what vitamins do you take and do they do anything?

[Nextwednesday]

I have tried lots of different vitamins over the years eg evening primrose, B6, currently taking a multivitamin with iron. I can't say any of them made any difference whatsoever.

Can anyone recommend any for improved skin or general health and wellbeing or energy?

Vitamin D supplementation - has made a huge difference this winter to me. Also Vit Be complex and iron from time to time.

Just some chewy bassets thing - most vitamin tablets make me feel ill. Of course they are not really doing any good, just as the anti-ageing face creams are not doing any good. But still I buy them "just in case".

I take Vitamin D in the winter. But a Paleo diet made a colossal difference to my skin and general energy levels.

I've been taking vitamin d for a while now, all through pregnancy and bf. I'm amazed that even though I still get very little sleep, I feel pretty good and haven't got ill at all this winter. I think it's the vitamin d! Most women in the uk are vitamin d deficient.

Yes I have read a lot about vitamin D recently.

And off to google paleo diet. Thanks!

I take 400mg ferrous sulphate a day. Felt dreadful before I started taking it but was very anaemic. I take it with soluble vitamin c tablets which have the very striking effect of turning my wee orange but I hope also increase iron absorption. I feel a lot less atrocious after 3 months

Berocca
Fish oil
A multi vit
Vit d (this is v important - I had some blood tests done recently and my vit d came back as normal - the doctor almost fell off her chair and said I was the ONLY person she'd seen in over a month without a vit d deficiency)

Hi OP, I've just been rabbiting away on this thread in Chat, same topic! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2289075-Do-you-take-a-Vitamin-Supplement-And-if-so-does-it-make-a-difference-to-how-you-feel?

Oh brill thanks for that.

Vitamins don't give you 'energy', OP.

The only people who need to take vitamins or those whose diets are inadequate for some reason, depending on their health needs- eg the elderly who don't get much sun benefit from Vit D and some people who can't get enough calcium if they are dairy-free might take a calcium/ Vit D supplement.

The whole vitamin industry is based on the false premise that people think they 'need' vitamins. We don't if we have a good healthy diet. You don't need iron unless you are anaemic, evening primrose has some success in PMT/ painful breasts but that's about it.

The kind of improvements you are talking about need to be achieved by overhauling your diet and taking regular exercise.

Oh and BTW I had my vit D levels tested about 7 years ago and they were fine- and I've never supplemented. I eat eggs every day, tinned sardines once a week and oily fish like salmon at least once a week.

pinkfrocks Some people simply can not absorb enough nutrients from their food. I eat a balanced diet, but maybe because of my thyroid/adrenal/autoimmune problems, I don't absorb enough of what I need. I couldn't absorb my medication properly either until I started taking high dose vitamins, it was just turning toxic in my system. Some people also have the belief that nutritional food isn't as nutritional as it used to be, because of farming methods, etc, meaning that we all need a bit of extra support there but I don't know much about that.

But the fact is that no matter how much I overhauled my diet I only felt better once I started a fairly aggressive supplementing regime. I pay for my tests privately and I can see the positive results I'm getting. If you don't need vitamins that is great for you, but plenty of people will see benefits from using them (not the cruddy high street kind usually but the decent brands), and though I know you didn't use it, the 'expensive urine' line I hear all the time is unhelpful because it does deter some people from using what could be a useful health support for them.

I'm quite fanatical about vitamin support as you may be able to tell...

If I was to list all the 'exclusions' to not needing vitamin supplements due to illness then I'd be on here all day! Unless you have a diagnosed illness that means your digestive tract doesn't function fully then what I said is right.

The only mineral ( not vitamin) that may be reduced through intensive farming methods is selenium. You can get more selenium than you need as a RDA by eating 3 brazil nuts.

There is no need honestly to supplement if you eat properly and actually know what is in your food. Excess Vit C is excreted. Vits A and D are stored in the liver and it's possible to overdose on these which is harmful.

Sorry but it's really a con by the manufacturers to make people think they need vitamins. There are certain times of life when supplements may have some place- ie folic acid, Vit D for people who don't go outside, or the over 70s, iron for women with heavy periods etc- but for most people who don't fall into these categories then you'd be better off eating another orange, a few nuts or a tin of sardines.

Pink frocks medical advice is that you cannot get enough bit d from your diet (I think it's only 10%). Half of the uk white population has a deficiency, and 90% of mixed race people do. A third of Australians have a vit d deficiency! I think you're lucky not to, but the reality is that most people are deficient in a way that can't be corrected via diet.

Vitamin D, for the reasons mentioned by PPs.
I sometimes take Vitamin C because I think I "should" as I'm not very good about eating fruit.

I take Vitamin D and Omega 3 oil capsules as it's great for my dry skin.

I regularly take starflower oil 1000mg, mostly for premenstrual pains, I used to get agonising breast pain and it regulates my periods which used to be everywhere it really does works for me, the unexpected side effects are very clear skin and happier moods I hadn't clicked that I also get really miserable near when my period is due till I started on them.

I also take Vitamin D (prescribed by docs), I had a really bad deficiency which was also making my nails split and peel (I sound so very attractive!)

Pinkfrocks - I agree that for most people a good diet should provide most nutrients. However despite a very healthy diet, I remain anaemic and deficient in B12, B6 and my vitamin D levels are practically zero. All if this is presumable due to having two children fairly close together (both by c section the most recent with complications and significant blood loss) also breastfeeding and while the children have grown big and strong, my stores are almost depleted and need rebuilding. I'm currently taking various supplements and due for blood tests to recheck levels so I will be back to confirm if there's are change... Or not!!

angel I can only report as I find. I had my Vit D levels checked 7 years ago as part of investigations into low bone density and was told they were 'normal'.

10 minutes sun on the arms every day over summer is supposed to store enough Vit D to last over the winter. There is a lot of controversy over what is the right amount / level, and I'd agree that it's better to be safe than sorry- but this is re. bone health and possible cancer. The OP asked about energy levels and there is no need to supplement unless you have been flagged up via blood tests or have an illness /condition.

Tannitot I think your experience would come under 'special circumstances' but at the same time, some people are naturally slightly anaemic and feel fine even though they are. If it's very severe then the treatment is injections via GP.

I think vitamins and minerals and other supplements are a bit more complex than just meeting an rda though.

I take a multivitamin with iron - a pregnancy one but I take one even when not pregnant - and my skin is always better when I take it. And omega 3 oils tablets help my skin too.

If I eat rubbish for a week my skin and general well being suffers - if I eat lots of fruit and veg and protein rich foods I feel and look better. But supplementing diet is useful for when I'm not eating brilliantly, in pregnancy I struggle to stomach vegetables for example.

Yes in an ideal world we'd be snacking on Brazil nuts and eating lean red meat with green veg followed by yoghurt and fruit - but since my lunch was a subway sandwich and dinner will be a plain baked potato and my snacks will be crisps and cake, I think the pills will be helpful

I take vitd3 due to not being allowed in the sun. I take magnesium for muscle pain.

But why will your dinner be that? It's your choice!
Yesterday I had an avocado, carrots, broccoli, peas, apples, snacked on walnuts, had Greek yoghurt and blueberries as a pudding. It's surely as easy to buy and eat the good stuff as it is to eat cake and crisps?

The only thing I'd say pinkfrocks is that it's never a bad idea to write your test results down, and check them yourself online.

This is not the same thing I know, but my GP told me every single time that my thyroid blood tests were 'perfect', as I shuffled in year after year, fatter, more exhausted, paler, hair falling out The 'normal' of a GP working within the NHS guidelines may not necessarily match up with the latest medical knowledge. I don't know about vitamin deficiency testing, but I know for a fact that they are stubbornly remaining more than a decade behind most other developed countries in terms of thyroid treatment (apologies for the thyroid comparisons but it's my main point of reference, and also why I no longer just accept what NHS doctors tell me without double checking.)