A pill as big as a small town.

April 19, 2008 10:00 PM

Is this multivitamin supplement safe?

Is it safe to take this multivitamin & multimineral supplement without a prescription? I am asking because the pill is suspiciously humongous, and the percentage of the contents relative to the daily recommended value is much, much more than 100% for most of the vitamins/minerals.

Can it, for example, affect the liver negatively? I am taking 1 pill per day, btw.

posted by howiamdifferent to health (5 comments total)

I'll repeat my link from another recent post, should I take a multivitamin.

The evidence for taking a multi-vitamin is still a bit shady. Why do you feel you need to take this supplement? If you eat a varied diet chances are you don't even need the additional supplementation and why would you need the high levels of the vitamin you are questioning?
posted by Octoparrot at 10:44 PM on April 19

Here are two other links (from that recent question) to science references that describe the vitamins and minerals in supplements in detail:

DRIs
Linus Pauling Institute

And a quote from another commenter in that thread:
"Vitamin A,D,E,K can be toxic in excess. .. Too much Niacin can be unpleasant."
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:11 PM on April 19

Unless you're undergoing some special diet, or eat a lot of junk food and don't get your natural essentials...I'd recommend no. Vitamins are only good if you're eating close to no fruits and vegetables.
posted by nobleporpoise at 1:36 AM on April 20

There was this study that came out recently.
posted by thread_makimaki at 3:43 AM on April 20

seconding thread's link. Excess Vitamin A and E sound like big no-no's, now more than ever.
posted by docpops at 8:20 PM on April 20