Clinical research on multivitamins - physician input?

[Gregrobin]

Originally Posted by BMWCCA1

FWIW, I pay a lot for car, motorcycle, and homeowner insurance, too, and can't always document the benefit.

But you can, if you ever need them, right? If you are in an at fault accident and do $50k worth of damage to another's property, your insurance should pay for it.

[Gregrobin]

Originally Posted by Kick 6

I agree, but we are the only one who controls what you eat. I do the best I can too but that involves preparing my food daily ahead of time. I often tell people to download the Daily Dozen app and do the best they can to follow its recommendations. Try to make conscious choices to eat better and preparation ahead of time is the key.

Agreed, I am 54 years old and I have focused on "eating right" from the right food groups for over 10 years now. I spent a lot of time, and money, working with a Natural Medicine/Nutritionist. I feel good, I eat food as close to it's raw state as I can, avoid processed sugars, salt, consume the right oils, etc. I'm active, work out, get 8 hours of sleep, etc. I get made fun of by my girlfriend, but I feel good. My goal is to feel good, not extend my life.

One of my buddies pops all kind of supplements and works out every day, sometimes 2 times a day. If a new supplement comes onto the market, he tries it. His goal is to live longer. By his own admission he has no idea why he takes all of the supplements he does as he knows they are probably not helping him.

[Kick 6]

Originally Posted by Gregrobin

Agreed, I am 54 years old and I have focused on "eating right" from the right food groups for over 10 years now. I spent a lot of time, and money, working with a Natural Medicine/Nutritionist. I feel good, I eat food as close to it's raw state as I can, avoid processed sugars, salt, consume the right oils, etc. I'm active, work out, get 8 hours of sleep, etc. I get made fun of by my girlfriend, but I feel good. My goal is to feel good, not extend my life.

One of my buddies pops all kind of supplements and works out every day, sometimes 2 times a day. If a new supplement comes onto the market, he tries it. His goal is to live longer. By his own admission he has no idea why he takes all of the supplements he does as he knows they are probably not helping him.

You and I are on a similar path. I'm 52 and 14 years ago, I was forced to not only change my life but alter my outlook on health. I was so sick I couldn't walk 50 yards and multiple physicians couldn't even tell me what was wrong much less fix me. I had to learn it on my own. One thing I learned is that we are all the same, but we are different. That's another topic but I am professionally trained in medicine so I know the in's and out's of multivitamins. There are some I like better than others but usually, a one size fits all approach is not the best way to go. I can even tell you exactly what to eat to be healthy and it may be the wrong thing for you to eat. We are all the same, but we are different.

One thing I can say with confidence is that the scientific literature has been corrupted now for a number of years. We can't believe everything we read even if it is published in a respectable scientific journal. The water is so murky that what is right and what is wrong is often in question. It didn't used to be like that but it is today.

[jonathan16qz]

most multi vitamins don't have high enough levels of vitamins to be beneficial, and second issue is the bioavailability of those.
took 3 years and lots of research to help make this multi vitamin, only one i ever look for

I believe that it depends on each separate situation.

[Mugi]

I am not a clinician but a toxicologist for a federal regulatory agency and most of what people are saying here are right because all multivitamins and other dietary supplements people take for gynecological remedies to strengthening memory are not regulated like prescription drugs. Last year, the supplement industry raked in almost $30Billions. Multivitamins are waste of your money if you eat a balanced diet, as you pee it out the most of these water soluble vitamins. In fact, as indicated by some here, in some instances, excess vitamins may be deleterious, for e.g., Vitamin E, especially among smokers was found to increase their lung cancer incidence. So, there is no point in taking mega doses of these vitamins unless your blood test showed deficiency in any vitamins, which is very very rare in this country. The only vitamin I recommend for Caucasians is Vitamin D because of the low melanocytes in their skin to make Vitamin D. Most people show low in this vitamin in their blood test no matter how much sun you get exposed to. All other vitamins, especially fat soluble vitamins, may carry some risk if you take too much when you really don't need it as these can accumulate in your body to cause some adverse effects.