Supplements / Vitamins - waste of time??

trentlad

trentlad

trentlad

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I recently bought a large list of vitamins and a friend brought up a caution that if you keep supplying the body with surplus doses of vitamins and minerals, it hampers the body's ability to store these naturally since it's in such frequent supply.

Is there any truth to this?
 
I firmly believe in the phrase "Everything in moderation". (Possibly with the exception of sexy time, which I'm prepared to suffer greatly for).
 
But wouldn't that statement also apply to taking the recommended daily amounts? The body would consistently be receiving all these vitamins.
 
For water soluble vitamins if you have a intake in excess of need then you basically flush them down the toilet. The body can't store them. Fat soluble ones can be stored and taking to much of them can be dangerous as they body might not be able to get rid of them fast enough. I very much doubt that your body would stop storing vitamins that it needs.
 
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Your friend is talking rubbish. We all need a boost with some form of supplement, as no-ones diet is perfect - and everyone has trouble metabolising one thing or another.

And as a side note - don't bother with muti-vitamins - or the majority of cheap pills/tablets you get in the likes of Holland and Barrett / boots etc..... most contain a very small amount of the supplement that they claim - and they are cheap for a reason.

Per day - I take.
1000mg of EPA/DHA - Solgar (which cost around £40)
High dose B Complex "50"s - Solgar (Cost around £25 )
2g of Glutamine - from MyProtein
5g of Essential Amino acids - from MyProtein.
15-30g of all additional Amino acids on alternate days - Usually Maximuscle promax.

For anyone that says supplements are a waste of time - tell them to take the above for a 2 weeks and then ask then how good / strong / they feel ;)
 
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Heliospherez said:
Your friend is talking rubbish. We all need a boost with some form of supplement, as no-ones diet is perfect - and everyone has trouble metabolising one thing or another.
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True, but human beings can happily prosper on far worse diets than any in the western world, unless someone really goes out of their way to create a bad diet (the apocryphal all-porrage diet for instance). We evolved to survive and hunt on a very varied diet. Which means that, apart from for a few people with specific problems, all suppliments are a complete waste of money. If you want to make a load of multi-nationals rich by buying useless placebos, be my guest - it's your money being thrown (literally) down the toilet. But as soon as you claim nonsense such as everyone needs them, I call BS on you. Ask any actual genuine nutritionist. I mean real ones, not people who want to sell you vitamins.


M
 
Sheldon: Well, there’s some value to taking a multivitamin, but the human body can only absorb so much, what you’re buying here are the ingredients for very expensive urine.

Penny: Well, maybe that’s what I was going for.

Sheldon: Well then you’ll want some manganese.
 
Sefirosu said:
No. We Really don't.
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We really do. I don't know about you, but I very rarely hit my 5 a day quota, and I never eat fruit, I just don't enjoy it. I know plenty of people with a poor enough diet they won't be hitting their vitamin quotas.

I believe it depends what your goals are, whether there are any underlying medical conditions and how active you are
 
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bazaarboy said:
no, humans rarely need supplementation with over the counter vitamins and minerals, if you live in the western world

the only exceptions are: folic acid in preconception women and vit B compound in alcohol dependency syndromes
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Lmao, 'uninformed opinion'. I suppose the training benefit I get from my creatine supplement could be naturally garnered by consuming an entire cow :p
 
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Do You eat Veg? regularly? Then you don't need supplement. Oh and I dont mean 5 a day, thats Bull and we all know it, a regular health diet with a few indulgent foods is more than enough to keep your body healthy.
 
BigBoy said:
Do You eat Veg? regularly? Then you don't need supplement. Oh and I dont mean 5 a day, thats Bull and we all know it, a regular health diet with a few indulgent foods is more than enough to keep your body healthy.
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Oh yeah totally. The marketing campaign pushed by the NHS, payed for with your tax money are recognised international, thats bull. This DM article says we should be eating 8 a day.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/f...-vegetables-myth-claims-nutrition-expert.html


tigerstyle said:
You never eat any fruit?
You don't enjoy all fruit?
That cannot be true.
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Ok you got me, i totally had some melon last night, because it was there, but on the whole its not part of the weekly shop.
 
You shouldn't need to supplement if you eat a decent diet and have no underlying condition. Of course if you do have a condition or have an illness then taking supplements can help. Or, if you're an athlete or sportsman that regularly depletes his/her body's reserves owing to recovery, then yes, supplements have their place.

However, they are "supplements", i.e. they supplement a diet not replace it. I'd address your diet/food first. Getting your "5 a day" (which is unnecessary in my research and view but that's another discussion) is easy, eating oily fish and getting omega 3 is easy - you just have to want to do it. If you don't, then of course take supps, but wouldn't you rather just have a healthy lifestyle without them?

Remember a lot of "research" is funded by companies wanting to sell you these items too. Remember also I did say there is a place for supps, but just don't go using them just because. In the small doses these things come in they may not affect you adversely, but my concerns are that so many people are shunning a good diet over eating rubbish and using supplements. It's a daft way to do it.
 
tigerstyle said:
You never eat any fruit?
You don't enjoy all fruit?
That cannot be true.
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Not really, I eat very little fruit, but I drink a very large quantity of fresh juice (not shop bought) mostly from fruit bought from the source.

Lmao, 'uninformed opinion'. I suppose the training benefit I get from my creatine supplement could be naturally garnered by consuming an entire cow
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If your body was naturally the way you want it to be then there would be no need for creatine, but because you want a body you cannot get naturally you have to supplement. That is your choice!
 
There's a big difference between being able to function and having optimum health. Unless you live in a remote part of the world where pollution is extremely low and eat a 100% organic diet, I would recommend at the very least some form of maintenance supplementation, e.g. a very high strength multi-vitamin (ideally with a multi-mineral separately taken in the evening since that's when the body needs minerals), an antioxidant such as Ester-C and some essential fatty acids (flaxseed oil).
 
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