Vitamins and supplements worth taking?

February 18, 2016 7:58 AM

Which vitamins and supplements, if any, are worth actually taking on a regular basis? No snow-flaky details here, just a regular, out-of-shape, delivery food-eating, occasional exerciser who sits in an office all day.

Bonus points for links to supporting articles, papers, etc. Thanks!

posted by shotgunbooty to Health & Fitness (24 answers total)

I live in New England and never see the sun, so my Vitamin D levels are low. The doctor measured them and said so. I take Vitamin D more enthusiastically than I do other supplements; in fact, the D is my reminder to take a multivitamin because I store the bottles together.
posted by aimedwander at 8:00 AM on February 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

after moving i finally saw a new GP last fall. he asked it i was taking any vitamins and when i said yes he asked "why?". other than a specific deficiency, he suggested vitamins aren't necessary (other than possibly vitamin d, but just get out in the sun for a little bit).

he also gave me a copy of this nytimes blog as further reading. (he seems to really like handouts).

edit: i believe this is the journal article the nyt talks about
posted by noloveforned at 8:02 AM on February 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

Vitamin D seems to have helped with my supreme distaste for February.
posted by jessamyn at 8:12 AM on February 18, 2016 [6 favorites]

Vitamin D and iron. We are vegetarian and don't get enough of either of those.

Mr. Meat, as I think has been discussed, is knowledgeable about these things.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 8:12 AM on February 18, 2016

Sorry, here is a link that explains the science behind Vitamin D and what you need to pay attention to.
posted by jessamyn at 8:14 AM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ah, yes, I know Mr. Meat has been advised specifically to take vitamin D and iron, and I just go along with those.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 8:15 AM on February 18, 2016

Here's a cool data visualization widget by David McCandless that tabulates scientific studies to gauge whether a supplement is worth taking:

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/snake-oil-supplements/
posted by at at 8:16 AM on February 18, 2016 [11 favorites]

For those of you who take vitamins/supplements: do you know if your "low" levels (as measured by a doctor or as surmised by a, e.g., vegetarian diet) have been alleviated by taking said vitamins/supplements?

I can absolutely believe that vitamin D and iron are important for lots of things, but I'm curious if there's any evidence that taking them in pill form works in a measurable way.
posted by Betelgeuse at 8:31 AM on February 18, 2016

>tabulates scientific studies to gauge whether a supplement is worth taking:

Not sure how useful that is. There is a line of "Fish Oil / Omega-3s" going from "promising" all the way down to "harmful".
posted by anti social order at 8:31 AM on February 18, 2016

do you know if your "low" levels have been alleviated by taking said vitamins/supplements?

i take vitamin d because of MS (2000 units a day which i think means twice normal daily intake?). i just had my levels measured and they're above normal. but i was not measured before being prescribed, so it's possible i was always high, i guess. also, it's summer here, so i am getting a fair amount of sun exposure.
posted by andrewcooke at 8:39 AM on February 18, 2016

If you take omeprazole, it can lower your magnesium levels. I found that out one week where my chest muscles made it feel like my heart was shivering. now I take a magnesium supplement and no more shivery heart*

my digestive system is destroyed due to being on antibiotics for the better part of a year. so I also take probiotics and fiber capsules. these were recommended to me by a gastroenterologist.

*shivery heart is my next band name.
posted by kerning at 8:40 AM on February 18, 2016

Vegetables are the best supplement.

Plus, they help you poo.
posted by clawsoon at 8:45 AM on February 18, 2016 [6 favorites]

For those of you who take vitamins/supplements: do you know if your "low" levels (as measured by a doctor or as surmised by a, e.g., vegetarian diet) have been alleviated by taking said vitamins/supplements?

Yes. My vitamin D level went from 23 to 30 with 2000 iu taken daily for about six weeks.
posted by purpleclover at 9:05 AM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can absolutely believe that vitamin D and iron are important for lots of things, but I'm curious if there's any evidence that taking them in pill form works in a measurable way.

As a primary care doctor who puts people on these supplements regularly for documented deficiencies, I can say they absolutely do result in increased blood levels. The benefits of Vitamin D and the best way to supplement are still being debated, but OTC supplements definitely result in measurable improvements. And as long as the person tolerates the iron supplements, it's possible to correct even fairly significant iron deficiency with pills alone.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 9:12 AM on February 18, 2016 [17 favorites]

Iron supplements (I use these because they don't give me a stomach ache but not everyone is as sensitive) keep me from having odd-shaped red blood cells. I eat a decent amount of red meat but it doesn't seem to be enough. I have done this experiment multiple times.

Folic acid is a fine choice if you might become pregnant. The point is to already have it accumulated in your body. Alternatively, if you're the testicle-having sort, that's where the concerns about fish oil come into play. My partner takes it every-other day as a compromise.
posted by teremala at 9:16 AM on February 18, 2016

I think it's important that a doc veto supplementing with iron, as The Elusive Architeuthis does with their patients, and check it regularly. (At least, my doc was annoyed with me - I'd been feeling low-energy, and decided [on my own] to take up iron supplements again, because I'd had low results in the past. Turned out [after abstaining again, before a test] that the iron was fine. Also, I understand that if there's some underlying problem, supplementing could mask that on a routine test.) I think with vitamin D, most people in North America can assume they're deficient. (Or that's the rationale for many docs where I live no longer testing for it, something like 66% have low levels.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 9:25 AM on February 18, 2016

I have taken tons of supplements. I did so to redress lifelong deficiencies following finally getting a proper diagnosis. I no longer supplement.

If you aren't symptomatic for a deficiency or being told by a doctor you have a deficiency, taking supplements can lead to problems, like iron poisoning. If you want to play around with it, hey, it is your body, so, some good guidelines:

• Water soluble vitamins, like b and c, are the least likely to build up in your system, so they are the safest for trying without a specific diagnosis.
• Fat soluble vitamins, like d and a, are the next safest. A nutritionist told me no study has ever found vitamin e to be toxic at any level. If you take hella amounts of a, you can turn orange and get toxic.
• Minerals, like iron or calcium, can build up in the system and poison you. These are things you really should not take if you do not have a reason to believe you are deficient. I will say that drinking carbonated beverages is known to leach magnesium, so if you drink a lot of soda, it wouldn't be crazy to supplement magnesium.

If you eat a lot of greasy fast food, you should look up studies on oils. You might benefit from an omega 3 rich oil, like fish oil or flax seed oil. But you would be better off just cutting back on the consumption of greasy foods cooked in unhealthy oils. This is apparently a balance thing, where you eat too much omega 6, so taking omega 3 helps offset that. And it just makes more sense to not muck up your system with excessive omega 6 to start with.

If you do some reading and conclude that you do need some supplements, the single most important thing to research is bioavailability. There are some chemical forms of calcium or iron or whatever that humans simply absorb more readily. But, also, you may need to research what you, personally, tolerate well. I don't tolerate sulfur well and most iron supplements have sulfur in them (like iron sulfate). This doesn't seem to matter to most people, but I had to look for iron that did not contain sulfur, which was not easy to find. So, in addition to "humans don't absorb x well" it is possible you don't absorb some things well.

Instead of taking supplements, you should probably try to walk more. Park a little farther out. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Here is a link about exercise and longevity.
posted by Michele in California at 10:58 AM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

> Not sure how useful that is. There is a line of "Fish Oil / Omega-3s" going from "promising" all the way down to "harmful".

anti social order, each bubble is testing the effect of Omega-3 on a different condition. If you mouse over each bubble it shows you the condition. So, Omega-3 has been found to be "promising" for colorectal cancer (top Omega-3 bubble), but potentially harmful for Prostate cancer and Diabetes (the bottom two bubbles). If you click on the bubble, it tells you the conclusion of the study.
posted by tuxster at 11:42 AM on February 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

I take iron and have my levels taken every month and I see an increase in my Hb.... And if I don't take it, it goes down about a digit a month while I'm pregnant.

Baby takes vitamin D

Probiotics seem to help thrush.

I hate hippy dippy medicine but I've had to admit that ginger and fennel are super for lots of things.
posted by catspajammies at 12:41 PM on February 18, 2016

Every few years I get rundown and depressed and the doctor tests for deficiencies and I usually come up low in iron, D and B. I start taking over the counter supplements, retest six weeks later, and am usually back in the normal range. Then I gradually get less consistent, eventually stop taking the supplements, and the cycle begins again. So yes, if you are deficient, supplements do seem to help.
posted by lollusc at 1:08 PM on February 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

I take calcium and magnesium and Vitamin A every day. Calcium & magnesium improve my sleep significantly and Vitamin A improves my complexion.
posted by aabbbiee at 2:36 PM on February 18, 2016

I am a hepatology (liver) nurse, and attend liver biopsy pathology rounds weekly, where we review and discuss the biopsy slides from that week's patients.

Vitamin A in particular can be toxic to the liver. We saw biopsy slides a few weeks ago from a patient who had been taking mega-vitamins for several months and had developed abnormal liver blood tests and abdominal pain. A biopsy revealed severe inflammatory hepatitis. The patient was informed that he needed to immediately cease taking vitamin A. He was indignant and very reluctant to believe that vitamins, in whatever enormous doses, could be detrimental, but he was scared enough to stop taking vitamins, for now at least. So please use caution when taking vitamins - our bodies have evolved to utilize the vitamins obtained in normal food intake, or sunlight exposure, and not the enormous doses available in the vitamins aisle of Whole Foods.
posted by citygirl at 7:03 PM on February 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

I was diagnosed (via blood test) positive for MTHFR, which is a slight genetic defect that basically means I do not metabolize B vitamins very well. I take a multi, a B complex, and extra folate every day, and it has been incredible for lifting my energy levels.

I was diagnosed (via blood work) as being low on D, so I take a D3 every morning.

I take 500 mg of vitamin C every day in the summer, and 1000mg every day in the winter. I double it if I'm sick, it lessens the duration of my illness.

I have a physician friend who is closely following the work of another doctor who is advocating for high levels of D3 supplementation as a preventative for cancer. He has several videos on YouTube describing his work and research.
posted by vignettist at 10:36 PM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

For those of you who take vitamins/supplements: do you know if your "low" levels (as measured by a doctor or as surmised by a, e.g., vegetarian diet) have been alleviated by taking said vitamins/supplements?

I was prescribed iron supplements (and Vitamin C for absorption) a few months ago for anemia, and could tell the difference almost immediately. I just went in for a 3-month followup and my iron levels are back in the "normal" range (still at the low end of normal, but my ferritin levels are up significantly, from 4 to 17), and all my other numbers looked good enough that my doctor suggested I switch to a daily multivitamin with iron instead of the iron/Vitamin C combo. I have not significantly increased the amount of meat I eat over those 3 months, so I attribute the whole increase to the iron supplements.
posted by jabes at 12:02 PM on February 19, 2016