Best Multivitamin for Women?

[ny biker]

consuming some dietary supplements is better than not consuming any, but it's better not to consume any supplements if you are consuming poor quality stuff.

Based on what?

I can't swallow big pills so I take Centrum chewable vitamins with breakfast every day.

I started taking them when I realized I was getting very little iron and zinc in my diet. I used to get colds very often and that is no longer the case. Don't know if the vitamins helped with that but I'm sure they didn't hurt.

[lph]

I've been told that a balanced diet is better than taking broadscale supplements, something about the ratios, and the way the body absorbs them, so that one should only take multivitamins if you know that your diet is poor or lacking in certain things. Based on that I try to eat plenty of vegetables and a varied diet, but I supplement with fish or seal oil (I don't like fatty fish that much, and I have a predisposition to heart disease), and calcium supplements since I eat little dairy products. The calcium supplements also have a little vit. D and K that help the uptake, but I don't think I'm getting too much of those anyway.

[shootingstar]

I've been told that a balanced diet is better than taking broadscale supplements, something about the ratios, and the way the body absorbs them, so that one should only take multivitamins if you know that your diet is poor or lacking in certain things.

I have been told this by 2 different family physicians. Sure, I've lacked abit of iron at different times in life, so I was on iron supplements for a short time period. Now off the supplements. Better I should pay attention to range of my food intake and their nutrients.

I get a cold once annually or less. I did go through a time where I had a cold once every 2-3 yrs., but I know with age this type of resistance wasn't going to be forever.

I've never taken a vitamin C supplement in my life. I will if the doctor recommends it.
I'm actually eating abit more fish now that I am living on the West Coast and fish is fresher here & better priced.

[OakLeaf]

When I was in college I got myself totally scr*wed up doing the Adelle Davis thing. Two things it did teach me are that (1) everything needs to be in balance, and (2) there's no pill in the world that contains everything we need to be healthy, not least because we don't completely know everything we need to be healthy.

I do take calcium/magnesium because I sweat so much out that I invariably get cramps if I don't. But... these need to be balanced with zinc, and zinc needs to be balanced with copper, and copper needs to be balanced with iron, and on and on and on. So I just take enough Ca/Mg to prevent the cramps, no more, and try to titrate my own dosage through being aware of my sweat rate.

Then there's vitamin C (the only function of which is to build collagen) - so I will take some when inhalant allergens are high (helps keep mast cells from bursting and releasing histamine), and the morning after a very hard workout (you don't want to suppress the inflammatory response during or immediately after the workout, because that's what stimulates tissue rebuilding, but you want to have enough vitamin C around to be able to build the cell walls later).

And I keep some balanced B-complex around. It's amazing how few B-complex and multivitamins are actually balanced. Solaray has two that are mostly balanced - a chewable and a capsule - but even those two are relatively deficient in folate and biotin, because of the limits on how much of those can go into an OTC supplement. I prefer the chewable, because of the lower dosage (both in proportion to the folate/biotin, and in general). Every couple-three months I'll take one, and if I'm not peeing out yellow B2, then I know I was deficient, and I'll take one a day until I start peeing it out. Then I won't take any more for several weeks. When my diet is good and I'm not drinking too much alcohol (which the latter is pretty much all the time, now - a good thing for a bad reason), in cooler weather I pretty much don't even need the first one; when I'm sweating out more, it could be two or three days, is all.

JMO....

[shootingstar]

When my diet is good and I'm not drinking too much alcohol (which the latter is pretty much all the time, now - a good thing for a bad reason), in cooler weather I pretty much don't even need the first one; when I'm sweating out more, it could be two or three days, is all.

JMO....

I will never have the problem of drinking too much alcohol. Past weekend I was lucky enough to savour a gooseberry wine (tastes like a port) just 1/2 wine glass before becoming pink-flushed. The natural warning signal, an embarrassing irritant when I was much younger, now I'm most grateful for.

[lph]

Huh. This weekend I got wasted drinking one glass of red wine. Well it felt that way at least. I drank a small can of beer right after XC skiing (our own after ski in the sun ), topped it off with a couple of shots of whisky (excellent Ardmore), and got a little animated, but fine. Late that evening we had dinner, red meat so I agreed to some red wine which I rarely drink. One smallish glass later I'm woozy, flushed and slurring my words. Amazing.

[malkin]

Lol!
We could have a big TE drunken bash on about one bottle of wine!

[issrit]

suppose consuming anything in moderation is fine.

[Catrin]

Lol!
We could have a big TE drunken bash on about one bottle of wine!

1/2 glass of wine is about it for me before it heads straight to my head... so I know how to nurse it along Ale, now, I do love a good ale and can generally have two of them - when I have them which isn't very often

As far as supplements/vitamins, I just don't take them. Do I buy them? Well...yes...but then totally forget about the need to actually put them in my mouth and swallow So I gave up on supplements and do what I can to eat properly.

[Flybye]

Worried about vitamins not breaking down or digesting?
Try chewables. Much cheaper than some overpriced vitamin that claims the same benefits. Says the husband pharmacist.

[arielmoon]

I have stopped taking pills and started using Whole Food Supplements. Either Vega or True Food Vegan. I also eat a very healthy balanced diet.