate and the methylated form (eg: Zinc Picolinate, Methylcobalamin, methylfolate, etc). I've never seen them in a multivitamin, so I have to buy them separately.

Cheap oxide forms can be useless for many people and poorly absorbed. They require good stomach acid levels in order to absorb any of it.

There are some multivits that contain highly absorbable forms. Life Extension 2 per day is pretty good @ about £15 for 2 month supply on Amazon. There are capsule & tablet forms of this supplement. There is little of the major minerals such as calcium/magnesium because they take up too much space. 100mg of magnesium is the oxide form so is pretty much useless.

Tammy2 wrote: »

I take a few supplements because of health conditions - pernicious anaemia (I can't absorb b12 in the normal way - it needs to go straight into my blood stream) and allergies.

Because of severe (life threatening) allergies I am sadly restricted to brands I know can guarantee they are free from the risk of cross contamination / traces from nuts, peanuts and sesame.

I get 8 weekly injections of B12 from my NHS GP, but it isn't enough. So, I've started to take Jarrow's sublinguals and some patches too. Not sure yet if I think they are having much of an effect. Time will tell.

I also take Jarrow Methyl Folate as I have read it is the most biologically active form of folic acid. (Low B12 and low folate are often linked). I only take a tablet every other day.

For general health I take Jarrow B- Complex, Vega Codliver Oil and am about to try the Better You D3 spray.

I also take Bio-Kult because of my allergies. Looking after ones microbiome seems to be especially important for allergy sufferers (and possibly auto immune conditions too, of which I also have a few).

I eat well too - not popping pills to make up for a poor diet. Just not the healthiest person.

***This*** might be worth a read because high dose B12 can help suppress an overactive or misbehaving immune system. I use high dose B12 (10mg twice daily myself as I have allergies to anything I consume. Nothing dangerous because I do not get any serious reactions only exhaustion and skin reactions but nothing that I want and high dose B12 makes a big difference for me.
I don't think that Bio-Kult will have much effect TBH. One of the bacteria shows some promise but it's just not enough to have any effect against the cause. I do want to use something that is produced but so far I have been unable to purchase it so have not got anywhere so far. It's very frustrating.

ciaccino wrote: »

An excellent site to find the highest or lowest concentrations of specific nutrients in food is:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/nutrient-search

I have found that site to be useful myself and refer to it when I want to know what foods contain.

cavework

socks_uk wrote: »

I've recently had some blood tests that show I am very low in Vitamin D and yesterday my doctor has prescribed me with 2 a day (I pay £10.40 a month for my prescription card so I don't feel guilty about them being on prescription).

But the thing is that I'm a natural redhead with very pale skin and have always avoided direct sunlight or used a high factor sun cream (just as we have always been advised as to avoid skin cancer) so I now wonder if I should have bothered.

Also, after doing a bit of 'Googling' I find out that being deficient in vitamin D can cause you to put on weight... I've slowly become heavier since I became an 'indoor/undercover' person. I'm looking forward in seeing if, over time, the vitamin D will help me loose weight as no other diet I've tried never did! Well, time will tell!

Have you tried replacing cows milk with almond milk?
It is lower in calories and has added vitamin D plus loads of other health benefits

Gloomendoom

Mrs G tried replacing cows milk with almond milk.

It may have health benefits but it is an acquired taste. In her opinion (and mine), it tastes disgusting. It is also highly processed with lots of extra stuff added to it, if that bothers you.

markfj

Personally I take,

Whey Protein for gym
BCAA and Creatine, for gym also
Multivitamin tablets
Omega 3 capsules

It might be mind over matter or diet, but I very rarely get sick and blood results always come back good, so I stick to taking them

Goldiegirl

I have Menieres Disease, which can cause deafness, vertigo and balance issues.

After doing a load of reading, i found that the following regime is meant to improve the condition.

So I take, each day

A multi vitamin and iron supplement
Ginkgo biloba
Grape seed extract
Vitamin C with rose hips and bioflavonoids
Calcium with vitamin D

I have to follow a low sodium diet so cook everything from scratch.

I've been symptom free since last August, and I'm not taking any formal medication.

It seems to be working, so I'm going to carry on with my regime.

Plus, I feel better than I have done in years

ellay864

I hit the echinacea at the slightest hint of a cold, and take daily glucosamine HCl and rose hip for OA

Love_My_Body

I started going to the gym and supplementing my diet about 12 months ago as I had blood tests showing very high cholesterol levels. Originally my Dr said just diet alterations should fix it but as it is hereditary they didn't alter much even with a very strict diet.

So after my next test she said to try exercise to reduce it - this worked i got it down from 8.9 to 7.2 but this is still too high so I then began to 'experiment' (with input from my Dr) with supplementing. I started with a bog standard daily multi vitamin and Omega 3 fish oil. I know also use (having got the bug from training) protein powder and creatine along with plant sterol drinks and I have got my cholesterol level down to 5.2.

I'm really please with this as after the 1st 2 tests I was told I would likely be on statins for the rest of my life if I couldn't improve it myself.

I know nothing should replace a balanced diet but if supplementing means you get all the nutrition you body needs which you may otherwise miss due to basically not having the money or more likely not having enough hours in the day to prepare cook and eat a healthy diet then I can't see anything wrong with it.

janb5

Surely if you`re paying to go to the gym, it doesn't take much effort to prepare good food rather than take supplements which are costly? It doesn't take much to get into the habit of preparing food every day and can be really quick. You don't have to stand over the oven every day !