Multi-vitamins

Just got some bloodwork done and the Dr. is recomending that I start taking a multi-vitamin. I've taken them in the past and know that things like Centrum aren't particularly helpful.

Does anyone have any sage advice? Is there any particularly good/bad options out there?

Thanks in advance hive.

I take the Nature Made daily Men's Pack. Hasn't killed me yet and my bloodwork is decent every year. No idea if my bloodwork would look decent without it.

Why would you say that Centrum type MVI's are not particularly helpful?

I take a Kirkland brand multi-vitamin every day. I have no idea if it's helping or not.

In reply to Dr. Hess: From what I remember learning many years ago it has to do with the kind of coating that they have. It's a lacquor that doesn't break down until very late in the digestive system when vitamin absorbtion isn't very great.

In the opposite direction the sugar coating of chewables (Flintstones) does a poor job of keeping out air and moisture leading to oxidization of the vitamins the longer the seal of the bottle is broken.

With vitamins, you really need to remember: A Fat DEK. Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat soluble. That means they are stored in your fat cells. If you didn't injest any of them, it would take many months to actually have a problem from them running out. Maybe a year, maybe more, depending on how fat you are. All the other vitamins are water soluble and they will wash out fairly fast. Like C, you run out of that and you have problems in a relatively short time (Scurvy). The B's: You drink too much, you don't absorb them (late in your gut, probably why that coating is on there) and your brain rots. Kinda. Or bits of it anyway. Bits you probably are going to want to keep.

Anyway, go pick a vitamin brand that give you a warm, fuzzy feeling when you think about it and take one a day.

I take Centrum Performance or the store equivalent when it's available. It has Ginseng, for extra perky. I eat healthy and balanced enough I probably could do without, but like Hess said, it gives me a warm fuzzy. Ginseng also may (or may not) increase your VO2 max slightly according to a study I saw, and I can use all the help I can get on the bike, so what the hell.

Did you know that there are things that are cheaper here than in China? Ginseng is one, iPhones are another. Guy at work is going to China and bringing both because they are cheaper here.

Since the early eighties I've been taking one multivitamin daily as well as a 500 mg vitamin C in the morning and again at night. I started doing that after I had mono and the doc recommended it. When I was younger I took the standard Centrum multi, but now that I'm older I take the Walmart brand equivalent of Centrum Silver Men's 50+. They're identical but cheaper. I also take a few other things that my wife feeds me. Has it helped? I don't know because I don't know what my health would be like today if I hadn't taken them. I'm 66. I'm in good health. My hair didn't start to turn grey until around 60, and It's still only slightly grey. I still feel like I'm in my forties. When people find out how old I am they're surprised and tell me I look 15 years younger. I'm not boasting, just saying. Also, I don't get sick often. And no ED problems whatsoever . (Not sure if the wife is thankful or sorry for that). Anyway, maybe it's my lifestyle, maybe it's genes, or maybe it's all the J. Lohr cab and gin martinis. Maybe it's something else entirely. Or maybe taking multivitamins and extra C for over thirty years really has helped. In any case I consider it cheap health insurance and I'd recommend taking at least a multivitamin daily, just in case it does work.

My chiropractor sells me this brand called Pure Encapsulations. No idea if better or worse than something else, but the price is low.

multivitamins are essential for healthy canoes.

Wife goes to a "vitamin lady" as I call her for more natural approaches.  They have Standard Process brand there