(11 February 2013, 23:14)MaryN Wrote: I can see where you are coming from, Highlander, but understand that the vitamins you need to eat will be in the food you need to eat. Taking pills because you think they will compensate for a shortgage can be dangerous - particularly if you are a little dehydrated or even undernourished. It's the food that the vitamins are in that you need. The human body needs fats, sugar, starches, proteins etc etc. to survive, and if you don't get them you will be a goner - popping a pill won't hack it. So if you are not eating enough to survive, taking vitamin pills won't help you; they may even harm you. If you are eating enough to survive you are probably going to be o.k.
On the same note, I remember reading an article about NASA feeding astronauts in totally tablet form. They were all sick and unwell within about a week. The tablets they were using....mutlivitamin+mineral. That backfired haha.
Vitamins and minerals fulfil specific functions for your body. Zinc helps build muscle. Vit A good for the eyes. Vit C good for blood and awesome anti-oxidant, etc. But we run (our bodies) on fats, proteins, and carbs.
Most people don't know much about the macro nutrients (the main 3) and know even less about vitamins and minerals. I'd say that over 90% of people don't know you can't properly absorb Iron supplements (you get about 2% of what's in the tablets), unless through haemoglobe iron, found in desiccated liver. Making this even more fascinating (and less well known) one reason women live longer than men is because after a while, iron becomes toxic in the body. Men don't have a way to regularly reduce the iron levels, while women get a monthly 'filtering' of their iron.
Taking a multi vitamin multi mineral is well worth it.....if you need it, as Mary rightly points out.
Do I take them? Damn right I do. I'm regularly pushing my physical limits, and need more nutrients to feed my body than most people. Also, I'm not a massive fan of eating my greens. Having said that, I probably 'over nutrient' my body, which is why certain aspects of that are accounted for (fasting days, water intake, tablet free days, herbal teas, plus kidney and liver detoxifiers). If you want to be optimum, it costs :-(
I could probably get all those nutrients from food, but I'm a bit lazy with cooking, and the volume of food I'd be eating would make me spew. In those cases, supplements are awesome. Having said all that, in a situation where food is sparse, I'd want to make the most of everything that went into my body, so I would supplement with multi tablets....as usual.
Best off, get everything you need naturally. Next best, get everything you need predominantly naturally. I go for option B.
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