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I prefer evidence-based science. So I don't take vitamins, either.
I was diagnosed with D insufficiency a couple of years ago. I was spending too much time indoors. Solution: Get more sun, safely. Since I moved to an area that gets 300 days of sun a year, I get a "vitamin" every time I step outdoors.
I am 85, I take B12, D3, and a multi-vitamin for old males. This is on the doctors advise. I don't navigate as fast as I used to, but I believe they help. There are medications that I take also.
My doctor said that most people should take at least one vitamin, ie: Centrum, daily as it will balance out and give you the daily needed requirements. What the body doesn't use will be passed on. Most people don't maintain a even balanced diet every day.
My Physician told me to take a Centrum Silver and that would be enough along with a prescribed pill for a medical issue. I do blood work every 6 months so if something were amiss, I'm sure he'd prescribe more pills.
What brand of Areds do you use, and where do you get them. I have floaters that I would love to go away. The Ophthalmologist I recently saw didn't say anything about supplements to help me.
Some of them are a waste of money but they are also a cheap insurance policy. Most women should take at least D, Calcium, and a multi. Men need a multi and D. Most of the people on the planet are D deficient and older people don't make D as well as younger people.
For me, the vitamins are worth the money. I am always dieting and I know I don't get everything I need from food. Just for example you need to drink 4 glasses of milk per day to get enough calcium. And that's 400 calories. At that point I wouldn't even be able to eat much else for the day. Those calcium pills save me 400 calories.
There's a lot of calcium in greens such as kale and spinach, and you can eat all the greens you want on a diet. 5 oz of kale has the same calcium as 8 oz of milk, but also has twice the vitamin C as a glass of OJ, and also has lutein for the eyes and vitamin K.
I am curious about which doctor (GP? hematologist?) did your tests and what they tested for. I have never been able to take a multivitamin because if I do, it has always caused terrible heartburn if I take any for more than a couple of days in a row.... even the most basic "RDA only" dosages. And iron supplements have always triggered cystitis within 36 hours; my kidneys apparently cannot metabolize supplemental iron properly but are fine with iron that naturally occurs in food rather than being chemically added.
Because there's no way to pinpoint which elements of a typical multivitamin trigger my reflux problem, I can't take any. I was tested for Vitamin D about ten years ago and I was in single digits BUT.... I am also a kidney stone former and medical advice is that taking more than the basic RDA of 400 mg of supplemental D raises the risk of stone formation. Same risk for supplemental calcium but calcium in dairy products is okay and in fact is beneficial. Anyway, taking 400 mg of D only raises my D by a couple of points (for example from 6 to 8.) And to top it all off, I'm prone to PMLE (polymorphous light eruption) with is a form of photosensitivity and so sunbathing is out as well.
Sometimes ya just can't win, LOL
But I would be interested in being tested for specific deficiencies with a view toward taking ONLY a supplement for whatever I may be lacking. Taking a multivitamin is, in my case, like trying to shoot a gnat with an elephant gun
Have you tried the chewable or gummy type multi-vitamins? I would think they would be easier on the stomach. I get terrible reflux from some antibiotics and other meds too, so I know how awful that can feel.
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