A giant horsepill of a multi vitamin I've been forced to take starting two weeks ago that contains lots of stuff and makes me want to vomit.

Walgreen's brand One-A-Day mulitvitamin for men.

here's a little litmus test for you non-vitaminers:

a) go out and drink about 6-7 drinks one night...wake up the next day. How do you feel?

b) take 5 vitamin B1 capsules, go out and drink about 6-7 drinks that night, wake up the next day. How much better do you feel?

C & a shot of Zinc. And whatever vitamins come in my Nicoderm patches.

CAFFEINE!

There's no caffeine in Propecia!

IpA

GNC Mega Man

One-A-Day Men's Health Formula

I take it religiously.

There isn't?

What about Viagra?

Lil' Fat Stuff Cholesterol tablets

MSG

Extra Strength Testosterone Flares

Little Chocolate donuts

Royal Jelly

Who needs B1 when I do the same thing with a couple Valium and 12-15 drinks?

or just not going to bed drunk. or lots of water and cheese.

Still waiting for the links to the studies you cited.

Vitamin Pills Do Not Stop Cancer. BBC News brief from UK Medical Journal The Lancet report from Cancer Research UK.

Vitamins Bad For Cholesterol?. Health Central commentary on research by New York University School of Medicine, published in Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Vitamins Flunk Again. Health Central commentary on research done by an assload of people, including Harvard School of Public Health.

EXCERPT: doctors with higher blood levels of antioxidant vitamins, specifically carotenes and vitamin E, were not protected from a heart attack. As a matter of fact, higher levels of gamma tocopherol, a type of vitamin E, were associated with higher rates of heart attacks.

Vitamins, Less Is More. Health Central commentary about by French researchers. "A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of the Health Effects of Antioxidant Vitamins and Minerals".

EXCERPT: Methods The Supplémentation en Vitamines et Minéraux Antioxydants (SU.VI.MAX) study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled primary prevention trial. A total of 13 017 French adults (7876 women aged 35-60 years and 5141 men aged 45-60 years) were included. All participants took a single daily capsule of a combination of 120 mg of ascorbic acid, 30 mg of vitamin E, 6 mg of beta carotene, 100 µg of selenium, and 20 mg of zinc, or a placebo. Median follow-up time was 7.5 years.

Results No major differences were detected between the groups in total cancer incidence (267 [4.1%] for the study group vs 295 [4.5%] for the placebo group), ischemic cardiovascular disease incidence (134 [2.1%] vs 137[2.1%]), or all-cause mortality (76 [1.2%] vs 98 [1.5%]). However, a significant interaction between sex and group effects on cancer incidence was found (P = .004). Sex-stratified analysis showed a protective effect of antioxidants in men (relative risk, 0.69 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.53-0.91]) but not in women (relative risk, 1.04 [95% CI, 0.85-1.29]). A similar trend was observed for all-cause mortality (relative risk, 0.63 [95% CI, 0.42-0.93] in men vs 1.03 [95% CI, 0.64-1.63] in women; P = .11 for interaction).

And just one more:
Women's health study finds vitamin E does not protect women from heart attack, stroke, or cancer (Published JAMA)

Well excuse the fuck out of me for doing some work and keeping you waiting.

Let's see, vitamins don't stop cancer? Not much does. No surprise. May shorten life expectancy? Based on what, the fact that some people "died sooner than expected?" Literally tons of factors involved in sustaining life and to conclude that Vitamins may have shortened life expectancy any more than any of the other 1 miilion factors is ludicrous. The steak aunt bessie ate last night might have given her a heart attack too.




Let's say I take this study at face value and actually believe the findings ARE true (not just may be true) All cholestoral-lowering drugs are liver-suppressants, and vitamins help the liver to function at a higher level, ie producing more cholestoral. That's not entirely surprising. How much are the LDLs raised by? Hard for me to put stock in any study that actually does give quantitative data when it cites potentially unhealthy increases. An unhealthy liver or slightly higher cholestoral? I think I'll take my chances with the healthy liver, thank you. Also, medical studies still do not know NEARLY enough about cholestoral or its effects to offer a whole lot that is totally conclusive about heart disease.

Even so, quotes from the article :

"However, our study is the first to document this association between antioxidant vitamins and VLDL cholesterol, and more studies are needed to back up our findings," says Dr. Fisher, who is also Director of the Marc and Ruti Bell Vascular Biology and Disease Research Program at NYU.

"Until more data becomes available, we can't make any recommendations about whether people should not use these vitamins," says Dr. Fisher.

Sounds like this study doesn't really have a lot to offer if the people involved aren't even sure the findings are relevant.



What do you have to say about this: Conclusions- These prospective data do not support an overall protective relation between plasma carotenoids or tocopherols and future MI risk among men without a history of prior cardiovascular disease.



Conclusions After 7.5 years, low-dose antioxidant supplementation
lowered total cancer incidence and all-cause mortality in men but not in women. Supplementation may be effective in men only because of their lower baseline status of certain antioxidants, especially of beta carotene.

In other words, if you're a guy and you take a low-dose antioxidant supplementation (vs. no supplementation at all), it benefits you. No one is saying overdo it, but you seem to be advocating not taking vitamins or antioxidants at all, and yet the conclusion here seems to assert that it's beneficial.

wow....how did this thread get more boring?

allow me to add to the boredom... i've been taking prenatal vitamins for nearly a year. they're cheaper than regular multivitamins and they have extra iron and calcium.

studies have shown stuff

I actually have done this with B-12, and it works (sometimes)...

As far as I go, one regular Centrum every morning, and some kind of distilled hops a few times a week...

Wrong. I'm saying that supplementation is not necessary when one eats a varied diet that provides vitamins and other nutrients in natural doses with effective absorption rates. If you want to waste your money taking a megadose of Beta Carotene that will mostly end up sliding our your ass and into the sewer, fine--it's your money.

If you had read my entire first post, the bigger problem I have with vitamins and dietary supplements is the lack of regulation and oversight from the FDA. Pharamaceutical drugs must tell you what they contain and be clinically proven to perform as they claim while remaining relatively harmless. Vitamins and dietary supplements are immune from this rule, and that is not always safe for the general public. Easy case in point: Ephedra.

While you claim that no one is saying to overdo it, but people take a bunch of shit they don't really need thinking they are becoming healthier with each handfull of capsules. It's not necessarily true. At the same time, advocating a quintuple dose of B1 and going boozing doesn't exactly sound like the ancient Chinese secret to longevity either.

Mmmmm....Carrots.

#1. If you want to lower cholesterol AND increase antioxidants AND reduce inflammatory responses. Take your omega-3's. Your body is set up to consume 50%+ of its fat intake daily from fish oils and other sources of these fats.
#2. If you don't have a decent diet, a multivitmain will have minimal benefits because a balanced diet is necessary for the absorbtion of these vitamins, i.e. taking vitamins on an empty stomach is pretty useless and a meal high in sugars/low in fat (many breakfast options) will result in your vitamin going down the shitter.
#3. You're all gonna die regardless. Worrying about vitamins is a huge waste of time. Genetics and lifestyle are the stongest predictors of your fate. Spend less time in the vitamins aisle; and more time in the grocery store buying decent food.
#4. Spend less time keeping up with the news medical stories. Most of those studies featured on the news come from journals that are intent on making news, i.e. not peer reviewed. Most of the significant contributions are too boring for anyone to get excited about.
#5. Dance like no one is watching.

multivitamin