When and how many multi-vitamins should you take?

[miked2789]

I'm 16.5 yrs old, I've been taking a multi for about 2 months now for a variety of reasons, helath, nutrition, but mainly for helping growth especially in height. I've recently heard that some ppl take it before bed, or one in the morning and then again at night. I've always taken mine in the morning but does anybody think taking one in the morning and then one a night would be more helpful? harmful?

[miked2789]

also, the multi i currently take is centrum a-z, anyone know a better multi to buy or is this the best one?

[lord_hope]

also, the multi i currently take is centrum a-z, anyone know a better multi to buy or is this the best one?

My brother is a dr and he says most vitamins do the same job. And the expensive ones aint that much better, just paying for the label.

do u notice the back says Do not exceed more than one a day. That is because more than one is potentially VERY BAD for u. I mean companies usually want u to take loads of their products so u buy more but taking more than 1 multivitamin is bad, thats y they CANT!

so one aday bro!

[lucid]

My brother is a dr and he says most vitamins do the same job. And the expensive ones aint that much better, just paying for the label.

do u notice the back says Do not exceed more than one a day. That is because more than one is potentially VERY BAD for u. I mean companies usually want u to take loads of their products so u buy more but taking more than 1 multivitamin is bad, thats y they CANT!

so one aday bro!

No, the reason it says once a day its a marketing technique for the lazy. So they wont have to bother and take it more than once.

"oh, once a day and ill live 20 years more, sounds great honey lets buy it"

Plus, I do not know you're brother, but if you check the diffrent formulas, they have diffrent amounts of vitamins\minerals. So if you take Centrum A-Z once a day as instructed or a Mans Formula of some kind twice a day, youll be probably consuming 5x the amount of Centrum A-Z.

[miked2789]

so should i look into finding a better multi or should i start taking my multi twice a day? or both?

[lord_hope]

No, the reason it says once a day its a marketing technique for the lazy. So they wont have to bother and take it more than once.

"oh, once a day and ill live 20 years more, sounds great honey lets buy it"

Plus, I do not know you're brother, but if you check the diffrent formulas, they have diffrent amounts of vitamins\minerals. So if you take Centrum A-Z once a day as instructed or a Mans Formula of some kind twice a day, youll be probably consuming 5x the amount of Centrum A-Z.

yeah and MOST of which is not of any use after a certain level. u get all the **** from food too u know.

and its not a marketing technique for the lazy u tard. More than one a day is bad and can cause opponent process tolerance and less effectiveness from the pills.

[lord_hope]

ok i've found out the reasons why u should only take one vitamin a day.

they are:

too much of vitamin A can cause dry skin, headaches, joint pain and insomnia.

too much vitamin c can cause cramps and diarrhea.

also pasted this:

Vitamin A

Gorging on this vitamin compound in doses of more than 25,000 IUs (five times the RDA) can lead to liver damage, hair loss, blurred vision and headaches.

Bitamin B-6

Ingesting more than 400 mg a day (200 times the RDA) can cause numbness in the mouth and hands and difficulty in walking.

Vitamin C

It was once believed to cause kidney stones, but experts now say there is no solid evidence of dangerous side effects from vitamin C. High doses can produce stomachaches and diarrhea.

Vitamin D

In daily doses of 50,000 IUs (125 times the U.S. RDA), the sunshine vitamin can cause the buildup of calcium deposits that can interfere with the functioning of muscles, including heart tissue. While sunbathing will never create an overdose, taking too many supplements can.

Niacin

Doctors prescribe doses of 2,000 mg (100 times the RDA) to help lower cholesterol. But patients who take that much should be monitored for possible symptoms of jaundice and liver damage.

Iron

Those who want to bolster their red blood cell count, especially elderly people and menstruating women, have been taking iron supplements for years. Daily doses higher than 100 mg (six times the RDA) could interfere with absorption of zinc, a mineral that speeds wound healing and helps regulate the immune system.

http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vi...-overdose.html

http://www.ivillage.co.uk/health/ghe...584724,00.html

[Rippd]

lordhope, too much of anything is not good for you.

You do realize that many things create the need to supplement vitamins such as stress, excercise, etc.

You cannot get all the vitamins you need from food. First off our soils are depleted of nutrients. Foods nowadays do not have as many nutrients as they did years ago plus hormones, pestisides and the like that are added to foods nowadays also affects their nutrient content. Second, no one eats enough of the right foods to get enough micronutrients.

Multivitamins are certainly NOT created equal. A product like centrum is not something you should be taking, first off the potency is weak, 100% of the RDA. The RDA is just enough vitamins so that you do not develop a disease. Certainly not enough for a hard training athlete. Plus the way the tablets are made you are lucky if you absorb the vitamins in it. Check the label, they use waxes and all sorts of artificial ingredients.

You need to have a quality multi that is in the right type of tablet so that nutrients can get to where they need to be absorbed. Many nutrients will get destroyed in the stomach.

[lord_hope]

lordhope, too much of anything is not good for you.

You do realize that many things create the need to supplement vitamins such as stress, excercise, etc.

You cannot get all the vitamins you need from food. First off our soils are depleted of nutrients. Foods nowadays do not have as many nutrients as they did years ago plus hormones, pestisides and the like that are added to foods nowadays also affects their nutrient content. Second, no one eats enough of the right foods to get enough micronutrients.

Multivitamins are certainly NOT created equal. A product like centrum is not something you should be taking, first off the potency is weak, 100% of the RDA. The RDA is just enough vitamins so that you do not develop a disease. Certainly not enough for a hard training athlete. Plus the way the tablets are made you are lucky if you absorb the vitamins in it. Check the label, they use waxes and all sorts of artificial ingredients.

You need to have a quality multi that is in the right type of tablet so that nutrients can get to where they need to be absorbed. Many nutrients will get destroyed in the stomach.

absolutely but some of these guys think quantity is better than quality. I mean, some take over 2 a day and think its good.

[taffer]

get a good potent multi, as bodybuilders we often need extra vitmains and minerals (more than the average joe)

i get swisse multi's (not sure if they are sold in america) but they provide a wider range, and more potent range of vitamins and minerals, as well as stuff like gin-seng (however you spell it) which is great for recovery and a bunch of other things!

[miked2789]

lordhope, too much of anything is not good for you.

You do realize that many things create the need to supplement vitamins such as stress, excercise, etc.

You cannot get all the vitamins you need from food. First off our soils are depleted of nutrients. Foods nowadays do not have as many nutrients as they did years ago plus hormones, pestisides and the like that are added to foods nowadays also affects their nutrient content. Second, no one eats enough of the right foods to get enough micronutrients.

Multivitamins are certainly NOT created equal. A product like centrum is not something you should be taking, first off the potency is weak, 100% of the RDA. The RDA is just enough vitamins so that you do not develop a disease. Certainly not enough for a hard training athlete. Plus the way the tablets are made you are lucky if you absorb the vitamins in it. Check the label, they use waxes and all sorts of artificial ingredients.

You need to have a quality multi that is in the right type of tablet so that nutrients can get to where they need to be absorbed. Many nutrients will get destroyed in the stomach.

so wat multi would you reccomend i take?

[Stagger]

Just keep it simple. Contrary to popular belief, there's not a lot of variation on the quality of most vitamins.

Do a simple test. When you buy a vitamin, take one pill out and put it in a small glass of vinegar. If it's not completely broken up and partially dissolved in 20 minutes, it's crap.

If you eat a good diet, you get the RDA for all vitamins and minerals every day just from food. It's not as hard as you think, you just have to avoid empty calories and make sure everything you eat is a good source of something. Generally it's a good idea to limit grains, as they tend to have a lot of calories compared with not too many nutrients.


ou probably read a lot of stuff about how it's IMPOSSIBLE to get all your nutritional needs just from food, and while that may be true depending on the individual, it doesn't mean you need to spend 30% on a month's supply of vitamins.

Step 1: Keep track of your diet for a few weeks. At the end, average it out. If you're getting nowhere near the RDA for everything, improve your diet. It should be relatively easy to get more than 80% of the RDA just from food. I get 100% no problem.

Step 2: When your diet is damn good, get some Centrum Silver. A few reasons for this. For one, some cheap generic brand probably sucks and doesn't pass the vinegar test. Two, Centrum Silver is pretty good. The important part is that it has no iron. If you eat meat (especially red meat) you get plenty of iron, so large amounts of iron in a multi are hurting you. Otherwise it has everything you need.

[Stagger]

lordhope, too much of anything is not good for you.
You cannot get all the vitamins you need from food. First off our soils are depleted of nutrients. Foods nowadays do not have as many nutrients as they did years ago plus hormones, pestisides and the like that are added to foods nowadays also affects their nutrient content. Second, no one eats enough of the right foods to get enough micronutrients.

Multivitamins are certainly NOT created equal. A product like centrum is not something you should be taking, first off the potency is weak, 100% of the RDA. The RDA is just enough vitamins so that you do not develop a disease. Certainly not enough for a hard training athlete. Plus the way the tablets are made you are lucky if you absorb the vitamins in it. Check the label, they use waxes and all sorts of artificial ingredients.

.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery...spotquack.html

Bull****. Sure it's just what we all hear, but it's not true. Allow me to quote a great site, quackwatch:

8. They Claim That Soil Depletion and the Use of Pesticides and
"Chemical" Fertilizers Result in Food That Is Less Safe and Less Nourishing.
These claims are used to promote the sale of so-called "organically grown" foods. If an essential nutrient is missing from the soil, a plant simply doesn't grow. Chemical fertilizers counteract the effects of soil depletion..[/b] Quacks also lie when they claim that plants grown with natural fertilizers (such as manure) are nutritionally superior to those grown with synthetic fertilizers. Before they can use them, plants convert natural fertilizers into the same chemicals that synthetic fertilizers supply. The vitamin content of a food is determined by its genetic makeup. Fertilizers can influence the levels of certain minerals in plants, but this is not a significant factor in the American diet. The pesticide residue of our food supply is extremely small and poses no health threat to the consumer. Foods "certified" as "organic" are not safer or more nutritious than other foods. In fact, except for their high price, they are not significantly different.

As far as the RDA being only enough to prevent disease, that's wrong. Take vitamin C, for example. The RDA is 75-90mg but a dose as small as 10mg can prevent scurvy. The RDA's are higher than most people need, although getting more would be ideal.

As far as unnatural ingredients, well, vitamins are chemicals. Plain and simple. Vitamins are just chemicals, the same as any artifical chemicals. If there's anything special in food that helps the vitamin in your body, you should just eat the food that contains that vitamin.

The only case I've ever heard of a synthetic vitamin being bad is beta-carotene. It doesn't really have anything to do with it being synthetic though, just that beta-carotene is used instead of actual Vitamin A because actual A is fat-soluble. Excess beta-carotene is stored in bad places and getting too much can increase cancer risk. Still, I don't think there's any multivitamin that doesn't use beta-carotene.


The vitamin industry, and the alternative health industry in general, is a very profitable business. They want you to think that you need their products. That's why they say that it's impossible to get enough nutrients from food. Just think about that. What kind of ridiculous statement is it, that there is NO WAY to get enough nutrients without taking a supplement. It's bull****.

Let me ask you this. If the food we eat doesn't have as much nutrition as we think it does, why does it say we get so much on the label? Are they lying? Food is tested by the USDA/FDA for nutrition and if it was less than it says so on the label, there would be problems.

The fact is it's quite easy to get adequate nutrition from food. Of course bodybuilders and athletes need more, but bodybuilders also eat more, and they eat more nutrient-dense food than most people. Taking a multivitamin is good, but you don't need to blow a ton of money. The only reason you should buy some standard Centrum stuff is because it's so cheap that you might as well do it.

[BackInTheJox]

The nutritional supplement markerters have wet dreams about people like you, Lucid.

[A.FreeRadical]

yeah and MOST of which is not of any use after a certain level. u get all the **** from food too u know.

and its not a marketing technique for the lazy u tard. More than one a day is bad and can cause opponent process tolerance and less effectiveness from the pills.

I am sorry, but you are wrong in this. Most cheap multi vitamins provide the minimum daily requirement, RDA. This is the amount of vitamins you need to prevent starvation. (maybe an exageration, but no one believes these levels are optimum.) It is true that some vitamins (iron and oil based like vitamin A) can be toxic in large amounts, the amounts are huge compared to what is in a heavy duty multi-vitamin. Most all of the other vitamins get excreted in your urine if your body doesn't need them. Supplements are important for bodybuilding. We make demands on our bodies and we need some form of supplementation. Knowing the benefits and limitations of vitamins and minerals is the first step.

*
aA.FreeRadical a
Visit my 8 week cutting journal. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=382697

[GregElder]

I am sorry, but you are wrong in this. Most cheap multi vitamins provide the minimum daily requirement, RDA. This is the amount of vitamins you need to prevent starvation. (maybe an exageration, but no one believes these levels are optimum.) It is true that some vitamins (iron and oil based like vitamin A) can be toxic in large amounts, the amounts are huge compared to what is in a heavy duty multi-vitamin. Most all of the other vitamins get excreted in your urine if your body doesn't need them. Supplements are important for bodybuilding. We make demands on our bodies and we need some form of supplementation. Knowing the benefits and limitations of vitamins and minerals is the first step.

*
aA.FreeRadical a
Visit my 8 week cutting journal. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=382697

I agree with AFreeRadical 100%. We put our bodies through a lot, and when we're cutting, especially, we need extra vitamins/minerals. I for one, sweat my ass off in the gym and while doing cardio. I take a multi-Vitamin after cardio and after weights, so two a day. It doesn't cost that much, and I see it as insurance, if nothing else. Like AFR says, you pee out the extra vitamins you don't use anyway.

Now, I would not tell the average person, who's not weight training and doing cardio to take two per day, probably just one.

I also take extra Vitamin C and E post workout, for the anti-Oxidants and an extra Vitamin B pill per day. When I go off my Vitamins, I can tell a difference, and it's not a good difference.

[Chris_Seal]

I wouldn't take more than one a day. As it has been mentioned, bodybuilders eat more food and more calorie and nutrient dense food at that, than the average joe.
One good quality multi vitamin a day would do fine.
Is there any diffrence between the expensive brand and the cheap ones ?

[Jumpman23]

You are probably good taking one a day in the morning. I take mine at night but I'm on a different multi. Here's good info on people's favorite multis.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...=multi+vitamin

[Jimmy Bones]

The "One a Day" concept is just a marketing technique.

Taking two multi vitamins a day is really not that big of a deal. If you start to take more than two a day is when I would say you are going to overdose on vitamins/minerals such as iron.

I use AST Multi Pro 32X and right on the bottle it says "Directions: Take one tablet twice daily - AM/PM." If you are really concerned I would just read up and see at what amount of each vitamin/mineral you would overdose and make sure you are pretty well under that amount. I am not a physician, but I think that you should be fine. Of course, I wouldn't waste my money taking two multis a day unless I really felt the need to take them. I usually only take one in morning, unless I really feel it would contribute to the restoration of my muscles.

[mwilkison]

Garden of Life vitamins are good tho somewhat expensive, they are also organic so they are more easily used by your body.

[Dia-Tribe]

Originally Posted by alan aragon
Some multis are meant to be taken in multiple doses, in which case it doesn't really matter when, as long as it's with meals. If it's just a single dose multi, it's best to have it with your 1st main meal of the day. This is because the purpose of the micronutrients is to catalyze the processing of the macronutrients for energy, etc, etc, thus it makes the most sense to have the multi in a pre-prep-for-the-day context.

Hope this helps

[A.FreeRadical]

I am using Fitday's Fitday PC to keep track of my statistics. This is not the online webpage, it is software that I have purchased to save the data on my computer. One of the nice features this has, is the ability to create custom foods and record the Nutritional Label information for things not in the database. I created two custom foods. One is "2 multi vitamins" and the other is called "Other vitamins". By logging consumption of these two custom items each day, I can see how much of the essential vitamin and minerals that I am getting in these plus the same found in all of the real food that I eat.

I take a lot of vitamins. To see what I take click here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpo...&postcount=310

To all of you who think you are getting enough vitamins in your diet and one multi-vitamin take note.

The interesting thing is, dispite taking all of these vitamins and eating very wholesome food, I do not meet the RDA or the DV% for several vitamins and minerals.

Based on my diet for the last 6 weeks these items are deficient:

Below the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA)
Dietary Fiber 63 %
Calcium 84%

Below the Daily Value %
Saturated fat 87% (I think that is a good thing.)
Vitamin D 63%
Food Folate 62%
Iron 65%
Pantothentic Acid 46%
Potassium 76%

Does anyone here believe the RDA and the DV% minimums are adequate for bodybuilding?

*
aA.FreeRadical a
Visit my 8 week cutting journal. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=382697

[Malaka1985]

this is gonna sound kinda strange, but how many flintstone vitamins do u think it's ok to take?

[Jimmy Bones]

Read the back of the bottle, but honestly I think it is a good investment to buy some quality multi vitamins. Unless you are poor and your family has to share one bottle of flinstones vitamins. If you are a serious bodybuilder, mulitvitamins are very near the top of the list.

[gymratluke]

I'd say just take one and make sure it doesn't have iron in it which most do.