Do you believe that multivitamins and other supplements work well?

[GuitarStv]

Right now, my doctor wants me to take Vit D over the winter, because we live in Canada and hibernate for 4 months.

Are you suggesting that our nine months of winter and three months of very poor tobogganing are somehow bad for vitamin D levels???

[Bracken_Joy]

Another way to look at "supplementation" is to use certain foods as supplements.  Brazil nuts for selenium, liver for A, B12, and copper, egg yolks for damn near everything, seaweed for iodine, wild-caught salmon for omega-3 fatty acids, dark chocolate for magnesium (yum), etc.  Better bio-availability in food vs supplement form, and you also get other nutrients for free and maybe even a meal.

+1. We have guidelines of what to eat how often as minimums. Fish at least twice a week, 2 eggs per day, liver once per week (still in progress, lol), brassics at least 3x per week, etc. I legit have a list on our fridge. We've been doing this a couple years now, and the list is always being refined (ie, scribbled on).

[Shinplaster]

Right now, my doctor wants me to take Vit D over the winter, because we live in Canada and hibernate for 4 months.

Are you suggesting that our nine months of winter and three months of very poor tobogganing are somehow bad for vitamin D levels???

Haha!

To be fair, for Torontonians, the time spent in subways and underground malls might have something to do with it too.

[Raste]

The claims on that website rival Dr. Oz in dubiousness.

The article titles maybe, but overall the authors do a fairly good job of reviewing current primary scientific literature and heavily qualifying their statements. Findings are discussed in the light of other literature. Claims are skeptically presented and made within the boundaries and limitations of the study examined. The studies are always referenced so the reader can read the manuscript themselves.

[dragoncar]

Fish is good for mercury supplementation.  Dark chocolate is good for lead supplementation.

[Caoineag]

Most people don't digest these pills well but I am one of the lucky ones who can't handle them at all. Since I don't particularly enjoy feeling like someone socked me in my gut, I supplement with real whole foods, look for natural gaps in my diet and try to eat as many different types of foods as possible. Vegetable smoothies are a great way of getting more nutrients if you know your diet is bad (so long as you aren't adding sugar or other garbage to it and don't go overboard on the fruit since that is high sugar as well).

[Polaria]

Supplements that worked for me:

• vitamin B complex against twitching muscles (the sign is when my eyelid starts to twitch)
• magnesium citrate against tiredness
• chromium against sugar cravings

Now I am bundling all into a A-Z supplement.
This is not a big expense, you can buy a jar of 180 pills (six month supply) for £9 or even less on offer.

[Daisy]

The more colorful my meals are, the happier I get. I try to vary the colors of the fruit and vegetables I eat throughout the day. This is a low-tech way to try and vary the nutrients in my diet.

I have a no-scientific-data-supported theory that if you need special goos/gels, pain relievers, "protein" shakes to make it through your workout or sport of choice, that maybe you are training too hard and you need to let your body rest instead of taking a bunch of anti-inflammatories or supplementation. You can vary your diet to accommodate the training difference. I know when I go skiing, I tend to eat a lot more protein (in real food form) than in my regular non-skiing life.

My ski partners ski all day and all week without rest, and then load up on anti-inflammatories at night, when they just could have turned in a couple of hours early in the ski day or taken a rest day and not pushed so hard. I'm talking skiing 4-5 hours instead of 6-7, for example, so it's still a good ski day without killing your body and risking injury. But I just do my thing and let them do theirs...I don't like "fake" food.

[iamlittlehedgehog]

I think most are hog wash or at least provide very little benefit unless the use is directed by a doctor. That being said I do take a few and have seen positive results. The niacin has lowered my cholesterol and I do take a daily hair and nail vitamin because I'm prone to excessive hair loss - so far, so good.

[BudgetSlasher]

My FIL, who is a doctor, has the opinion that the only result of the once-daily multivitamin is "expensive pee."

Most other supplements are problem the same way . . . unless there is a specific deficiency or issue being addressed.