DO VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS ACTUALLY WORK

[Daz69]

There is a huge industry that has built up to supply vitamins and other supplements to customers that believe they are of benefit to their long term health...

But do they really work..?

Our bodies have had tens of thousands of years to evolve eating foods from nature such as meats, fish, vegetables, nuts and seeds (A cave-man diet)..

Our metabolic processes have developed to break down foods from natural sources into macro and micro nutrients...

Only in the last 30-40yrs have our digestive enzymes been applied with vitamins and minerals in their pure form... Aren't our bodies meant to metabolise vitamins and minerals from food as a metabolic end result.... Not be presented with them in their pure form before the metabolic processes occur..?

I have also read certain vitamins and minerals need to be ingested together in correct ratios to actually be utilised correctly by your body..?

How much of a multi-vitamin tablet actually gets utilised by your body or does most of it pass out as waste..?

[vracula]

good topic ,apart from the usual I just supplement with zinc and fish oil tabs and get the rest from food,I am curious to know as well.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

just wanted to throw something into the mix in this argument - have heard it many times before but I'll admit that I haven't bothered searching for evidence of it (refer to sig)

-- food we get today (especially fruits/veges) contain only 10% of the vitamins that were available in them in 60s/70s (just 50 years ago)

-- I have been sick way less this year compared to last year when I wasn't taking multis BUT it could just be the more active lifestyle (started working out vs sitting on pc all day). will have to 'cycle' multis again at some point for comparisons sake

[Kalidane]

Surely multivits are only going to help when there is a clinical or sub-clinical deficiency from a crappy diet. Although supra-normal activity or stressor levels mean RDI/RDA numbers are complete nonsense and hopefully that applies to everyone who visits NZBB.

Eat a wide variety of fruits and veges and that's that.

Not suggesting I bother with that myself...

I don't have numbers on comparative nutrient levels but the current NZ numbers are here

[Daz69]

I meant are our bodies equipped to metabolise vitamins presented into our stomachs in their pure form, rather than extract vitamins from whole foods through a metabolic process that has evolved over tens of thousands of years..

Might vitamins as supplements better work if injected directly into the blood stream..?

[Kalidane]

oic :oops:

Erm well a quick google shows a bunch of stuff on bioavailability of orally supplemented vitamins/minerals/trace elements.

Far too Friday to plunge into that right now however!

[tomsammce]

I'll contact the brah nick smith, gonna be education itt

[Username]

I meant are our bodies equipped to metabolise vitamins presented into our stomachs in their pure form, rather than extract vitamins from whole foods through a metabolic process that has evolved over tens of thousands of years..

Might vitamins as supplements better work if injected directly into the blood stream..?

What you said doesn't make sense to me, you suggest that:

- it's possible that our bodies are equipped to metabolise vitamins extracted from whole food rather than when presented in pure form

[which i think sounds quite plausible]

But then you say:

- might vitamins work better if injected directly into blood.

If vitamins are injected directly into blood, then they are being "presented in pure form" opposed to being metabolised from food in our stomach.

[Diab0lic]

Do vitamin supplements work?

Well since their job is to deliver vitamins into the body, then yes they do.

Do they provide a benefit over not taking them?

I think that the benefit to someone who has a balanced diet (especially one with a decent amount of vegetables) is minimal. There are times when they might be more useful than others like after prolonged exercise, during illness or when you;re hungover but a good diet is stlil good enough.

The body does regulate levels of course so what you do not use will be metabolised and/or excreted so you may be pissing a bunch of it away. Also the body can usually only use one of the types of enantiomers of any chiral molecule (usually the L enantiomer) but the manufacturing process cannot produce only one, so half of what is contained in the dosage can often be biologically inactive anyway

I still take a multi cos they are cheap basically but I don't feel any different when I don't

[Daz69]

Do vitamin supplements work?

Well since their job is to deliver vitamins into the body, then yes they do.

Do they provide a benefit over not taking them?

I think that the benefit to someone who has a balanced diet (especially one with a decent amount of vegetables) is minimal. There are times when they might be more useful than others like after prolonged exercise, during illness or when you;re hungover but a good diet is stlil good enough.

The body does regulate levels of course so what you do not use will be metabolised and/or excreted so you may be pissing a bunch of it away. Also the body can usually only use one of the types of enantiomers of any chiral molecule (usually the L enantiomer) but the manufacturing process cannot produce only one, so half of what is contained in the dosage can often be biologically inactive anyway

I still take a multi cos they are cheap basically but I don't feel any different when I don't

I was unaware of that, thanks.....

[Diab0lic]

Do vitamin supplements work?

Well since their job is to deliver vitamins into the body, then yes they do.

Do they provide a benefit over not taking them?

I think that the benefit to someone who has a balanced diet (especially one with a decent amount of vegetables) is minimal. There are times when they might be more useful than others like after prolonged exercise, during illness or when you;re hungover but a good diet is stlil good enough.

The body does regulate levels of course so what you do not use will be metabolised and/or excreted so you may be pissing a bunch of it away. Also the body can usually only use one of the types of enantiomers of any chiral molecule (usually the L enantiomer) but the manufacturing process cannot produce only one, so half of what is contained in the dosage can often be biologically inactive anyway

I still take a multi cos they are cheap basically but I don't feel any different when I don't

I was unaware of that, thanks.....

That's why you see things like L-carnitine and D-aspartic acid, etc. The mirror image molecule will not be biologically effective so in those cases the manufacturer has isolated the biologically active enantiomer. You will , of course, pay extra for that privilege, but then again you are getting more of the useful agent.

I'm not actually sure how much this goes on in the vitamin industry but for example the name vitamin C always refers to the L-enantiomer of ascorbic acid and its oxidized forms. The opposite D-enantiomer called D-ascorbate has equal antioxidant power, but is not found in nature, and has no physiological significance. When D-ascorbate is synthesized and given to animals that require vitamin C in the diet, it has been found to have far less vitamin activity than the L-enantiomer.

Depends on wheter the manufacturer is actually producing only the L enantiomer or is just making "ascorbic acid" in which case there will be a racemic mix of the two. You'll still get antioxidant activity out of the D one by the looks but not biological activity. I'd say in cheap ones at least that's what you are getting.

Pretty sure this affects most vitamins (and drugs too)

It;s also one of the reasons your piss goes bright yellow so quick. The biologically inactive enantiomer is simply pissed straight out

[Kalidane]

...

It;s also one of the reasons your piss goes bright yellow so quick. The biologically inactive enantiomer is simply pissed straight out

Ah good show old chap. This is rather useful info for all.

I would hazard a guess that plenty of people take vitamin supps and see the fluro piss and think oh well looks like it's all surplus so I won't bother it would look normal if I actually needed it. Actual fact is they may be making great use of the added vitamins but them inactive sciencebits still meet with the same fate.

Every day is a school day :clap:

[Daz69]

Do vitamin supplements work?

Well since their job is to deliver vitamins into the body, then yes they do.

Do they provide a benefit over not taking them?

I think that the benefit to someone who has a balanced diet (especially one with a decent amount of vegetables) is minimal. There are times when they might be more useful than others like after prolonged exercise, during illness or when you;re hungover but a good diet is stlil good enough.

The body does regulate levels of course so what you do not use will be metabolised and/or excreted so you may be pissing a bunch of it away. Also the body can usually only use one of the types of enantiomers of any chiral molecule (usually the L enantiomer) but the manufacturing process cannot produce only one, so half of what is contained in the dosage can often be biologically inactive anyway

I still take a multi cos they are cheap basically but I don't feel any different when I don't

I was unaware of that, thanks.....

That's why you see things like L-carnitine and D-aspartic acid, etc. The mirror image molecule will not be biologically effective so in those cases the manufacturer has isolated the biologically active enantiomer. You will , of course, pay extra for that privilege, but then again you are getting more of the useful agent.

I'm not actually sure how much this goes on in the vitamin industry but for example the name vitamin C always refers to the L-enantiomer of ascorbic acid and its oxidized forms. The opposite D-enantiomer called D-ascorbate has equal antioxidant power, but is not found in nature, and has no physiological significance. When D-ascorbate is synthesized and given to animals that require vitamin C in the diet, it has been found to have far less vitamin activity than the L-enantiomer.

Depends on wheter the manufacturer is actually producing only the L enantiomer or is just making "ascorbic acid" in which case there will be a racemic mix of the two. You'll still get antioxidant activity out of the D one by the looks but not biological activity. I'd say in cheap ones at least that's what you are getting.

Pretty sure this affects most vitamins (and drugs too)

It;s also one of the reasons your piss goes bright yellow so quick. The biologically inactive enantiomer is simply pissed straight out

Great post, thanks again..... My knowledge of organic chemistry is very limited, I would welcome a link or two if you've anything you could throw my way...

Cheers.....