Associate
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Supplements / Vitamins - waste of time??
- Thread starter trentlad
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Soldato
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I've been taking Omega 3 Fish Oil 1200mg x2 and 1 ABC Plus vitamin supplement for nearly 5 years. I do notice that i'm not as ill as my other work mates and my partner.
Placebo effect or just lucky? Who knows, but i'll continue to use them.
On a separate note, the NHS in York is recommending that breast fed babies are now put on vitamin supplements. Apparently its not as good as chemical milk........
What does all that do then?
I just take one of those soluble vitamin pills (the cheap version of Berroca), it turns my urine fluorescent yellow which is half the fun
I had the starting of a cold last night, took one of those and I feel fine this morning
I know if I'm eating poor food for a week that I will feel lethargic and vitamin pills do help, but so does excercise and sunlight.
Permabanned
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One of the most deficient and least recognised in western populations is iodine deficiency.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13034582
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13034582
I've been taking Omega 3 Fish Oil 1200mg x2 and 1 ABC Plus vitamin supplement for nearly 5 years. I do notice that i'm not as ill as my other work mates and my partner.
Placebo effect or just lucky? Who knows, but i'll continue to use them.
On a separate note, the NHS in York is recommending that breast fed babies are now put on vitamin supplements. Apparently its not as good as chemical milk........
I definitely seem to side-step the bouts of flu, etc. that go around at work and don't seem to get the colds that go around as badly as other people I work with when taking a regular supplement (80mg Vitamin C, 250mg Omega 3, plus small levels of the main nutrients).
Soldato
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The reason the recommendation in the UK is for "five a day" is that they knew if they made it any higher (as it should be) nobody would aspire to reach the target... they'd just give up.
In Japan it's apparently ten a day, which helps explains their longevity. So you might think that supplements would be a useful way to boost our poor diets. I'm guilty of some wishful thinking in that area too, and take supplements semi-regularly. But there is no useful evidence that I'm doing anything other than contributing to supermarket profits. Vitamins etc are high margin products and if there was any real benefit you'd see it plastered all over the place in advertising.
The same goes for all those yogurty drinks which started out with all sorts of claims and have now had to backpedal significantly as studies peeled away the hype. But if people feel that this kind of thing helps, that's probably all that matters. The placebo effect is definitely real for many people.
In Japan it's apparently ten a day, which helps explains their longevity. So you might think that supplements would be a useful way to boost our poor diets. I'm guilty of some wishful thinking in that area too, and take supplements semi-regularly. But there is no useful evidence that I'm doing anything other than contributing to supermarket profits. Vitamins etc are high margin products and if there was any real benefit you'd see it plastered all over the place in advertising.
The same goes for all those yogurty drinks which started out with all sorts of claims and have now had to backpedal significantly as studies peeled away the hype. But if people feel that this kind of thing helps, that's probably all that matters. The placebo effect is definitely real for many people.
Humas are like pigs, they can survive on basically anything. Well within reason, I mean you have to meet some very basic needs so you don't get scurvy and what not. Supplements are over-rated. A big money making scam.
Cave Man didn't take any vitamins and they just ate sabretooth tigers right?
I was in America recently, happened to see an advert for some 5 Hour Energy product and in the advert some actor goes:
"I take 5 hour energy every day"
...I'm pretty sure being so relient on a product isn't a good thing, I thought only old people or people with illnesses needed to take pills and other non-recreational drugs lol
(before I get picked up on it, I'm well aware of the differences between vitamins, energy drinks and perscription drugs)
I was in America recently, happened to see an advert for some 5 Hour Energy product and in the advert some actor goes:
"I take 5 hour energy every day"
...I'm pretty sure being so relient on a product isn't a good thing, I thought only old people or people with illnesses needed to take pills and other non-recreational drugs lol
(before I get picked up on it, I'm well aware of the differences between vitamins, energy drinks and perscription drugs)
Soldato
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I take an A-Z multivitamin, cod liver oil (beware the burps!) and glucosamine sulphate.
Anything to make my joints last longer is a good thing, and it doesn't hurt to make sure you get your RDA of these vitamins and minerals.
My diet can be erratic due to work, so that is another reason why I take them.
Anything to make my joints last longer is a good thing, and it doesn't hurt to make sure you get your RDA of these vitamins and minerals.
My diet can be erratic due to work, so that is another reason why I take them.
I usually have a green smoothie everyday when we can be bothered keeping up with the shopping.
Typically something like:
Kale
baby spinach
celery
cucumber
green grapes
young coconut water + meat
pre-soaked chia seeds
ice
I tend to go over board and end up with about a liter of smoothie. Can't say I really notice any benefits but it tastes good. To me anyway. Probably about 15 servings of fruit/veg.
One benefit I suppose is it only takes about 5 seconds to dump a load every morning.
yeah do people realise how many generations of people survived on diets like cabbage and pototoes, rice and beans, bread, etc? A little bit of fruit or meat here and there.
Go back before farming, what did they eat in northern europe during the winter? Meat and organs, maybe some dried berries and stored grains.
A lot of which is very high in vitamins and minerals (organ meats, beans and berries particularly).
I'd echo the sentiment earlier that despite it being possible to easily achieve a well rounded diet in the modern world, that convenience foods also make it very possible to have a diet which is deficient. The comment earlier was about how poor a lot of peoples diets actually are.
Do I think that supplements are a fix for a rubbish diet though? NO, absolutely not! Educate yourself about nutrition, learn to cook (and take the time to do it) and stop being so damn fussy with your food
Why not take a look at some foods you eat regularly and find out the vitamin, mineral and amino acid profiles in your diet:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/
What was their life span though..?
Does intensive farming of crops and animals with pesticides, antibiotics, pollution in our modern environment etc etc etc perpetuate a greater need for such supplements..? Are our soils as rich today in trace minerals like selenium etc to ensure that the fruits and vegetables grown are as nutritious as they should be..?
I don't know the answer but I do try and buy some organic foods and eat fish like wild Alaskan salmon, rather than the intensively farmed Scottish type.
If I was buying organic fruit for example it would be something like grapes which, I believe, are going to carry a lot more pesticides than say a banana.
I have been drinking organic green and white tea also, I started a few years ago when I cut out most of my intake of dairy and junk foods and I lost around 4 stones in weight.
Goodness knows how much it helps but I like to feel it is doing me some good and I even feel better for my change of diet.
Soldato
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But they also had far more recordable ailments & tended to live about 30 years less than we do now.
I never really was one for supplements - but at some point between 30-35 I started getting twinges here and there - and generally noticed my energy levels were dropping even though I was fit enough and had a relatively healthy diet ( I work shifts and like to keep active )
I decided to try taking Amino acids and high dose Cod liver oil after reading a book on the benefits of each. I was amazed at the change in my appearance (my skin cleared up) - my sleep was better (due to the Tryptophan) and my tolerance to pain was amazing - in fact I virtually feel no pain now in the joints / tendons I used to (even though I now do more than 400 press-ups and sit-ups every day) For a man of 40 - I feel more energetic than most 25 year olds and I can't really remember the last time I was sick.
The biggest thing for me is - when I don't take the supplements now. Maybe it is placebo - but when a senior consultant says he is actually amazed at how quick your 76 year old parent recovers from a hip operation (due to me supplementing him for the 4 weeks prior with Glutamine and Amino acids) - I tend to believe they actually work.
I never really was one for supplements - but at some point between 30-35 I started getting twinges here and there - and generally noticed my energy levels were dropping even though I was fit enough and had a relatively healthy diet ( I work shifts and like to keep active )
I decided to try taking Amino acids and high dose Cod liver oil after reading a book on the benefits of each. I was amazed at the change in my appearance (my skin cleared up) - my sleep was better (due to the Tryptophan) and my tolerance to pain was amazing - in fact I virtually feel no pain now in the joints / tendons I used to (even though I now do more than 400 press-ups and sit-ups every day) For a man of 40 - I feel more energetic than most 25 year olds and I can't really remember the last time I was sick.
The biggest thing for me is - when I don't take the supplements now. Maybe it is placebo - but when a senior consultant says he is actually amazed at how quick your 76 year old parent recovers from a hip operation (due to me supplementing him for the 4 weeks prior with Glutamine and Amino acids) - I tend to believe they actually work.
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That iceman they found in italy was estimated to be about 50 and was in pretty good health until he got murdered.
Would you like to recommend exactly what you take? I'm not averse to trying it.