Multivitamin supplement question

[thefelixculpa 0]

I have a pretty hectic schedule and I rarely get the chance to sit down and eat a balanced meal. I pretty much live off of PBJs, Bagels, deli meat, bananas. Today I decided to start taking a daily multivitamin.

I bought a couple different brands that I plan to try out, but I am curious if there is any sort of danger/side effect to be expected for really high doses of certain vitamins.

For example: This one supplement I bought is called "Schiff Vegetarian Multiple" I didn't realize it at the time of purchase that this is a vegan supplement, I just thought it had nutrients similar to vegetables in it. Anyway, this particular supplement has 2000% daily values of Vitamin B12 and B1, 500% of the other Bs. Should I not be taking something like this if I don't have any special medical needs and i'm not a vegan?

[Race4LastPlace 31]

While i cannot speak for the knowledge of a licensed health care professional, i can say that the 'daily values' or Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) was established during World War II and is only a guidance as to what the minimum requirements needed are. The RDA are not the values needed by the human body to run at so-called 'optimal' health, meerly a starting point. Personally, multivitamins i take are also well above the daily value %. But if you have questions definitely talk to a doctor, or what i try to do is find a free health clinic going on somewhere and ask lots of questions.

[_HSB_b345t 0]

B vitamins are water soluble vitamins which means that whatever the body does not use, gets dissolved and expelled (urinated) out of your system. So even 100000000% of your recommended daily value won't do any damage. Although it may make you kinda hyper.

The only typical ingredients in your off-the-shelf multivitamin that you should check are:

a.) Iron -- Assuming you're a guy (women should take an iron supplement because they lose a blood, subsequently Iron,through their menstrual cycle) without a known iron deficiency, taking too much iron (too much being more than 150% of your recommended daily value) can be harmful. Iron that is not processed (used in blood cell production) sits in your system and can turn into toxins. While a good heavy metal detoxification will flush those toxins out, it's still good practice to monitor and limit your consumption.

b.) Calcium -- Again, assuming you're a relatively healthy individual without a known Calcium deficiency, more than mg a day can cause diarrhea.

In both case, too much won't kill you, just make you uncomfortable.

An excellent resource for all this kind of information is here -- http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/content/en/he...ntsource=header

As a disclaimer, the only truly accurate definition of "recommended daily value" can be obtained from a your health care provider.

[J_MART 0]

i too take multi-vitamins that have much higher Recommended Daily Allowances then 100% and have had no negative reactions or feelings. especially with your diet mutis are a great thing, aslong and you dont feel anything negative from taking them i would say to continue.

[willy0314 0]

AST Multi Pro

thats the multi I take. You can find others out there that people will tell you "yeah but this one has this in it too" blah blah blah, but when it comes down to price per serving, number of pills you take per serving, and what you get from the multi itself, the ast multi pro is hard to beat.