Help Me Cheapen My Urine!
December 7, 2009 11:29 AM Subscribe
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.
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.
I take Centrum Chewables because I don't like swallowing big pills. Also I think maybe chewables are better because you chew them up into little pieces that are easier to dissolve and absorb, vs. pills swallowed whole that might just pass through and get pooped out mostly undissolved and unabsorbed.
Well-known brands like One-A-Day and Centrum are basically sugar pills. Centrum are probably the least absorbed because they are made so cheaply. You don't have to chew up a pill for it to absorb.
Anything you find in a supermarket or drug store chain that's nationally advertised and sold is going to be ineffective. It's a scam. Because the company spends more on marketing and advertising than on actually making a quality pill.
You get what you pay for. Things cost less for a reason.
Stick with the well-made expensive brands like Solgar or Country Life. Why spend money on something that has no effect?
posted by Zambrano at 12:10 PM on December 7, 2009
Well-known brands like One-A-Day and Centrum are basically sugar pills. Centrum are probably the least absorbed because they are made so cheaply. You don't have to chew up a pill for it to absorb.
Anything you find in a supermarket or drug store chain that's nationally advertised and sold is going to be ineffective. It's a scam. Because the company spends more on marketing and advertising than on actually making a quality pill.
You get what you pay for. Things cost less for a reason.
Stick with the well-made expensive brands like Solgar or Country Life. Why spend money on something that has no effect?
posted by Zambrano at 12:10 PM on December 7, 2009
I actually noticed a small improvement in my energy (though I suppose that could be attributed to mind over matter) when I started taking Trader Joe's multi after switching from Schiff.
posted by Zoyashka at 12:13 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by Zoyashka at 12:13 PM on December 7, 2009
I like the Trader Joe's vitamins myself.
Really, Zambrano, all vitamins are a scam. We should be eating the things that the vitamins are replacing, like fresh fruits and vegetables, not eating the vitamins. But calcium is calcium, so I save by eating the cheap TJ's vitamins and spend more money on other things, like better food.
posted by caution live frogs at 12:21 PM on December 7, 2009
Really, Zambrano, all vitamins are a scam. We should be eating the things that the vitamins are replacing, like fresh fruits and vegetables, not eating the vitamins. But calcium is calcium, so I save by eating the cheap TJ's vitamins and spend more money on other things, like better food.
posted by caution live frogs at 12:21 PM on December 7, 2009
Calcium is not calcium, and nobody who is generally healthy and on a regular varied diet needs additional vitamins. So there actually is a very cheap option.
However, if they make you feel good, pick any one you like without spending too much time and money and feel good. Yes, mind over matter.
posted by gijsvs at 12:40 PM on December 7, 2009
However, if they make you feel good, pick any one you like without spending too much time and money and feel good. Yes, mind over matter.
posted by gijsvs at 12:40 PM on December 7, 2009
GNC Maximum Greens Ultra Mega Green. The tablets really are green. They taste like the green "superfood" Naked Juice.
I've noticed a similar (possibly psychosomatic) effect as Zoyashka's.
As a vegetarian I find these pills particularly nice because they ensure I get iron and iodine.
posted by vsync at 12:43 PM on December 7, 2009
I've noticed a similar (possibly psychosomatic) effect as Zoyashka's.
As a vegetarian I find these pills particularly nice because they ensure I get iron and iodine.
posted by vsync at 12:43 PM on December 7, 2009
Excellent green superfood are Spirulina and Chlorella. I get it from Swanson Vitamins, high quality and very reasonable price.
posted by 3dd at 12:58 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by 3dd at 12:58 PM on December 7, 2009
Well-known brands like One-A-Day and Centrum are basically sugar pills.
Zambrono -- Would you mind elaborating?
posted by JohnFredra at 1:37 PM on December 7, 2009
Zambrono -- Would you mind elaborating?
posted by JohnFredra at 1:37 PM on December 7, 2009
Whoops! Zambrano, apologies.
posted by JohnFredra at 1:38 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by JohnFredra at 1:38 PM on December 7, 2009
I take the generic one-a-day "Premium Performance Multivitamin" from Costco. It claims to have just about every nutrient under the sun, including ginseng, ginkgo and fish oils I feel like my health and demeanor have been slightly more consistent since I started taking it, confirmation bias and placebo effect notwithstanding.
posted by gnutron at 2:07 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by gnutron at 2:07 PM on December 7, 2009
Trader Joe's has really good prices on vitamins.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 2:36 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 2:36 PM on December 7, 2009
"Well-known brands like One-A-Day and Centrum are basically sugar pills."
How do you explain my fingernails growing in thicker when I take vitamins and thinner when I don't, then? I eat a relatively healthy, well-balanced diet but there is something in the vitamins that is making my nails healthier. (Don't know if it's doing anything for the rest of me, but the difference in the fingernails is dramatic.)
posted by Jacqueline at 3:07 PM on December 7, 2009
How do you explain my fingernails growing in thicker when I take vitamins and thinner when I don't, then? I eat a relatively healthy, well-balanced diet but there is something in the vitamins that is making my nails healthier. (Don't know if it's doing anything for the rest of me, but the difference in the fingernails is dramatic.)
posted by Jacqueline at 3:07 PM on December 7, 2009
Well-known brands like One-A-Day and Centrum are basically sugar pills. Centrum are probably the least absorbed because they are made so cheaply.
I don't think you actually have any evidence for this.
posted by Justinian at 3:14 PM on December 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
I don't think you actually have any evidence for this.
posted by Justinian at 3:14 PM on December 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
I get my vitamins at Vita Cost. They have Rainbow Light vitamins at 40% off, so if you like those you may want to get them there.
posted by apricot at 5:53 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by apricot at 5:53 PM on December 7, 2009
"Premium Performance Multivitamin" from Costco. It claims to have just about every nutrient under the sun, including ginseng, ginkgo and fish oils
Great price, but I seemed to be mildly allergic to something in this stuff, one of the herbal ingredients (alfalfa maybe?). Not a good deal for everyone.
posted by yohko at 6:17 PM on December 7, 2009
Great price, but I seemed to be mildly allergic to something in this stuff, one of the herbal ingredients (alfalfa maybe?). Not a good deal for everyone.
posted by yohko at 6:17 PM on December 7, 2009
Centrum's fine. I favor the Trader Joe's brand no iron multivitamin. I take one a day (instead of the recommended two), and I feel physically good and haven't gotten sick in a rather long time.
posted by ignignokt at 8:28 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by ignignokt at 8:28 PM on December 7, 2009
Go to some of the vitamin review sites and read up on them. A vitamin that is slowly absorbed over time is supposed to be better. Some vitamins are taken two a day rather than one a day so that should help. Price is not always an indicator, as with most things, of a good vitamin or on the other hand a bad one. Some of the expensive ones don't get a good rating and some cheaper ones get a better ( than you might think) rating. Some of the sites compare the prices and their contents. I read two reviews just today, but can't find them now. Sorry.
I've tried a cheaper one, now I'm going back to GNC which a tried for years and strayed away from.
And to "caution live frogs" I say that not every one can take in the recommended dietary allowance of vitamins through the foods they eat and/or drink on a regular basis no matter how much they try. And there are a lot of reasons for that.
posted by Taurid at 12:18 AM on December 8, 2009
I've tried a cheaper one, now I'm going back to GNC which a tried for years and strayed away from.
And to "caution live frogs" I say that not every one can take in the recommended dietary allowance of vitamins through the foods they eat and/or drink on a regular basis no matter how much they try. And there are a lot of reasons for that.
posted by Taurid at 12:18 AM on December 8, 2009
IME Puritan's Pride has good quality supplements and good prices (and they're almost always running a sale — right now they've got a buy-2-get-3-free sale on).
posted by Lexica at 4:15 PM on December 8, 2009
posted by Lexica at 4:15 PM on December 8, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
The most noticeable difference is my fingernails, and that difference is dramatic. Every now and then I will run out of vitamins and forget to buy more for a month or two, and after a while after I will get a noticeable dent in my nails of a thin spot on every nail surrounded by thicker nails on either side. These always correspond with times I have missed my vitamins for a month or so.. As this dent grows out to the tip my nails get brittle and break and tear easily. Then it grows out and my nails are "hard as nails" again. So I know the vitamins must be doing something for me. Or at least for my fingernails.
posted by Jacqueline at 11:45 AM on December 7, 2009