FORUMS > Vitamins & Supplements Forum Rules

So here goes it. I take Mega Men Multivitamin for Men (Sports Formula). I eat a healthy diet - I incorporate a lot of the Mediterranean diet as far as nutrition goes. You know, lean proteins, dairy, dark leafy greens, beans, whole grains and a variety of fruits, nuts and veggies - lots of olive oil. I take 1 gram of fish oil daily - enteric coated. I drink plenty of water. I do let loose and designate two meals a week to eat whatever the hell I want. I also supplement a protein blend (Syntha 6) for when I hit the weights.

So recommendations on a good multivitamin?? I want to start taking one that has exactly what I need to. It seems like my current one (which I only take half the recommended dose) has an excess of certain vitamins - especially A. I just need some education/advice/tips.

I'm no expert but you should definitely look into coconut oil as a substitute when cooking, especially at high temps. Olive oil loses many of its good properties when heated, whereas coconut oil does not.

Do some research on it, there are claims for a lot of health benefits from consuming it as part of one's diet.

I take the Megamen's vitamin(NON sports formula) - it has more ANTIOXIDANTS, and I would also recommend flaxseeds and flaxseed oil

I use GNC's Mega Men Sport. Guess I'll compare the ingredients with the non-sport formula next time I'm at GNC.

Centrum Silver is rated one of the best... so my Gay Pharmacist tells me.

TheGuyNextDoor saidCentrum Silver is rated one of the best... so my Gay Pharmacist tells me.

If you eat a balanced diet, vitamin and mineral supplements are not indicated. Supplements are indicated for individuals that may be unable to absorb nutrients like those with gastric bypass surgery. In spite of the science behind this statement I take vitamins.

Centrum Silver is marketed for ages 50+ ..I take Walmart's brand which is identical and costs a lot less.

There are some problems with vitamins that one should be aware of

Mega doses of vitamin A (beta-carotene) can be toxic.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/article/000350.htm

Mega doses of vitamin D can result in dangerously high serum calcium levels.

Some vitamins for women have high amounts of iron. The iron is needed to replace blood loss from menstrual periods and childbirth. Males of course do not need this amount of iron. There have been cases of males that develop excessively high levels of serum Fe after taking female vitamins with iron. High iron levels can damage the liver, heart and pancreas (Hemochromatosis)

Individual vitamin supplements have been shown not to prevent cancer or heart disease...For some unknown reason foods that have high amounts of vitamins may have protective effects. It is theorized that there may be unknown substances in fruits and vegetables that when combined with vitamins; protection will occur.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-01-06-vitamins-heart_N.htm

In a recently published article it has been shown that supplementing with folic acid significantly increases risk of prostate cancer. Folic acid is found in multiple vitamins
http://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/news/20090310/folic-acid-may-raise-prostate-cancer-risk

Beta-carotene (vitamin A precursor) taken in high doses, has even been shown to promote lung cancers in heavy smokers.

If you are going to take multiple vitamins you will need to weigh the benefits against any potential harm

There is no real difference.

If your only source of vitamins were pills then there might be an important difference between cheap store brand and high end. But, the reality, you are most likely meeting most of your nutritional needs in the food you eat (keep track of everything you eat at FitDay for a week to see where you are deficient).

So, even if you are deficient you only need to absorb a small percentage of that pill. That said, I think Nature's Way brand Alive is the best multi on the market for the dollar.

And here I was thinking the answer would be cum

Blackguy4you saidAnd here I was thinking the answer would be cum

LOL!!! Well, I think at least a spoonful a day would be a nice start on your protein intake,,

BTW- I too have taken the ALIVE vitamins by Nature's Way from Whole Foods (more like Whole Paycheck..) and they do rock !

The key to a Multivitamin is really in two things:


1. Time release - your body can only absorb a finite amount of shit at once. (especially B vitamins since they are very water soluble). Getting a time released Multi helps your body actually get more of them in.

2. Natural Sources of the vitamins - Biggest culprit: Vitamin E. E comes in many spectrums, D-Alpha being one of the best. However many multis use DL-Alpha (I remember by the acronym "Damn Lousy"). DL Alpha E is synthetic, and is a by product of plastic/petroleum. So DL Alpha vitamins are not only in the crap tastic vitamin you may have purchased, but also the plastic bag you carried it home in!

The GNC Brand and the Vitamin Shoppe brand are two very good options.

I take NOW brand's multivitamin.

My paleo diet is about as nutrient dense as a diet can get, but I still I take a Rainbow Light Just Once multi-vit along with some other supplements.

I think the last review from Consumer Reports on this topic basically said to avoid inexpensive store brands because they commonly contained impurities. Other than that, they don't give much guidance.


However, I see that their web site has an article entitled "Multivitamins, how to choose" that is available to subscribers of ConsumerReportsHealth.org. Unfortunately, I'm not a subscriber so I can't tell you any more about it.

Ok... so I couldn't resist. I signed up for ConsumerReportsHealth.org so I could see that article (I've thought about signing up before anyway).

Without sharing the entire article (I'm sure that would violate the subscription agreement), the point of it is common-sense stuff like:

* Major brand-name and store-bought vitamins are fine, but stay away from super-cheap multis from places like close-out and dollar stores.

* Avoid megadoses, exotic extras, claims of special benefits, etc.

They also give information about the safe upper limit amounts for the 18 basic nutrients that they say a multi should contain.

broccoli, spinach, apples, oranges, chick peas, green beans, almonds, etc etc

MHP has a good multivitamin...I am taking Centrum Silver right now also..its ok..

I take Mega Men by GNC also, but I take one tablet a day not 2. I eat pretty well.

I take whatever men's multi is on sale, but there seems to be a lot of research lately indicating that multi-vitamins are unnecessary if you eat a decent diet.

Even worse, some studies show that multi-vitamins are linked to serious health problem such as prostate cancer.
The most recent negative article I read was in Men's Fitness which is shocking since that rag appears to be a vitamin/supplement promotional catalog.

Sounds like you really know what you're doing, now if only I could find a boyfriend who doesn't think ice cream/TV is a food group. I am on a vegetarian diet, so I take something that has extra b-vitamins and iron. Since your diet sounds really well balanced, I would recommend taking it NOT everyday! Maybe 3 times a week. My friend's dad is a doctor, and when we started college he said take a centrum ONCE a week! You are just pissing it all out anyway. Oh, and take it with a meal so you don't piss ALL of it out.

I like to take a food-based multi that can usually be found at a health food store. (You have to ask for it or look carefully at the label.) GNC and Centrum as previously mentioned in this post are synthetic, and so the body may not use them as well. It easily recognizes food as such and so I think it's worthwhile to take a supplement that actually comes from food.

Of course there are two caveats: one is that this is my opinion, and I can't back it with any study of which I am aware. The second is that any supplement is exactly that--a SUPPLEMENT. Meaning it is only a little added insurance to what should be a very healthy diet.

fitnfunmich said GNC and Centrum as previously mentioned in this post are synthetic, and so the body may not use them as well. It easily recognizes food as such and so I think it's worthwhile to take a supplement that actually comes from food.

Looking at my MegaMen bottle at my desk, I'm not showing any synthetically derived forms of the contents.

It won't come out and say "this is synthetic" but unless the label specifically states "food based" then it more then likely comes from a lab and not a plant, gibby.

also just take a look at the pills. the synthetic ones are all shiny and even sometimes blue, while the food-based multivitamins look more like a hamster pellet.

Right....

so back to my original example DL-Alpha vs D-Alpha.

Agreed. I used to take GNC myself until they reformulated their stuff several years ago. Anyway you can drive yourself crazy with all of this, and taking something is probably better than nothing (given the limitations of our typical Western diets).

Depends on many factors. Age> Activity> good diet will give you most of the vitamins your body needs and uses, Overdoing vitamins is a waste of money and May actually have side effects as much from the fillers in them. There havent been enough studies on the over use of vitamins and supplements.

I think eating right is the most important. Because I workout alot my doctor recommended I take a multi. I have been using Seal Multi because it is easily absorbed and doesn't come in megadoses. There site sealmulit.com has some good info on what the individual vitamins and minerals do.

Broccoli:



...and so many more health benefits: http://whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=9#healthbenefits


Spinach:



...and so many more health benefits: http://whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=43#healthbenefits


Romaine Lettuce:



...and so many more health benefits: http://whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=61#healthbenefits

I like Wal-mart's multi-v.

Athletic Nutrients by Pure Encapsulations

I use Nutrilite's Men supplements. They come in small sachets for each day and in a box for 30 days. Pretty reasonably priced and they are completely organic.

I also take nutrilite products especially the double "x"
email if you want to know the others I use all from nutirlite


www.nutrilite.com

I take a multivitamin because I can't find any research showing they don't do anything, even if I can't find any saying they do.

The brand I switched too is Space (http://www.spacevitamins.com.au/), an Aussie company who manufactures their products on the Gold Coast, ships and sells from Sydney, using Aussie products wherever possible.

I like that they are gender specific. That they're produced locally. That they're owned locally. And that they're on special and I can get a 6 month supply at the moment for under $10 a month.

just my input but i dont think ur supposed to take vitamins by pills except for vitamin D , ive heard from alot of docs they do more harm than good.

I take Centrum only because whenever I try any of those men's formulated multi-vitamins I end up with something like the flu out of no where... never fails. I think I have something in my body that just doesn't work well with them. anyone ever have this happen to them?

I'm a believer in Centrum -- always have been. And my doc, who isn't gay, is, too --

My sister-in law works for the makers of Centrum. I used to take it and felt nothing-zip-nada. Mega man by GNC actually gave me energy and I feel better taking them. I have been taking them for 8 yrs now. 1 a day not the 2 they recommend, because i eat well.

I can get Centrum for free and wouldn't take those!!

paradox saidMy paleo diet is about as nutrient dense as a diet can get, but I still I take a Rainbow Light Just Once multi-vit along with some other supplements.

This is what I take. Two nutrionists told me, separately, that Rainbow Light has the highest absorption rate of any vitamin on the market.

i take One a Day Men's every morning. it's got a great balance of vitamins and includes lycopene for your prostate.

i also take Citracel for calcium as well as a great molecularly distilled fish oil for Omega 3s.

when i feel a cold coming on, i throw zinc lozenges and overdoses of vitamin C to the mix.

czarodziej saidi take One a Day Men's every morning. it's got a great balance of vitamins and includes lycopene for your prostate.

i also take Citracel for calcium as well as a great molecularly distilled fish oil for Omega 3s.

when i feel a cold coming on, i throw zinc lozenges and overdoses of vitamin C to the mix.

lol thats the problem.. every time I would take even One-A-Day Men's I would get sick! lol... i think something in my body chemistry is fucked up or something... I don't know. No one has ever been able to explain this to me.

http://www.puritan.com/mens-vitamins-006/ultra-vita-man-time-release-003894?np=1

I take 1 of these every morning with breakfast.
The bottle says 2 but they are rather strong in some things that I already get from a healthy diet.

Might not be the best, or the cheapest, but I think it is a reasonable balance.

I've been taking these 3-4 a day and I really like them. They're made with whole foods and also have some "super" foods in them if you buy into that, but I like them better than the one a day I was taking.

RunintheCity saidbroccoli, spinach, apples, oranges, chick peas, green beans, almonds, etc etc

You are right .... eat healthy and you don't need pills!