Multi Mineral?

[pull_man54]

I am a 55 year old male, active (work out 6 days a week) and not overweight. I try to eat my veggies and stay away from junk. I don't particularl believe in supplements, but I do take a multi vitamin and vitamin C as "insurance". Recently, I have begun taking a multi mineral. Is this just a waste of money?

[0311bravo]

There's a lot of back and forth on the efficacy of multis and vitamins in general. There is a school of thought that says if you're eating a solid diet you generally don't have much need for them, but this can be specific to the region you're in.
My biggest issue in general is the origin of the vitamin and the level of absorption you can expect. If I use a multi or any supplement I prefer it come from whole food sources.
This brand for example is formulated from whole food sources vs. synthetics: Alive No Iron Added Tabs by Nature's Way - NW-1177 - at The Vitamin Shoppe
I generally just use a scoop of this each day: Welcome to The Ultimate Life
It satisfies my requirements without poisoning me.

[ctfoster84]

I started taking one for a bit to see how it effected me. Not very long after that I got the swine flu, and havent taken my multi since. Now, I know this very well could be pure coincidence (it likely is), but I feel just fine without the multi and I honestly dont trust nutrition labels. Therefore, I just shoot for a big mixture of food in my daily diet. On just about a daily basis I consume leafy greens, tomato, cucumber, a banana, some form of berry, onions, garlic, ginger, varied meat, olive oil, eggs, milk, real tea, and brown rice. If I'm not getting enough of something well then I must not need it.

On another note, to date my wife has only found one vitamin that didnt make her sick, and thats her prenatal.

[SteveFreides]

Depends on a lot of things, best is simply to try and see if it does anything for you, e.g., fewer muscle cramps, fewer colds, more energy in training, etc. If you don't have a problem that a multi-mineral is supposed to solve, you could still argue it's "insurance" as long as it doesn't create problems for you.

My story: I was having problems w/ muscle cramps, added 300 mg potassium twice a day and they went away, played around w/ amount to settle on 600 mg/day. I take a Trader Joe's multi-vit as insurance but it's a twice-a-day and I only take it once a day so I'm only getting half the recommended doseage, seems to be fine for me; also healthy oils, also a "green food" supplement that contains some bee pollen and seems to be helping with my allergies, again mostly as insurance.

-S-
KBNJ.COM - Steve Freides, RKC II