Read this: http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/05/17/diet.vitamins.ap/index.html

As veg*ns, a lot of us are worried about getting enough of things, but we shouldn't forget that having too much is just as bad!

Especially the fat soluble ones.

Reminds me of my mom. She religiously pops ~15 pills every morning.

Placebo effect at work.

Reminds me of my mom. She religiously pops ~15 pills every morning.

Placebo effect at work.

Oh that is my mom too. She does not leave the house without them in her purse. Silly to be that way.

This article is frustrating. Sure, some vitamins are dangerous in high quantities, like A, D, E, and K, but for most of the B vitamins, we need WAY more than 100% of the RDA to absorb even half of the RDA.

At the same time, though, I take a ton of vitamins. I'm currently taking:

*Calcium & magnesium
*a 3x a day food based-multi
*extra B5
*DHA
*flax seed oil
*probiotics
I also have extra B12 and a number of herbs, but I don't take those daily.

I don't want to keep taking so much stuff for the rest of my life, but I'm afraid not to.

I don't want to keep taking so much stuff for the rest of my life, but I'm afraid not to.
Why are you afraid not to? Do you feel bad if you don't take them?

I take one multi and one mineral supplement (primarily for extra magnesium) but I only take a half-dose of each daily to avoid getting too much of the minerals. I take flax oil, but not very regularly. I'm actually slightly concerned that I average over %3,000% of the RDA for Vitamin E.

.... I'm actually slightly concerned that I average over %3,000% of the RDA for Vitamin E.
How many IU of tocopherol do you take. 3,000% seems pretty much.

How many IU of tocopherol do you take. 3,000% seems pretty much.

A two-caplet serving of my multi-vitamin contains 400 IU of d-alpha tocopheryl succinate, which is 1,333% of the RDA. I only take 1 caplet a day, or 200 IU. Apparently the rest is coming frm my diet, but I'm not sure exactly which foods would have so much Vit E. Most of the whole food sources seem to be nuts, and while I usually eat a serving of nuts daily, it shouldn't be enough send my levels so high AFAIK.

FitDay shows me as having an average daily intake of 281 mg_ATE, and shows an RDA of 8 mg_ATE. Part of the problem might be a conversion issue, because when I enter my vitamin as a custom food in FitDay, I have to enter the %RDA for each vitamin, and it translates that into mg_ATE for Vit E.

I worry about getting too much and try to avoid taking the fat soluble ones.
I don't take any vitamins on a regular basis only maybe once a week or whenever I think of it I do take a powder multi and a DHA supplement.
I think it's way too easy to get excessive amounts of vitamins and people have to be careful.

The food supply these days is pretty depleted from growing in depleted soils & our bodies' nutrient needs are higher than ever thanks to various stressors.
My chiropractor said it would take 26 2006 salads to equal the nutrient value of one from 1940!!

Why gamble? I take a variety of supplements in recognition of the fact that my diet isn't perfect & the world isn't perfect.

Scaremongering about supplements is old news, usually promoted by people who are either taking or selling pharmeceuticals.

Why are you afraid not to? Do you feel bad if you don't take them?

I take one multi and one mineral supplement (primarily for extra magnesium) but I only take a half-dose of each daily to avoid getting too much of the minerals. I take flax oil, but not very regularly. I'm actually slightly concerned that I average over %3,000% of the RDA for Vitamin E.


I take them to help prevent disease, and that's why I'm afraid to stop taking them. (except for the B-5, which is for acne)

I take them to help prevent disease, and that's why I'm afraid to stop taking them. (except for the B-5, which is for acne)
:surprised Is your diet really so terrible that you're convinced you're going to become ill if you don't take a handfull of pills every day? Do you have so little confidence in your ability to make halfway decent food choices? I find that amazing. I'm not trying to insult you or anything, but I find it rather shocking and sad that someone here, where we seem to be on average far more capable of making good dietary choices than the average person, should trust pills more than food. Hippocrates said it: "Let food be your medicine."

Or are you using the word 'afraid' in a non-literal sense? Certainly, there are some people here who believe that modern food has become so nutrient deficient, and our bodies are under such intense assault by assorted toxins, that supplements are now necessary for optimum health, even for someone with the healthiest possible diet. Is that perhaps what you're trying to say?

Yes, I'm trying to say the latter.