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Supplements and Nutrition
Generally everyone might benefit from taking a multivitamin each day.
For a few pennies per day, a multivitamin provides added insurance that
adequate intake of the daily necessary vitamins and micro nutrients will
be met for most individuals.
Women may need extra calcium and iron. In addition to low fat dairy products,
over the counter calcium preparations like calcium carbonate and calcium
citrate are inexpensive and easy to take. Calcium supplements are best
absorbed when taken with meals, at a dose of 500 mg two times per day.
Women who bleed excessively during menstruation may need to take a multivitamin
and mineral supplement that contains iron to meet the daily recommendation
of 15 mg. Pregnant and lactating women have increased nutrient needs and
are usually given supplements by their doctors.
Vegetarians who eat absolutely no animal products are advised to take a multivitamin with iron and other minerals each day. Iron and B12 deficiency occur frequently in strict vegetarians.
Dieters and people who avoid entire food groups are more likely to have
vitamin and mineral deficiencies. A daily generic multivitamin with minerals
should be considered.
Smokers may have lower vitamin C levels in their blood than nonsmokers
and may benefit from supplementation of up to 500 mg a day.
People with deficiency diseases or absorption disorders may need therapeutic doses of nutrients (two to 10 times the RDA) prescribed by a physician. People who take prescription medications that interfere with nutrients or who abuse alcohol or other drugs may also need higher dose supplements.
What Type of Supplements Should I Buy for my Kids?
We give our kids a multi-vitamin, vitamin D, and vitamin C every day. And then probiotics and a green vitamin to supplement their "greens" intake. Here is a list of kid vitaimins we give our children.
What Type of Supplements Should I Buy
If you go the supplement route, pick one that contains at least 20 vitamins and minerals essential for good health and no more than 150 percent of the U.S. RDA for each nutrient. Natural and synthetic vitamins are virtually identical. In fact, no pill is natural, but synthetic vitamins are cheaper to make. It would require mountains of natural foods to extract enough vitamins to make all the vitamins commonly sold, and the cost would be prohibitive. The one exception is vitamin E: The natural form is actually biologically more active than the synthetic version, but the measurement for synthetic vitamin E has taken this into account, so that 30 IU of synthetic vitamin E is the same as 30 IU of the natural form.
When buying supplements, check the expiration date on the bottle. It's fine to buy supplements that contain sugar and starch; in fact, they are sometimes added to ensure better nutrient absorption. And store brands may be just as good as name brands and may be made by the same manufacturer. They are less expensive because you're not paying for advertising. But since some nutrients can be toxic in high doses, and much is still unknown about toxicity levels, most people would be wise to limit themselves to a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement that provides no more than 150 percent of the RDA for each nutrient. For example, supplements of iron, zinc, chromium, selenium and other common minerals can be toxic at levels not much higher than the recommended allowances. High levels (say, 50,000 IU of vitamin A) can cause dry skin, headaches, joint pain and insomnia. More than 1,000 mg of vitamin C can cause cramps and diarrhea and may interfere with the body's ability to use other nutrients.
Use caution when buying herbal supplements. The active ingredients in many of the prescription drugs we use--digoxin (heart medication) and codeine, for example--are extracted from plants. But over-the-counter herbal preparations are neither standardized for dose nor regulated for safety. In recent years, some popular supplements, such as Ma huang (used in energy-boosting and weight-loss products) and Jin Bu Huan (promoted as a sleep aid and pain reliever), have caused serious problems.
Other remedies, such as ginseng and valerian root, or specialty supplements such as shark cartilage and bee pollen, have sometimes run into problems stemming from contamination in the manufacturing process. Most cases of herbal toxicity, however, probably stem from the chemistry of the plant itself. Because there haven't been enough studies to set safe limits for these supplements, experts advise you not to take them every day. If you do take these supplements, take only small quantities of any single preparation, check that the package lists the actual plants in the preparation, pass on any product containing comfrey (which has been linked to liver disease) and never take these supplements if you are trying to get pregnant, are pregnant or are breast-feeding.
Are Supplements Safe
FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering "conventional" foods and drug products (prescription and Over-the-Counter). Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the dietary supplement manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a dietary supplement is safe before it is marketed. FDA is responsible for taking action against any unsafe dietary supplement product after it reaches the market. Generally, manufacturers do not need to register with FDA nor get FDA approval before producing or selling dietary supplements. Manufacturers must make sure that product label information is truthful and not misleading.
FDA's post-marketing responsibilities include monitoring safety, e.g. voluntary dietary supplement adverse event reporting, and product information, such as labeling, claims, package inserts, and accompanying literature. The Federal Trade Commission regulates dietary supplement advertising.
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