As I?m sure you are well aware the importance of protein and carbohydrate intake amongst bodybuilders, but what about vitamins? It seems so many young bodybuilders are overlooking the importance of vitamins in their daily lives. Ive noticed on the forums that there are hundreds of topics related to protein and creatine, but very few regarding vitamins. So with that being said, I decided to do some research and present to you guys the 10 most important vitamins for bodybuilders.
Why vitamins and minerals are important:
? During strenuous physical activity, an enormous amount of vitamins and minerals are depleted from our bodies.
? Making sure our bodies have enough vitamins and minerals helps maintain and improve proper health.
? Failure to maintain healthy vitamin and mineral levels can lead to hindered performance in the gym, slowing down growth, and in severe cases, also lead to other health problems.
Now for the top 10 vitamins. I found an excellent website that listed these in great detail. Saving you some reading time, I took the most important pieces of information from that article as well as listed the best natural food sources which contain these vitamins.
10. Cobalamin (vitamin B12)
? Carbohydrate metabolism and maintenance of nervous system tissue (spinal cord, nerves that carry signals from the brain to muscle tissue).
? The stimulation of muscles via the nerve cells is a critical step in the contraction, coordination, and growth of muscles.
? B12 is only available from foods of animal origin (beef, chicken, fish, pork, etc.)
9. Biotin
? Critical in amino acid metabolism and production of energy from many sources.
? Bodybuilders who eat raw egg whites gain a substance called Advin, which blocks biotin absorption.
? Sources of biotin include: egg yolk, liver, kidney, pancreas, milk, soya, and barley.
8. Riboflavin (vitamin B2)
? Involved in 3 main processes: 1) Glucose metabolism, 2) Oxidation of fatty acids, and 3) The shuttling of Hydrogen through the Krebs cycle (also known as the citric acid cycle where certain molecules are broken down into energy in the form of ATP).
? For bodybuilding purposes, riboflavin is related to protein metabolism. There is a strong relationship between lean body mass and dietary riboflavin.
? Foods rich in riboflavin: liver, almonds, soy nuts, shellfish, milk and other dairy products, and eggs.
7. Vitamin A
? Vitamin A helps with vision.
? Important in the synthesis of protein (muscle growth!!!).
? Involved in the production of Glycogen (the body?s form of energy for high intensity activities).
? Very important for contest preparation.
? Dietary sources: there are many, see the link below and click on (at the top, under table of contents) ?What foods provide vitamin A.? Notice that milk is mentioned again. So far out of 5, milk is mentioned in 4 of the main vitamins? Coincidence? I think not?
? http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamina.asp#h2
6. Vitamin E
? Used in protection of cell membranes since it is a powerful antioxidant.
? Recuperation and growth of muscle cells is dependant on healthy cell membranes.
? Vegetable oils, nuts, green leafy vegetables, and fortified cereals are the most common food sources of vitamin E.
5. Niacin (vitamin B3)
? Involved in nearly 60 metabolic processes related to energy production.
? Nicotine acid, a form of Niacin, causes vasodilatation which can help competitors looks more vascular on stage. Large doses of Nicotine acid drastically impairs the body?s ability to mobilize and burn fat.
? Dietary sources include: turkey meat (the body uses the amino acid tryptophan to create Niacin), dairy products, poultry, fish, lean meats, nuts, and eggs.
4. Vitamin D
? Vitamin D is necessary in the absorption of Calcium and Phosphorus. If adequate stores of Calcium are not available in the muscle, full and hard muscular contractions will not be achieved.
? Quick, powerful muscular contractions are provided by Phosphorus. Phosphorus is also required for the synthesis of ATP.
? Dietary sources: No-fat or low fat MILK.
3. Thiamine (vitamin B1)
? Required for protein metabolism and growth.
? Involved in the formation of hemoglobin which is a protein found in red blood cells that transports oxygen to working muscles in the body.
? Oxygen transportation becomes increasingly more important to athletic performance as intensity and duration of exercise increase.
? As the amount of exercise, intensity, and duration of exercise increase, the more thiamine is needed.
? Dietary sources: Green peas, Spinach, Liver, Beef, Pork, Navy beans, Nuts, Pinto beans, Bananas, Soybeans, Goji berries, Whole-grain and Enriched Cereals, Breads, Yeast,the aleurone layer of unpolished rice, and Legumes.
2. Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
? The only vitamin directly tied to protein intake. The greater protein consumption, the greater amount of vitamin B6 you need.
? Vitamin B6 makes it possible for protein metabolism, growth and carbohydrate utilization to take place.
? Dietary sources: Avocados, nuts, liver, chicken, fish, green beans, field salad, wheat germ, nutritional yeast, sea vegetables, and bananas are particularly good food sources.
1. Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)
? Enhances recovery and growth in muscle cells. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant.
? Involved in the formation of Collagen, the primary constituent in connective tissue (connective tissue holds your bones and muscles together). As you lift heavier weights, you put more stress on your structure. If your connective tissue is not as strong as it should be you have a much higher risk of injury.
? Helps in the absorption of Iron. With an Iron deficiency, the amount of oxygen that gets bonded to hemoglobin in the blood decreases and muscular performance is greatly reduced.
? Diffuses very rapidly in water. Since a muscle cell is mostly water, the more muscular an athlete becomes, the more vitamin C disperses and the lower the concentration of this critical substance becomes in body tissues. So vitamin C requirements are greatly increased for bodybuilders.
? Finally: Vitamin C assists in the formation and release of steroid hormones, including the anabolic hormone testosterone.
? Dietary sources: The largest sources of vitamin C are present in citrus fruits and fruit juices.
Well there you have it, the 10 most important vitamins for a bodybuilder. If you are a bodybuilder, you should be eating a lot anyways, especially as much of the above foods listed as possible, so getting all of these vitamins in your diet shouldn?t be problem. However, if you feel your diet needs some help there are many multivitamins which you can supplement along with your meals, but it?s always better to get your vitamins from natural sources. You may however, want to consider in investing in a simple vitamin C supplement based purely on how important it is in the bodybuilding world.
Lastly, note how many times milk or dairy is listed as a primary food source of the above vitamins. Three or four glasses of milk a day will definitely be of good use by your body. If you are lactose intolerant, you may want to consider purchasing lactose free milk which is exactly the same as regular milk but with the added ingredient lactase, which neutralizes the lactose.
Until next time, lift hard, heavy, and don?t forget to EAT!!!
Sources:
http://www.getbig.com/articles/faq-vit1.htm
http://ods.od.nih.gov/index.aspx
http://www.MayoClinic.com
http://www.pdrhealth.com/index.html
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/
http://www.Wikipedia.org
http://www.approvedarticles.com/Arti...itamins-/10300
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Thread: 10 Vitamins for Bodybuilders
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09-05-2007, 04:06 PM #1
10 Vitamins for Bodybuilders
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"No fck that, I'm not gonna miss any reps. I'll die before i miss a rep." - dynamik, #1
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09-19-2007, 05:27 PM #2
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10-25-2007, 10:31 AM #3
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11-04-2007, 10:47 PM #4
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11-18-2008, 08:11 PM #5
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11-18-2008, 08:47 PM #6
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11-19-2008, 11:53 PM #7
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11-21-2008, 04:29 AM #8
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11-21-2008, 04:38 AM #9
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11-21-2008, 03:09 PM #10
http://www.the-natural-path.com/vita...quirement.html
this site is excellent. you'd probably want to take more than they recommend. not a lot more, but definitely more since your body needs nutrients for the gym and to grow
and all those question marks are supposed to be bullets. I wrote it in word and copy and pastedLast edited by 2 HUGE; 11-21-2008 at 06:49 PM.
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"No fck that, I'm not gonna miss any reps. I'll die before i miss a rep." - dynamik, #1
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11-24-2008, 05:16 PM #11
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11-26-2008, 12:20 PM #12
- Join Date: Jun 2007
- Location: United Kingdom (Great Britain)
- Age: 35
- Posts: 133
- Rep Power: 206
Great write up there. I've recently found myself going from maybe 2 portions of fruit and veg a day to 7 or 8, and all these are loaded with these vitamins, and I actually feel so much better for it. And ye as you said milk is clearly something that every body builder should be getting down them A LOT!
Prove Them Wrong
Losers Let Things Happen, Winners MAKE them Happen!!
"Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated"
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12-14-2008, 06:27 PM #13
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12-14-2008, 10:08 PM #14
Anything wrong with taking too much Vitamins and Minerals?
I just noticed that i am taking in around about 4500% daily intake of B6 and 5000% of B12 from Multi-Vitamins and NO supplements This is not including my food intake and i am eatign alot of food high in these Vitamins such as walnuts on average 90g fat per day from walnuts. So my B6 and B12 intake is extremly high.. Any negative effects of too much? Or am i just pissing most of it out?
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12-15-2008, 08:01 AM #15
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12-15-2008, 03:54 PM #16
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12-15-2008, 07:51 PM #17
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12-15-2008, 09:42 PM #18
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12-15-2008, 09:43 PM #19
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12-18-2008, 06:29 PM #20
in short - yes
obviously, too much of anything is bad for the body - it all has to be processed... Taking the right amount is what you should be after. Some vitamins can cause serious damage if you overdose - but we're talking huge amouns of overdose - in vitmain C, 1.5g is more than enough per day.
just do a google search on vitamins and their limits - theres good websites that will indicate side effects and how much of what vitamin is healthy. its better to take a bit more than recommended since your body will need lots of nutrients to build muscle.
for example
Too much vitamin B6 can result in nerve damage to the arms and legs. This neuropathy is usually related to high intake of vitamin B6 from supplements, [28] and is reversible when supplementation is stopped. According to the Institute of Medicine, "Several reports show sensory neuropathy at doses lower than 500 mg per day" [12]. As previously mentioned, the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine has established an upper tolerable intake level (UL) for vitamin B6 of 100 mg per day for all adults [12]. "As intake increases above the UL, the risk of adverse effects increases [12]."
xtend has 10mg = 500% of daily value. youd be getting 5000% of daily value if you took 100mg. 2-3 servings of xtend is plenty. not to mention youre normal food intake$
"No fck that, I'm not gonna miss any reps. I'll die before i miss a rep." - dynamik, #1
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12-18-2008, 07:29 PM #21
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12-18-2008, 09:17 PM #22
Don't know about carcinogenic, but too much of some vitamins can be toxic. Be careful not to overdue it with vitamin A or Iron. Too much vitamin A can damage the liver, and too much iron can damage the liver, cardiovascular system, and endocrine glands (which could stunt growth). I wouldn't use a multivitamin unless it has well under 100% RDA for vitamin A and no iron. You probably get enough of these with regular diet (vitamin A is already added to milk, cereal, etc.)
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03-22-2009, 01:25 PM #23
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03-25-2009, 01:23 AM #24
Great write up, nice to see folks not steering clear of milk/dairy, a group I feel is very beneficial to anyone, and especially those that lift hard.
Just all around good info clearly presented......Thanks!God Bless the men and women that serve our country, Support our troops! Or stand in front of them...
Florida Gator 4 Life
Repped on sight - Sheepdogs/Armed forces
Reps owed E_P_C X 2 ..spreads a bytch
LIFT-4-LIFE.... THEN DIE
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04-06-2009, 05:42 PM #25
- Join Date: Apr 2009
- Location: Dallas, Texas, United States
- Age: 48
- Posts: 104
- Rep Power: 185
A few facts in no particular order.
Very few standard vitamins are harmful until you take massive mega doses. Likek 300,000 IU's on some of them like Vitamin C. Off beat ones like acia or gogi juice and so on I can't vouch for.
Vitamins have far larger percentages over the FDA recomended because it's hard for your body to digest and take advantage of the vitamins in a pill form. This means they usually have to go several to many times over the FDA in order to come close to meeting it.
The best way to take vitamins is seperatly. Such as a vitamin A pill, A vitamin C pill, and so on.
Most of the 10 vitamins listed in the original post are all part of the essential B eight family. That means there are eight different types of B vitamins that you need. You can get them all cheaply through one B complex Vitamin.
The reason you should take vitamins is that you will never get all the nessasary vitamins every day naturally. You would have to eat to much specific food. And if your cutting, forget about it. You won't even make a dent.
If your worried about taking to much, then look up the facts on each on vitamin on wikipedia. That's what I did before I first started taking vitamins regularly.
The website puritan has vitamins at super cheap prices. I get 95% of mine through their.
The only time you shouldn't take lot's of vitamins is if you have prostate cancer. However, if you don't have it, but are prone to it, their are many vitamins to help prevent it.
You should take the following every day at least.
A, B Complex, C, D3, E, Plus something for omega 3 fats. That is the at least list from just off the top of my head.
I take over 20 different vitamins a day, because it is of course safe to get your vitamins, and I'd rather be safe then sorry. I don't know about you, but I'm living to 1,000.
Finally, any one who tells you you shouldn't take the standard essential vitamins to at least the full FDA value daily because it's unsafe is a moron who you shouldn't listen too. It doesn't even make any sense on a two year old leval. It would be like me telling you that I have a study that says water, food, air, and sex is bad for you. Menwhile we all know that you need all four daily to live.
Peace.
PS. My grandfather who lived clean his whole life was very healthy until 93 when he died of pancreatic cancer. The doctor told him had he taken Vitamin K daily, it would have reduced his risk of getting pancreatic cancer by a large percent. Just saying.
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04-06-2009, 05:46 PM #26
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04-06-2009, 10:34 PM #27
- Join Date: Apr 2009
- Location: Dallas, Texas, United States
- Age: 48
- Posts: 104
- Rep Power: 185
Who knows why most non smokers get cancer. My mother two years ago got breast cancer, and then last year got a rare tounge cancer. Had to cut out a sixth of her tounge. She's a non smoker and tounge cancer doesn't run in our family. God only knows how or why my granddad got pancratic cancer. All I know is vitamin K is supposed to be good for helping to prevent it. There's also some good studies on it for other cancers as well.
All I know is virtually every person should consider taking vitamin's daily for added health benifiets.
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04-06-2009, 10:38 PM #28
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06-03-2009, 05:27 AM #29
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06-03-2009, 08:07 AM #30
I was kinda convinced you were knowledgeable, until you said you could never get the necessary vitamins every day with food. HAHAH are you joking me, another person wasting his money on vitamins. A plant based diet with plenty variety of vegetables, fruits, legumes, meat, and some dairy, will give you all the vitamins and minerals you need for the day. EVEN ON A CUTTING DIET. Give it a break one of my favorite studies showed that long term consumption of vitamins had no effect longevity/ health. Also your grandfather lived to 93, a supplement could have been the answer, but you or that doctor has no clue. He could eaten a cup of spinach/ kale/ collard greens a day which are great sources of vitamin k.
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