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As you get older your body does not convert it as efficiently.
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It is difficult to get adequate amounts from food or cod liver oil(which I highly recommend for real vitamin A) if you are looking to get close to 50 ng/ml
Notice 3 points at the bottom of the chart, 25 is avg for US and Canada. Tribal Africans are at 47 and outdoor workers are around 49. 40-60 is recommended for disease prevention
As an 81 year old vegan I take a small (160mcg) B12 supplement because, otherwise it is only provided by animal protein. That's considered a very small amount but my blood work, for the past 17 years, has always been good for B12.
I also take 1,000 IU of D3 two days in a row, and then I skip a day. That averages out to 666.6 IU per day. My blood level for D3 is about 29 and that's where I'm satisfied. Too much D3 can cause a buildup of calcium in your blood and be toxic.
I don't eat seafood where most iodine in the diet comes from and I don't use iodized salt. So I take one drop of a liquid iodine supplement. That's 150 mcg.
Most zinc comes from animal protein, so I take a small supplement of 5 mg twice a day.
All of the above is based on what I believe my needs are, because my diet consists of about 99.9% natural whole plant foods.
I eat a wide variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, a variety of nuts and 2 teaspoons of olive oil with salads and other vegetables.
I don't believe in the shot-gun approach - taking a multi-vitamin in a futile attempt to make up for eating a poor diet.
There's very little that can make up for eating a poor diet. For example, your body is not fooled into "thinking" a vitamin C tablet is the same as a piece of fresh fruit or broccoli. You can't fool mother nature. :-) That's because most vitamins work in concert with other fresh-food substances.
It's called synergy: The interaction of two or more substances to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
Definitely vitamin D3 isn't a waste of money. Something like 35% of adults in the U.S. have a vitamin D deficiency (and a higher percentage worldwide).
Most "one a day" type multivitamins include too little vitamin D3, so I think a lot of people consider doses above 1000 IU high. It's not. Several thousand IU a day is fine, and for a severe deficiency a knowledgeable health care provider might recommend 50,000 IU of vitamin D once a week for up to 8 weeks (a sort of "loading dose"). This PubMed article provides more on that: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30611908/
Other than vitamin D3 & liposomal vitamin C, I don't take any of the others, so good! I haven't been wasting my money all these years! I've taken vitamins pretty much my whole life.
That list is accurate. The only supplements that really need to be taken on their own are magnesium (everyone) Vitamin B12 (if you are on PPIs or a vegan diet) and perhaps D3 (during the winter)
A basic cheapo "great value" multivitamin without iron for men, with iron for women, is plenty... and a separate magnesium supplement... magnesium citrate. I read the posts on the previous page about synthetic vitamins. I haven't done significant DD on the effects.
I also consume glycine, for collagen production. It tastes almost like sugar, so it's easy to mix into anything.
Also, I use tretinoin on my face, probably for life.
Once I use up the rest of my other "fancier" supplements I'm not going to replace them. I'll simply continue my high antioxidant diet (coffee, cocoa, ceylon cinnamon, berries, etc.)
I also have Vitamin K2 MK-4. It remains to be seen if Vitamin K2 is actually needed or not. Suppose to clear out calcium from the arteries. Frankly both my grandparents lived well into their 80's without any of these supplements, but I'd rather hedge my bets with a couple.
I remember an old TV infomercial where he said his friend is in the portapotty business and would find all the unmelted vitamins in the bottom of the waste tanks.
Stomach acid is far more powerful than anything you will find in a septic tank. The only thing it can't break down is stomach lining.
I have heard those old wives tales that you can't digest vitamin tablets or you have to take liquid vitamins to get the maximum benefit. As if you have to take liquid aspirin or Tylenol or Advil to get any benefit.
...But I think if you are tested for your vitamin and mineral levels it's smart to go ahead and supplement...
I agree with this. I prefer not adding things unless I have an initial baseline. My doctor will order any tests I want. Whether insurance pays for them or not is another matter, but I think it's worth the investment. I will ask him to order D3 for me. Any other suggestions of things to test?
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