Vitamins: What Do I And Don't I Need?

[KT Samurai]

I take vitamin supplements, the kind that promise to balance your day and whatever so that you get everything you need. I sincerely doubt it's that bloody simple. My recent reading of Bruce Lee's sudden burst in knowledge about vitamins and minerals suggests that there's far more to it than popping a pill in the morning.

As professionals and veterans, what is your stance on vitamins and minerals and their impact on your performance? What do you take? How often do you take it? Why? Does it help? Are there risks? Please share your thoughts.

[glockmeister]

As to the title of your topic, There is no way without more knowledge we can tell you what YOU need. It depends alot on your overall health,diet, nutritional requirements, and activity level.

For me, I take a mulitivitamin, as well as extra vitamin E and C and B-12.

Vitamin C and E together help to reduce the number of free radicals in your body which can break down muscle tissue as well as cause other problems. Also, it's no secret that vitamin C helps boost your immune system as well. Especially if you do alot of strenuous exersize, your body can be succeptable to colds and other infections due to the added strain that hard excersize puts on your body. Therefore, vitamin C is a good idea. Vitamin B-12 is shown to help your sentral nervous system and and circulatory system and vitamin E has more benefits than you can shake a stick at. I also take Fish oil capsules for the heart. It's better than asprin because it's easier on your stomach and the Omega-3 fats are essential fats.

As for risks, well use common sense and don't overdo it. Also remember that vitamins won't take the place of a healthy diet. Get lots of vegatables into yourself.

[Aodhan]

I take vitamin supplements, the kind that promise to balance your day and whatever so that you get everything you need. I sincerely doubt it's that bloody simple. My recent reading of Bruce Lee's sudden burst in knowledge about vitamins and minerals suggests that there's far more to it than popping a pill in the morning.

As professionals and veterans, what is your stance on vitamins and minerals and their impact on your performance? What do you take? How often do you take it? Why? Does it help? Are there risks? Please share your thoughts.

If you eat a well balanced diet, which includes several different veggies and fruits daily, then you should be all right. My diet isn't the best, so I take a multivitamin daily.

A few things to remember - If your body doesn't need the vitamins, it will just get rid of them. If you have a good diet, then a vitamin will just give you expensive urine. If you miss a few things, then a vitamin will help. It is possible to get too much of a vitamin, but you have to take some pretty impressive amounts.

Oh, and these no-fat diets, and things like that? Don't do it. Vitamins are basically two types, water soluble and fat soluble. If you have no fats in your diet, then the fat soluble vitamins cannot get transported into the body.

Aodhan

[KT Samurai]

Awesome. Thank you.

[Qso]

I train 6 times a week (MA and weight training) and i must take vitamin supplements. There's no way i get all my vitamins from the food. I just can't eat that much. Studies show that only 5% of the Earths' population eat well balanced meals. That includes whole grain, low fat etc foods.

I consulted with a nutritionist and she advised me to take multivitamin, vitamin E, calcium and magnesium daily so my body could keep up with my intense training.

* Multivitamin: to get all vitamins

* Vitamin E: great antioxidant, athletes may consume upto 7 times more oxygen while working out than "normal" people and that produces ALOT of free radicals (oxidants). An increase in stamina and endurance is also attributed to Vitamin E.

* Calcium: helps to stimulate the muscles

* Magnesium: is used to relax the muscles. It is also needed for cellular metabolism and the production of energy.

Speaking of vitamins, i just don't take any vitamin, i only eat natural/whole food ones. There's a big difference in eating a synthetic or natural vitamin. Their molecular structure is different and also the bioavailability, which may differe as much as 90%.

For example vitmain E (synthetic) sold in many many stores is called Alpha Tocopherol but actually vitamin E consists of 4 tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma and delta) and 4 tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma and delta). That's why it's important to eat WHOLE FOOD supplements, so you get all the components.

Here's some useful links:

Synthetic VS Natural

Nice database about vitamins, minerals etc

Some vitamin supplements Q&A

Some insight to vitamin E

[TheAnimal]

If you take a good multivitamin, you are covered. GNC has some good ones (hate to say it, not a fan of the store), animal pak has a good one, there are others....

Me personally, I take a lot of crap, but one you cannot get too much of is vit C. its water soluble, so pop as much as you want with water, itll keep you healthy. (anymore than a gram is a total waste at a time though).

as for vit e since i saw it up there, its kind of hard, but you can get too much of that since its fat soluble. make sure you dont go over 1000iu a day.

[TheAnimal]

ammendment- it is technically possible to get too much vit c, but its really hard. just dont pop tens of thousands of mgs a day. and dont take a lot period unless you think youre about to be sick, unless youre active and can sweat as well as pee out the additional vit c left. basically, not much to worry about.