Multivitamins - What are you on?

[pkgr33n]

Hey,

Firstly not 2 sure if this belongs here or not lol so sorry mod if you have to move this

I'm looking to get back onto multi's. Just wondering what everyone else is on and what would be a good basic multivatmin? I know they don't do too much but still I think it would be good to take etc. 

Cheers. 

[Terrymundo]

I have used AnimalPaks, look wicked on paper but can't say they changed my life. I lol'd at some of the absurd daily percentages of the recommended daily intake. some nutrients were like 6000% and the 12 or so pills in the pack a little challenge to see if you swallow the whole load in one go (no homo)

[Dinahlady]

I use clinicians brand powder multi - its good to cover all your bases, and i like that it's a powder which definitely increases absortion compared to solid tabs - not sure if theres better powder ones out there but i like that you can drink it and its deff much better quality/delivery compared to centrum/berocca etc. 

I've heard animal pak is good but expensive and heaps of caps. 

[Gym rat]

I use Red seal or healtheries multi depending what is on speical at the time plus I enjoy using both

[Pseudonym]

I use Optimum Nutrition's Opti-Men, which I think sits at a good point on the cost-quality spectrum. I probably don't use it consistently enough to see huge benefits, but I figure it's good insurance.

Also it makes my pee a fleuro yellow colour, which is very pretty.

[Ben0]

I use Optimum Nutrition's Opti-Men, which I think sits at a good point on the cost-quality spectrum. I probably don't use it consistently enough to see huge benefits, but I figure it's good insurance.

Also it makes my pee a fleuro yellow colour, which is very pretty.

Interesting about the pee - I have being trying to figure out why this was happening to me for a few weeks now it all makes sence haha

[pkgr33n]

I have used AnimalPaks, look wicked on paper but can't say they changed my life. I lol'd at some of the absurd daily percentages of the recommended daily intake. some nutrients were like 6000% and the 12 or so pills in the pack a little challenge to see if you swallow the whole load in one go (no homo)

Yeah I've herd of AnimalPaks but just way 2 costly, not willing to spend that much especially on a multi haha. LOL at last part!

I use clinicians brand powder multi - its good to cover all your bases, and i like that it's a powder which definitely increases absortion compared to solid tabs - not sure if theres better powder ones out there but i like that you can drink it and its deff much better quality/delivery compared to centrum/berocca etc. 

I've heard animal pak is good but expensive and heaps of caps. 

Oh powder, too much hassle with that haha tbh, but maybe i'll look into it, especially because you mentioned the absorbtion rate.

I use Red seal or healtheries multi depending what is on speical at the time plus I enjoy using both

Oh the supermarket ones. Cool sweet! I was thinking of getting those.

I use Optimum Nutrition's Opti-Men, which I think sits at a good point on the cost-quality spectrum. I probably don't use it consistently enough to see huge benefits, but I figure it's good insurance.

Also it makes my pee a fleuro yellow colour, which is very pretty.

Yeah I tried these one time, I might just get these again, seemed not to bad cost wise, just maybe was looking at something diff seeing how it contains a shitloads of vitamins in the 1000% of daily percentages I think?

Interesting about the pee - I have being trying to figure out why this was happening to me for a few weeks now it all makes sence haha

Lol yeah broo ur flushing out the excess vitamins which you don't need according to what I read about it before!

 

[Dinahlady]

My powder one makes pee bright too - which i guess is a good sign that vitC etc is going through your tissues/blood/kidney and not just being pooped out through digestive tract.

It's never given me notable digestion changes which is also a good sign. 

Powder I find convenient - just put it in a shaker usually in morning then afterwards I just rinse it out to use for my pro shake for the day - not really messy at all. I have an aversion to swallowing tabs so always seem to "forget". 

Also good as dont have juice at home so i get a tasty orange drink instead of water.... 

[Kalidane]

Remember that the RDI/RDA is the amount deemed sufficient to avoid a clinical deficiency (for an office dwelling sofa-king).

 

If you have a physical job and train hard then your needs will be higher.  Off the top of my head, an excess of vitamins should be fine - toxic levels are pretty danged high.  Minerals ya might not want to go nuts with.  But anywho, the dosage levels of stuff in NZ is not high at all.  We have lower RDAs for B(?) vitamins so supps and multis are reformulated for us.  

[Dinahlady]

Depends on the vitamin/mineral if high levels are bad. Vitimin C practically has no toxicity level but others like some of the Bs can cause issues if taken in high quantities (probably would equate to multiple doses of a multi per day for a long time). which is why they put like 1000% of RDA in some of them and not others... 

[drizzt]

I use Animal Pak, can be had for a decent price from iHerb.  Like Terry says, I don't think they've changed my life, but I reckon you pay more for better quality.  They've been around for ages as well - I'm pretty sure my old man used to take them while powerlifting/bodybuilding back in the early 90s (I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure!) - so their longevity in the market says something about the quality too, I think.

Can get one pak + a few fish oil caps down in a shot - takes a while to consume if you can't!

(edit - I think I'm right about my Dad using them a couple of decades ago, link here)

[pkgr33n]

Remember that the RDI/RDA is the amount deemed sufficient to avoid a clinical deficiency (for an office dwelling sofa-king).

 

If you have a physical job and train hard then your needs will be higher.  Off the top of my head, an excess of vitamins should be fine - toxic levels are pretty danged high.  Minerals ya might not want to go nuts with.  But anywho, the dosage levels of stuff in NZ is not high at all.  We have lower RDAs for B(?) vitamins so supps and multis are reformulated for us.  

Yeah thats true bro.

 

Depends on the vitamin/mineral if high levels are bad. Vitimin C practically has no toxicity level but others like some of the Bs can cause issues if taken in high quantities (probably would equate to multiple doses of a multi per day for a long time). which is why they put like 1000% of RDA in some of them and not others... 

Oh really, yeah I don't know much about that.

 

I use Animal Pak, can be had for a decent price from iHerb.  Like Terry says, I don't think they've changed my life, but I reckon you pay more for better quality.  They've been around for ages as well - I'm pretty sure my old man used to take them while powerlifting/bodybuilding back in the early 90s (I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure!) - so their longevity in the market says something about the quality too, I think.

Can get one pak + a few fish oil caps down in a shot - takes a while to consume if you can't!

(edit - I think I'm right about my Dad using them a couple of decades ago, link here)

I checked it out man, still too expensive especially for just a multi haha.  $39 on Iherb for a 44 pack (22 servings apparently) + thats not even including shipping. On bb.com its 5 44packs for $240nzd. so 110 day supply if you take 2 of them a day, or 220 if 1 a day. 

[Gym rat]

Best option would be to buy mulits from the supermaket like red seal or healthries which are more cheaper to buy compare to multis that you can buy  from the supplement shop plus your wallet will thank you as well.Use to buy multis from supplements shops years ago until I leanrt that can get expensive over a peorid of time and it adds up as well and one ends up putting a hole in one's wallet.

[drizzt]

I checked it out man, still too expensive especially for just a multi haha.  $39 on Iherb for a 44 pack (22 servings apparently) + thats not even including shipping. On bb.com its 5 44packs for $240nzd. so 110 day supply if you take 2 of them a day, or 220 if 1 a day. 

$54 NZD all up from iHerb ($4 for shipping - IME arrives in ~5 business days).  Checked out bb.com, looks like that is $240 USD including shipping?  If so, that is $300 NZD... also looks like bb.com don't ship Animal Paks to NZ so doesn't matter either way...

I look at multis as insurance (sweeping generalisation coming): you might pay a higher price (premium), but you'll get more cover.  You go cheaper, your cover is probably going to be a bit limited.

2x paks per day is a waste too IMHO, unless you are on a very restrictive diet and don't mind chewing through them quickly.  At 1x pack per day, and lasting for 44 days, I personally don't think $50ish is a terrible price, but each to their own.

Like Pseudo suggested, Opti-men is a good choice in terms of quality vs price.  180 tablets lasts 16 days longer, but costs the same as an Animal Pak (I think?).  I used that before I went to Animal Paks.

If you want to travel further down the price and quality hill, then take Gym Rat's suggestion and head down the supermarket to get some Red Seal.

Good luck *good*

[pkgr33n]

drizzt wrote:

 

I checked it out man, still too expensive especially for just a multi haha.  $39 on Iherb for a 44 pack (22 servings apparently) + thats not even including shipping. On bb.com its 5 44packs for $240nzd. so 110 day supply if you take 2 of them a day, or 220 if 1 a day. 

$54 NZD all up from iHerb ($4 for shipping - IME arrives in ~5 business days).  Checked out bb.com, looks like that is $240 USD including shipping?  If so, that is $300 NZD... also looks like bb.com don't ship Animal Paks to NZ so doesn't matter either way...

I look at multis as insurance (sweeping generalisation coming): you might pay a higher price (premium), but you'll get more cover.  You go cheaper, your cover is probably going to be a bit limited.

2x paks per day is a waste too IMHO, unless you are on a very restrictive diet and don't mind chewing through them quickly.  At 1x pack per day, and lasting for 44 days, I personally don't think $50ish is a terrible price, but each to their own.

Like Pseudo suggested, Opti-men is a good choice in terms of quality vs price.  180 tablets lasts 16 days longer, but costs the same as an Animal Pak (I think?).  I used that before I went to Animal Paks.

If you want to travel further down the price and quality hill, then take Gym Rat's suggestion and head down the supermarket to get some Red Seal.

Good luck

[drizzt]

The optimen 180 tabs is a 60day supply! take 3 per day .

Might just go with optimen again, seeing as its kinda cheapish and still a quality vitamin I guess. 

Yeah I realise that, I mean that it lasts 16 days longer than the animal pak *good*  Good choice on the Optimen!

[Flex]

My powder one makes pee bright too - which i guess is a good sign that vitC etc is going through your tissues/blood/kidney and not just being pooped out through digestive tract.

That's Vit B2 not Vit C - B2 is riboflavin which is used as a yellow food colouring hence why it makes your urine yellow, nothing to do with pissing out excess vitamins

Off the top of my head, an excess of vitamins should be fine - toxic levels are pretty danged high.  Minerals ya might not want to go nuts with.

Vitamins have toxic levels - generally the fat soluble ones are the worst - Vit E, Vit K, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, and then some B vits like Folic Acid (B9), Vitamin B6 (builds up in the system over prolonged use hence why you shoudl cycle ZMA supps)

Toxic Minerals (mostly heavy metals) like Chromium, Vanadium/Vandyl sulphate, cobalt, Iodine, Iron, boron, sodium/potassium, copper

Probably the most toxic thing you've got at home is table salt (sodium chloride), though water will kill you if you have too much of it so everything in moderation.

Most multi vits are pretty low dose as they are trying to cater to all round vitamin needs as opoposed to specific deficiencies or dietary requirements. Very few of them solely use decent forms of vitamins (aspartates or chelated), lots use oxides or low absorption forms and/or have them condensed into a rock hard "sustained release" tablet that takes about 20 years to fully dissolve. Capsulated multi's are generally going to be absorbed most effectively but not many manufacturers do these as you end up needing a handful of capules to match what can get condensed into one bricklike "convenient one a day" tablet.

Vitamins and minerals require specific conditins for optimum absorption, pH levels, location in the gut/digestive system, other vitamins/minerals/amino acids to assist transport or absorption (eg vit C & Iron), you're probably not going to get optimal absorption of everything with an all in one multi - but then you probably don't need everything.

Ideally you're probably better off using individual vitamins, going and getting a blood test, finding out what you're lacking and then dosing up on effective dose. Multi vitamins are a general insurance aid against getting deficent in something. They aren't going to turn you into Arnie and if you notice a big pick me up from them it's probably that you're low on something in your general diet and that particular formula happened to suit that particular point in your life.

You may find 3 months down the track with dietary and environmental changes or training modifications that it no longer suits your needs.

 

 

 

 

[Dinahlady]

 

My powder one makes pee bright too - which i guess is a good sign that vitC etc is going through your tissues/blood/kidney and not just being pooped out through digestive tract.

That's Vit B2 not Vit C - B2 is riboflavin which is used as a yellow food colouring hence why it makes your urine yellow, nothing to do with pissing out excess vitamins

  

Ah yeah of course, you do excrete excess Vit C (over 500mg) though. But agree on the riboflavin -that shit is luminescent. 

[Pseudonym]

Vitamins have toxic levels - generally the fat soluble ones are the worst - Vit E, Vit K, Vitamin A

Polar bear livers contain a lethal amount of Vitamin A. That's why, when eating polar bear, I always leave the liver to one side.

(Actually, the science behind this important fact is quite interesting: http://science.howstuffworks.com/zoology/mammals/eat-polar-bear-liver.htm)

[Terrymundo]

cheers pseud!! you may just have saved my life there. repped

[Dementia]

I currently use Opti-Men and love it.
I take 4 pills a day which is just over the serving of 3.
Not really life changing but I sure notice the difference when I haven't taken a multi in a few days.

[Kalidane]

Vitamins have toxic levels - generally the fat soluble ones are the worst - Vit E, Vit K, Vitamin A

Polar bear livers contain a lethal amount of Vitamin A. That's why, when eating polar bear, I always leave the liver to one side.

(Actually, the science behind this important fact is quite interesting: http://science.howstuffworks.com/zoology/mammals/eat-polar-bear-liver.htm)

Wow every day is a school day.

 

Actually had no idea Vit A (and hence other fat soluble vitamins?) are stored like that.  Hmm that actually sounds kinda stupid now that I've written it.

 

I guess we must have the ability to store danged near everything, so over-ingestion on a daily basis is gonna see something hit a 'too-high' level eventually.

 

Really really annoyed they don't teach basic stuff like this in school.  All I remember from high school science was drawing a plant cell and labelling the parts.  What a waste of time when we don't even learn how we work.