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The problem with taking too many vitamins

bbc.co.uk

31–40 of 44 posts

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#31
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's something you really need to do your own research on, it's a big topic. Start by looking up 'complex carbohydrates' and consider that while they are made up of basic sugars, in nature the breakdown of those complex carbs would be done mostly in the gut rather than through refinement in a sugar plant. A pediatrician friend of mine doesn't even believe in consuming juice, because she considers the body is better…

A glass of juice is a lot of sugar. One serving size of fruit is much smaller, and would give very much less juice. It's very easy to drink a lot of sugar if you're drinking undiluted juice. Dietitians in the UK recommend that people are cautious with juices and smoothies because of the amount of sugar, and they recommend that people just eat the fruit and drink water. Especially for children, the high sugar and acid…

Dr. Robert Lustig agrees, from http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201301280900

"Processed food is fiberless food. That's basically what it comes down to. Processed food means that you've got to take the fiber out for shelf-life. And there are two kinds of fiber. There's soluble fiber: which is the kind of stuff that holds jelly together, and pectins, and things like that. And then there's the insoluble fiber: the stringy stuff, like, you know, cellulose, like what you see in celery. You need both. What I describe in the book is like it's kind of like your hair-catcher in your bathtub drain. Um, you have this plastic lattice work with holes in it. So, if you take a shower and the hair is coming down, it blocks up the holes, but only if the hair catcher is there. So, imagine that the cellulose is the hair-catcher, and imagine the hair is the soluble fiber, blocking up the little holes. When they're both there, it forms a barrier on the inside of your intestine.

You actually can see it during electron microscopy, that it's a secondary barrier that reduces the rate of absorption of nutrients from the gut, into the bloodstream. And what that does is that it actually keeps the liver safe, because it reduces the rate at which the liver has to metabolize, the stuff. And if you overload the liver, what it does is it has no choice but to turn extra energy into liver fat. And that's what drives this whole process. Is the process of liver fat accumulation, and the thing that does that the worst is sugar, especially when it's not teamed up with fiber.""

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#32
post #14

Everything I've read about this in recent years seems to boil down to one simple rule of thumb: Supplement vitamin D and forget about everything else.

Yeah, my doctor recommends 5000 IUs of D3 for the north bay area.

Interesting, particularly since recent recommendations say that 4000 IUs should be the maximum dose. Any reason why s/he recommended 5k?

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#33
What I'm interested in with all the recent talk (/hype) about gut health and gut bacteria transplants: Are there studies into whether the nutrients we can supplement actually don't enter our own metabolism, but instead benefit our gut bacteria which in turn benefit us?

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#34

I don't feel this is a very good article. IMHO the key to understanding vitamin supplementation is first, to know which are fat-soluble (and will be stored by your body) and which are water-soluble (and will be flushed by your body when you urinate). So, it is almost impossible to over-dose on Vitamin C, since, your body will easily eliminate anything it doesn't need - C is water-soluble. This article covers the diff…

> So, it is almost impossible to over-dose on Vitamin C, since, your body will easily eliminate anything it doesn't need - C is water-soluble.

Wait, are you really arguing that it's impossible to have too much of something that is water-soluble? What about sugar? What about salt?

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#35
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In school, I was taught a mnemonic for fat soluble vitamins: DEAK. In other words, you want to "deke" [1] out of the way from these vitamins. You want to watch how much of vitamins D, E, A, K you ingest because they are fat soluble and you can easily overdose on them (unlike vitamin C). It's not a catch-all but it helps when you are taking vitamins. [1] it's a play on words and a homonym, "deke" comes from hockey whe…

Then again, there have been several studies [0] that show that many people in the northern hemisphere are deficient in vitamin D and that the deficiency could be the root of serious health problems. [0] E.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21310306

My doctor tells me that I'm low on vitamin D every time I visit and have blood work done. I try to get more sun, but it's kind of hard in New York.

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#36
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In school, I was taught a mnemonic for fat soluble vitamins: DEAK. In other words, you want to "deke" [1] out of the way from these vitamins. You want to watch how much of vitamins D, E, A, K you ingest because they are fat soluble and you can easily overdose on them (unlike vitamin C). It's not a catch-all but it helps when you are taking vitamins. [1] it's a play on words and a homonym, "deke" comes from hockey whe…

Do you know if the RDA amount is kept up-to-date with current research? For those of us who want an insurance policy, have you got any recommendations on what multi-vitamins to aim for (a particular brand, maybe that you take?) Are all brands equal?

All brands are equal insofar as you are most likley better off if you avoid them all. For example: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/the-vitami...

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#37
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In school, I was taught a mnemonic for fat soluble vitamins: DEAK. In other words, you want to "deke" [1] out of the way from these vitamins. You want to watch how much of vitamins D, E, A, K you ingest because they are fat soluble and you can easily overdose on them (unlike vitamin C). It's not a catch-all but it helps when you are taking vitamins. [1] it's a play on words and a homonym, "deke" comes from hockey whe…

Do you know if the RDA amount is kept up-to-date with current research? For those of us who want an insurance policy, have you got any recommendations on what multi-vitamins to aim for (a particular brand, maybe that you take?) Are all brands equal?

best insurance policy is to eat proper food. thats not snark, its just true. get a spreadsheet built in excel, and actually model a decent diet for ~7 days. its a very eye-opening experience. you can track calories, fat, carbs, protein and whatever else quite readily with online tools. While resturant food will be excluded (you would need basic recipe or key ingedient lists), soon enough you will understand just how much nutrients are in "real food".

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#38
post #34

I don't feel this is a very good article. IMHO the key to understanding vitamin supplementation is first, to know which are fat-soluble (and will be stored by your body) and which are water-soluble (and will be flushed by your body when you urinate). So, it is almost impossible to over-dose on Vitamin C, since, your body will easily eliminate anything it doesn't need - C is water-soluble. This article covers the diff…

> So, it is almost impossible to over-dose on Vitamin C, since, your body will easily eliminate anything it doesn't need - C is water-soluble. Wait, are you really arguing that it's impossible to have too much of something that is water-soluble? What about sugar? What about salt?

The LD50's for a 100kg person of salt (100g), sugar (1kg) or vitamin C (1.1 kg) are huge. Long-term exposure to sugar can affect your overall health, like causing insulin resistance or just being processed into fat. Salt isn't bad for you, unless you already have a heart or kidney problem. Vitamin C might have some side effects but the evidence is very thin so far.

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#39

I don't feel this is a very good article. IMHO the key to understanding vitamin supplementation is first, to know which are fat-soluble (and will be stored by your body) and which are water-soluble (and will be flushed by your body when you urinate). So, it is almost impossible to over-dose on Vitamin C, since, your body will easily eliminate anything it doesn't need - C is water-soluble. This article covers the diff…

Vitamin K is fat-soluble but no upper limit has been established.

Re: The problem with taking too many vitamins

#40
post #11

To hell with Vitamins. Eat fruits and vegetables.

...except Vitamin D, which doesn't really come in fruit and veg. Vitamin D deficiency can be a real problem if you're a vegetarian and/or work in an environment without much exposure to sun. I just had a physical and my D was way down.
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