Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with vitamins

Help Me Cheapen My Urine!

Danf — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:29:31 -0800

If you take vitamins, have you found one that is, for you, the sweet spot between price and what it contains? I currently take Rainbow Light Men's One. It seems to help me feel better (compared to times when I don't take it for a week or so).

This product is rather expensive, and I am wondering if anyone here, either gender, has gone through the exercise of finding an economical vitamin that has a lot of beneficial "stuff" in it.

+ vitamins - minerals , please?

3mendo — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:50:34 -0800

O Hive Mind, I love my vitamins, but i'd like my calcium in a separate installment because of kidney risk factors and a previous history of urinating small bricks. Can you suggest products that - you not being a doctor notwithstanding - are appropriate for me? Bonus points if they are mail orderable from within euroland. TIA

Should I Eat This (Color Changing Vitamin)?

oneswellfoop — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:14:51 -0800

I have a vitamin tablet that changes appearance when in the same pill organizer with my other daily meds. Should I be concerned? I got a big jar of Kirkland Mature Multi Vitamins & Minerals (compare to Centrum Silver) from Costco recently and started tossing it in my morning pill organizer along with the antidepressant, Glyburide/Metformin and 3 heart/bloodpressure meds I'm supposed to take EVERY day. I have 2 weeks of organizers so I do it for 2 weeks at a time but by the time I get to the end of Week 1, the appearance of the vitamin tablet has changed from having tiny brown specks to having LARGE BROWN SPLOTCHES. The pills in the big jar are not changing at all, just those in the same compartment with other meds. Is this something I need to be concerned about? Is it reacting to one of the other pills? Is this affecting the chemical content of the vitamin? Could this be affecting the other meds (none of which have changed in any visible way)? I really don't want to bother with taking the vitamin separately, but should I?

Help me help myself take vitamins?

ersatzkat — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:15:10 -0800

I want to take vitamins/multivitamins, but I have a very difficult time swallowing large and/or uncoated pills. I'd like to add a multivitamin and perhaps some additonal stuff in the B family to my daily routine, but I have a wicked hard time swallowing pills. Anything larger than a Tylenol caplet, anything uncoated, anything odd shaped and I gag on it. I've tried taking pills with thicker liquids (think chocolate milk or tomato juice) and while it helps somewhat, it's not a sure thing. I would appreciate any advice about a) how to get over the "hard to swallow things" thing, and b) if you take a multivitamin that is smaller/smoother/whatever, can you tell me what kind it is? (You can't just open up bottles at the drugstore to check it out - *trust* me on this one.) Is there a liquid multivitamin that doesn't taste like butt, maybe?

Female, late 30s, generally healthy. Thanks for your help!

Should I be taking vitamins to make up for my fruit allergies?

stleric — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:15:15 -0800

I'm allergic to most fruits. Should I be taking some sort of multivitamin? I am allergic to varying degrees to a variety of delicious and nutritious foodstuffs. I'm most allergic to bananas, kiwis, mangoes, and avocados (not to a hospitalization/EpiPen extent, but I usually would stop eating only a few bites into any of the above), and am somewhat more mildly allergic to apples, oranges, berries, grapes, as well as carrots and a few varieties of nuts. I can eat probably about half of an apple or orange before the throat swelling/tingling/itchiness really starts to get to me, but I usually just don't eat said fruits so that I can avoid the allergic reactions altogether.

I don't think that it's due to pesticides, since I usually wash fruits fairly thoroughly. It seems like cooked fruits either don't give me allergic reactions or diminish the reactions, but it's not always convenient for me to be cooking everything.

If eating raw fruit is usually out of the picture, is there some sort of vitamin or multi-vitamin that I should be taking to pick up the slack in getting the right vitamins and minerals in my diet? If so, is there anything in specific or any vitamins and minerals that I should be looking for to replace what I would have been getting from fruit (especially the bananas, mangoes, etc.)? Should I just be eating a lot of processed pre-cooked fruit products and crossing my fingers that I don't get a reaction?

Thanks, everyone!

How do you test a food for vitamins?

Caravantea — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:35:30 -0800

How do they figure out what kind of vitamins and nutrients are in food? I understand how the figure out calories, but how did they ever figure out that a banana had potassium or oranges were full of vitamin C in the first place?

I need advice on vitamins and supplements.

Ponderance — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:04:22 -0800

The vitamin/ supplement aisle of Whole Foods scares the hell out of me, I'd like some advice please! Okay, so, you are not my nutritionist or doctor, but hopefully someone can help clear up a few things, or point me to something that does.

So I am deep in the throes of getting healthy (see prior question -http://ask.metafilter.com/122702/Help-a-vegetarian-lose-weight). I was at whole foods yesterday and stopped in their vitamin aisle, and was overwhelmed at all of the stuff that they sell, and my cynical self thinks “How much of this herbal/vitamin stuff is real, and how much is snake oil crap” and despite that I bought some flax oil, as I keep hearing about how great fish oil is, but I don’t eat fish, and I’ve been told that flax oil is a close second.

Also, I’ve been convinced that I should be taking creatine as I don’t get any, not eating meat and all. So I bought a bottle of that which seemed awfully expensive.

SO, what, you may ask, is my question. Here it is in 3 parts:

What is a well reasoned, legitimate resource that details the pluses and minuses of vitamins and supplements?

What supplements, herbal products, etc, from your experience, are useful/helpful?

What should a 37 year old, type A, vegetarian, trying to lose weight, and be healthier, be taking?

Another lovely part of coming off an SNRI...

gursky — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:03:42 -0800

How long do I need to wait after weaning off of my antidepressants before I can start taking vitamins/supplements for depression? I've been Googling and reading old threads on antidepressants for over an hour (a very exciting Friday night, I know) but can't find a specific answer.

You are not a/my doctor, but my psychiatrist just moved and I won't meet my new psychiatrist for two more weeks. I don't have a family doctor right now. I'm hoping someone with experience can enlighten me about the necessary length of time between meds.

Under my doctor's supervision, I weaned myself off Wellbutrin over 3 weeks - I have been off it entirely now for 1 week. I weaned myself off Effexor over 5 weeks, and have not taken it for 2 days. I know that 2 days of being off Effexor is not a very long time. I am still experiencing those pesky withdrawal symptoms (brain zaps, depersonalization, dizziness) even though I went off of it slowly. (To clarify: I went off both because neither worked, and my health plan runs out very soon - no need to keep taking them if they don't work.)

After reading a lot about vitamins and supplements, and after becoming frustrated with the trial-and-error routine of trying several different antidepressants, I have decided to try some natural remedies. I will discuss these with my new psychiatrist.

My question is: how long should I wait before I start taking 5-HTP and a B-Complex supplement?

Everything I can find on the internet says not to take 5-HTP while taking antidepressants, but I can't find any information on how long I need to wait before starting it. The woman at the health food store didn't know much about 5-HTP and antidepressant interactions.

So - yes, I will be discussing this with my doctor - has anyone gone from antidepressants to natural supplements? How long did you wait in between? What is a safe amount of time?

Do Bananas constipate??

lynnie-the-pooh — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:07:12 -0800

Do Bananas constipate or do they do the opposite? My daughter needs to eat foods that make stool soft. Some people have told me to feed her bananas and others say to stay away from them. Which is the truth? My daughter is five years old. Also, my daughter takes Miralax to make things soft. Is there any alternative to this? Like an herb or some natural vitamin/herb/spice combo that she could take instead?

Thanks,

Lynnie-the-Pooh

Red Bull gives you more than wings, apparently.

WolfDaddy — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:55:03 -0800

Why do B-complex vitamins and zinc enhance orgasm? I've noticed this in myself as a chronic Red Bull drinker which is chock-full of niacin, B6 and B12. However, my Google-fu fails me as when I try to find information out this phenomenon, all I get is page after page of sites offering to sell me Orgasm Enhancement Products!!!!one1buyNAO. Most of these products also seem to include zinc.

So what's the physiological process here? Why do these vitamins (and possibly a mineral) have this effect on many people?

What herbs or vitamins or food makes more blood flow to the brain?

lynnie-the-pooh — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:31:23 -0800

What herbs or vitamins or food will make more blood flow into my brain? I am looking for any herb, vitamin, food, or anything else that will help make more blood flow to my brain. I know exercise is great for that as well. Any ideas from you would be great, but I'm not looking for any pill or anything a doctor would prescibe. I'm interested in something more natural and that I can do on my own. Thank you so much!!

Lynnie-the-Pooh

"A" for Effort. Or Irreversable Liver Damage.

Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:19:19 -0800

Do these vitamins contain toxic levels of vitamin A? I've been taking Solaray Once Daily High-Energy vitamins. The label (reproduced on the linked site) states that the capsules contain 25,000 IU "Vitamin A (from Retinyl Palmitate and 60% as Natural Beta Carotene)" and that this is 500% of the recommended daily value.

As I understand it (and my understanding, despite Googling the hell out of vitamin A, is limited), preformed vitamin A can cause irreversable liver damage when taken in large quantities.

I suppose what I'm asking is, "should I eat this, or will it nuke my liver from orbit?"

Why did they take Green Viagra off the market?

shipbreaker — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:12:50 -0800

One-A-Day ACTIVE multi-vitamins are all gone, and the One-A-Day ENERGY lookalike replacements are just caffeine pills. Can anyone tell me what happened? I'm talking about the green "One-A-Day" multi-vitamin bottles. I used to get the ACTIVE, and love them to death, cause they had a little Ginseng or Gingko or something magical in them (I can't get Cialis without a doctor prescription)

Now all they sell is One-A-Day ENERGY, which are just caffeine pills and do not do the same thing. What gives?!?

And while I'm asking the Hive Mind dumb questions, why are BANANA POWERBARS so hard to find?

Can I take multivitamins with B2 with another B2 pill?

madcow20 — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:57:40 -0800

I bought some B2 vitamins because they were on sale. Each pill contains 2,6mg of B2 riboflavin (162% ADT) and my multivitamin pills also contains B2 riboflavin, and its 1,6mg (100% ADT). Would I risk anything by taking multivitamins with 100% B2 and then taking another pill with 162% B2 in the morning?

brain sparks

diode — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:13:09 -0800

I recently ordered a product online, a free trial. They wanted my credit card info for the trial and in a fit of delusion I went ahead and requested the product without looking for the catch. The catch is a tiny 'Terms and Conditions' button checked by default where I agreed to a monthly shipment of their basically worthless product. Is there anything I can do about this? I originally got an email for a product called 'brainsparq'. Their main page is at http://www.brainsparq.com/, which is pretty clear about the free trial and the autobill attached. It's basically some cheap vitamins that will give you mental superpowers or something.

However, the originating email didn't send me to the main page, it gave me this URL: http://sales.estoreoffers.com/brain01/index.asp?cy=3&pr=31&af=16&ad=42&a_aid=65a97fea&a_bid=9dd7a1bb&data1=9

This page never mentions the free trial + autobilling, it just touts the free trial and there is a box that reads 'Satisfaction guaranteed. Return your free sample within 14 days and you won't be charged'.

I went ahead and entered my info and got to the 2nd page where they wanted my credit card info and shipping address for the 'free trial'.
I should know better, but somehow missed the tiny 'Terms and Conditions' checkbox and gave them my credit card number so I could try their product.

Said trial bottle arrived after a short delay, then I noticed a $68 charge from Fusion Laboratories on my credit charges, which confused me until I spoke to them directly.

Here's a Flickr set of the screens including the Terms and Conditions: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlxreed/sets/72157611572437224/detail/

So my question, dear MeFi's, is what can I do about this travesty? I guess by any legal definition I have agreed to a contract so I'm basically fucked. On the other hand, I think their website and their methodology is purposely concealing the conditions and absurd price of their product which I unknowingly agreed to. That's my rationalization at least.

What are some things I can do? Personally I'd be happy to get a refund and forget the whole thing but the company has already told me to take a hike, it's a done deal, thanks. So any and all options, including the nuclear option will be considered.

Have I poisoned myself?

jessicapierce — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:58:31 -0800

Have I poisoned myself? First things first - obviously I will see a doctor if the following persists, and obviously I have quit taking the vitamins.

I'm 32, female, in good health, and on no medications. I get a cold maybe once a year but am generally pretty strong and healthy.

About a week ago I started feeling vaguely crappy, which I attributed to overwork + possibly coming down with something. Because I could not be sick on Election Day (volunteering/party), I took the usual steps to stave off a cold: upped my water and veggies intake, cut out what little junk food I eat, lowered my caffeine a tad, and started taking vitamins.

I kept feeling crappy, but with no escalation into actual, recognizable sickness. Now I've realized the vitamins are five years expired. Whoops. I'm wondering if any of the following symptoms can be attributed to an element in multivitamins which becomes toxic after expiring?

In order of most to least intense, I have:

- sporadic but INTENSE fatigue. This slams me in the early afternoon, which is when I normally feel a lull, but this is different and crippling. I did not cut my caffeine intake enough to be feeling this exhausted. Earlier in the week I would take a 2-hour coma nap; for the past few days I've been pushing through it with willpower and physical activity. The desire to pass out does go away within about 20 minutes, but overall I'm feeling pretty low-energy throughout the day, with or without the nap.

- severe and crippling anxiety, out of whack from the actual events of my life. Occasional shaky hands, racing pulse. I have no history of panic or anxiety attacks. I suffered from (undiagnosed but obvious) depression many years ago, but that's not what this feels like.

- an assorted festival of "head effects" - dizziness, headache, fuzzy thinking, tingly scalp, generally not feeling like myself.

- slight fever

- body aches

- loss of appetite

- vaguely sore throat

These are chewable 500 mg vitamin c tablets, and Publix brand children's chewable "plus iron" vitamins (shut up, I like them). I've been taking one of each every day for a week; before now, I took one every 2 weeks or so. The "head effects" are at their worst an hour or so after consumption, which was my first clue.

I can list the ingredients if that will help, but it's the standard rundown, and I'm just wondering if there's an ingredient commonly found in chewable vitamins which will poison you after it degrades.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

Vitamin for teenagers?

sandra194 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:50:11 -0800

Can you recommend a good vitamin for a 16 year old? My teen daughter is active in sports, theatre, takes advanced courses in school, and doesn't eat the veggies that she should--not to mention eating junk food at school.

Vitamin Blecchh

granted — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:48:33 -0800

Recommendations for a Vitamin B-Complex supplement that won't make me want to vomit? I have for many years tried to incorporate Vitamin B supplements into my diet, but they taste so awful that I feel nauseated for several hours after I take one. I've never actually puked one up (THANK GOD) but unless it's a developing embryo in the far-off future I'd prefer to avoid all sources of daily morning nausea. I was taking the tablet form for awhile, then switched to capsules, and both suck. Know you of a less vile form? Unfortunately it has to be unsweetened, too.

A Superb Cat Supplement. Where?

watercarrier — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:48:25 -0800

CatFilter: What is the absolutely best vitamin/mineral/enzyme supplement available for cats? I want to get something that I don't have to worry about the manufacturer's supplies sources and/or ethics. It has to have all the trace elements, vitamins, minerals that ordinarily would be provided by an excellently balanced and nutritious diet which unfortunately I am not able to provide 100% of the time and this will keep us/them covered in those in-between times.

Why is my multi-vitamin making me vomit?

smoakes — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:05:55 -0800

Why is my multi-vitamin making me vomit? It took me a little while to figure out that that was what was doing it; I only recently started taking them and don't remember to take it every day. Finally I saw the pattern and stopped taking them. Then, this morning, I noticed the jar and thought, "Oh, that couldn't have been it!" and took one and, ten minutes later, threw it back up. What gives? I've never had a problem taking them in the past. What's changed since I last took them: Every night I take the following for my chronic migraine: low dose of Nortriptyline, large dose of vitamin B2, large dose of magnesium (and I take calcium with it, just cause it's good for me) and feverfew.
If the problem is that I'm ODing on B2 or Magnesium, can I find a multi without these?
Or could it just be a bad bottle?
(it should be noted that I puke pretty easily, but never from vitamins before)

Toxic Vitamins?

pywacket — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:50:49 -0800

I think my multivitamin is/was making me sick, but I can't figure out which one so I don't repeat the problem. I need to be taking a multi but this got quite bad--anxiety like symptoms, depression, extreme fatigue and just general yuck. I'm having other causes checked out as well (I suspect there is a thyroid issue going on), but I need some help with the toxicity possibilities of some of the components. Following is the list of what was in the vitamins I was taking. I have started feeling better since I quit taking them, so I know these were part of the problem. It's only been about a week or so that I haven't had them and I am improved. I took them one morning during the last week and had quite a bad anxiety reaction and felt bad/tired/sick for two days. I haven't had any since. Things did go progressively downhill during the month I took them.

Serving Size: 4 Soft Gels
Vitamin A as Beta-carotene 5000 IU 100%
Vitamin C Ester-C Calcium Ascorbate 60 mg 100%
Vitamin D from Fish Liver Oil 200 IU 50%
Vitamin E d-alpha tocopherol 30 IU 100%
Thiamin (B1) 1.5 mg 100%
Riboflavin (B2) 1.7 mg 100%
Niacin (B3) 20 mg 100%
Vitamin B6 Pyridoxine HCL 2 mg 100%
Folate,Folic Acid,Folacin 1000 mcg 250%
Vitamin B12 Cyanocobalamin 600 mcg 1000%
Biotin 300 mcg 100%
Pantothenic acid 10 mg 100%
Calcium Carbonate 360 mg 36%
Iron Ferrous Succinate 27 mg 150%
Magnesium Oxide 180 mg 47%
Zinc Citrate 10 mg 67%
Selenium L-selenomethionine 50 mcg 71%
Copper Sulfate 2 mg 100%
Manganese Citrate 2 mg 100%
Chromium Polnicotinate 120 mcg 100%
Molybdenum Aspartate 75 mcg 100%
Potassium Citrate 10 mg <1%
DHA from Fish 300 mg*
EPA from Fish 21 mg*
Choline Bitartrate 10 mg*
Inositol 5 mg*
Citrus Bioflavonoids 25 mg*
Ginger Oil 100 mg*
Alfalfa Leaf Powder 10 mg*

Supplements? I need energy, want to feel good!

sidartha — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:33:28 -0800

After years of junk food, weight gain and not caring about my health, I'm trying to start living healthier. Can anyone suggest some good supplements. I really just want to have energy, be healthy and feel good. Below are my stats and a few of my ailments. A few details:
* 32 years old
* 6' tall, 225lbs, so I'm getting chubby (I used to be a toothpick)
* I take a good multi-vitamin daily
* Quit smoking about 18 months ago
* I drink at least 1 Diet Coke a day (cut back from 3-4)
* We only eat out about 2 times a week
* I eat 1 yogurt (Activia) and 1 nutrigrain bar for breakfast
* For lunch I eat a low-fat meat sandwich on whole grain bread with some chips and a small desert
* Dinner usually consists of a meat, pasta/starch and something green
* I drink a good amount of (filtered) water
* I am pretty sedentary but know I need to workout

Mild ailments
* I have some mild anxiety and take Paxil
* I suffer from chronic nasal congestion
* Because of the congestion, I have sleep apnea and require a CPAP
* Recently I have been not-so-regular
* I feel tired, all day most days

Basically, I am clueless about supplements. Do I need protien? Do I need Juice Plus? Grass/Veggie supplements?

Any suggestions?

gulp ack phtoo

showbiz_liz — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:07:25 -0800

Why make one enormous pill instead of two smaller ones? I recently bought some One-A-Day multivitamins (because my gyno guilted me) and tried, for days, to take them whole. I just couldn't do it, no matter how many times I tried- I'd always choke and have to spit the pill out. I finally just chopped one in half and took the halves individually, and there was no problem whatsoever.

I remember having this same problem when I had to take Valtrex for a really bad cold-sore-plus-staph-infection. That time, I was able to make myself swallow them whole because it seriously looked like my lip was going to fall off if I didn't, and because they were so expensive, but it was still pretty difficult for me.

It's maddening, because (aside from the whole 'One-A-Day' name thing) it seems like there's absolutely no reason not to make these huge, single-dose pills into half-dose ones, and just say 'take two'. Is there an actual reason for doing it this way?

Also- if anyone knows of a multivitamin that's two small pills a day, I'd love to know about it.

Help me out of this downward spiral?

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:45:07 -0800

So I'm clinically depressed. And right now I likely can't take medication or see a therapist. If things get worked out with medical coverage I might be able to do one or both. But, I'd like to avoid medication if at all possible. What are the things I can do/take (vitamins?) to feel better until ? I'm off medication because we are trying to have another child. Our first is nearly 6. I have had 3 miscarriages and a huge number of problems in the last year (stepfather stroking a number of times, the last on Xmas day, surgery, a recent move away from a city and to a small town, deaths, pet deaths and more...2007 just sucked).
I'm also unemployed currently, which isn't a financial problem, I left work to be with our child, but she's 6 and unless I'm actively raising a wee child, there’s no need for me to be at home and I’m wasting a large education. I am trying to change my career from IT (15 years) to Education which requires study for the Teacher exams but I can't concentrate.

I've lost my drive, my passion, my ambition. I used to have big energy and a wide ranging interest and all I want to do now is sleep, read and sleep some more. I'm managing to pull it together around my daughter and to keep our house running, but I'm a void otherwise. I'm going through the motions and that is not me.

After we determine that I either cannot carry another child or after a successful pregnancy I'll be back on meds like a flash, but for now I can't. And until our therapy coverage is figured out I can't do that either.

I've stopped writing (I’ve had a blog since 1998); stopped participating in online discussions, stopped interacting much with anyone. When I do, I keep ending up in situations I am uncomfortable in (like a bar) then I drink too much and make an ass out of myself and of course hate myself even more. I need to see my friends though or I'll isolate further. Also I don't drink every day or every week, but go overboard when I'm in certain social situations or sometimes when blindsided by something horrible (not always but sometimes). It’s hard to give up drinking entirely because that is about the only time I feel some relief and ease.

Also--I have a congenital defect which makes exercise difficult (I only have about 70 lung capacity and my organs are not all located exactly where they should be, wheee). I know I need to though. But what? And how to get off your butt when everything is a huge effort?
I have had episodes of major depression in the past, all dealt with by some very competent doctors and I've survived more or less. I have a great daughter and husband and live in a good town with good friends. This exam is coming up and if I don't get my brain back I'm going to fail and hat myself more. Becoming a teacher is something I wanted when younger and was talked out of, now is my chance, the jobs all just opened up and if I can get my butt in gear and take these tests and get in the non traditional licensure program I will get to do what I wanted to do in my 20s. But I can’t think or remember or even learn right now. It's all a bad spiral. And I’m also around mid life crisis age too, give or take. Which means I’m running out of time to be pregnant too .

I'm usually more linear but it is hard to describe all this. So vitamins? Which ones? How much? Motivation? Exercise? What kind. I’d jump off the roof, but it would really piss off my cats and probably be worse for my family then even how I am right now. Throwaway email is soverysadnow@gmail.com

Lots of questions about calcium

otherwordlyglow — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:09:54 -0800

What the best formula for Calcium supplements? I'm trying to get at least 1000 milligrams of calcium every day both through dairy products and calcium supplements but I'm confused about the best way of taking calcium. I'm 40 and pregnant. First of all calcium comes in lots of different forms (cal citrate, liquid cal, cal carbonate......). I seem to recall hearing the calcium from coral wasn't a good idea because of impurities but what about all the rest? Do some absorb better?

And then there's the accompanying supplements. Quite often, calcium is mixed with Vitamin D which I guess helps with absorption but if I'm already taking a multivitamin with plenty of Vitamin D, can I skip it? I usually take calcium in the morning and the multi at night so the Vitamin D isn't taken at the same time but I know D is fat soluble so it'll get stored so i don't need to take it at the exact same time as the calcium, right? I'd like to avoid taking too much D, if possible. Other calcium comes with magnesium and does that do the same thing for absorption?

And if I want to take 1000 mg entirely as a supplement (if I know I haven't been having enough dairy lately), should I take it all at once or stagger it? Somewhere I read something about your body not being able to absorb more than 500 mg at once.

Help me have strong bones!