Re: Vitamins for general health

That's a shame CHF especially as it's been such a sunny summer these last few weeks .

Re: Vitamins for general health

I believe that there is No need for vitamin supplements if you eat a healthy, balanced diet

Re: Vitamins for general health

I would agree, but as long as food producers find new methods of keeping food fresh for longer, how can we know that their methods are not making the nutrition, in the food, less able to be absorbed?
I am certain that most processed food is less nourishing & the way food is advertised should be illegal! Clever advertisers say what you want to hear & they cannot tell lies...... but the phrases they use are carefully designed to con the people that buy their products.

I would also say that many medical treatments damage your ability to absorb the nutrients in food...... but unless it will kill you, none if the pharmaceutical companies will tell you.
The only way to be sure that you get good nutrition, is to grow it yourself ( using natural fertilizers & no chemicals ), only eat food that you have prepared yourself ( so you know exactly what has gone into it), & stop importing food ( because you have no idea what they have done to it).

So what is a healthy balanced diet & how can we know, if other people have been involved in producing it?

Re: Vitamins for general health

That was how I thought CoffeeCake, but I had been feeling so tired and achy for some time and went to the doctor. She did blood tests and found I was severely deficient in Vit.D3. She prescribed a very high dose for 15 days and then a maintenance dose. I was amazed at the improvement it made and will probably take the maintenance dose indefinitely now. I think VitD3 is the one vitamin that we can't always get from food or sunlight in sufficient quantities, particularly as we get older.

Re: Vitamins for general health

Hi Aerolor likewise, I was experiencing pain at the bottom of my back and in my legs and my mobility was deteriorating so much so I was having difficulty climbing stairs , getting up from chairs and walking any distance .
It crept up on me slowly and I attributed it to the medication I now have to take.
I was shocked when a blood test revealed I was severely deficient in VitD .

I took a 'loaded' dose of VitD3 for 12 weeks and am now on a maintenance dose. It is such a relief to find many of the aches and pains have gone and I can now walk more easily.

Re: Vitamins for general health

At one time I took cod liver oil as I had a lot of problems with a damaged knee joint. That had to stop when it seemed to make me 'overheat', the pharmacist checked it out but couldn't find that as a side-effect. As soon as I stopped taking it the 'overheating' stopped so I took that to be the cause.

Vitamin D I had never thought about, not even when working nights for a lot of years. Quite simply I did not know about that requirement at the time. Now, having found out about it, it's said that we need half-an-hour of sunlight daily, so that's not easy with our climate. It's got to be outside in the sunlight too, if that comes through glass windows it's no good.

My GP always says that a balanced diet should provide all the vitamins we ever need. My diet is far better than it used to be so perhaps damage was done in previous years when I had a reasonable diet but not exactly a good one, that has changed in the last couple of years though.

There is one vitamin that I have been informed is not replaced from our diet and that is Vitamin B12. If deficient in that it's possible to get it replaced with injections.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitami...iency-anaemia/

At some time I will have a word with my GP about my vitamin levels, perhaps a blood test to ensure all is OK. Everything else is checked annually but not vitamin levels. Sometimes it's not easy to perhaps think we might be deficient in any vitamin, things change as we become older but to get a check done might be a good idea.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/

Re: Vitamins for general health

One of my GP's told me that everybody on the UK should take Vit D3 supplements throughout the winter & many older patients are offered an annual, free blood test to check for deficiencies.

We all live longer these days, but how many disabled people are helped into their shorts & T shirt & taken to sit in the sun each day?
Vitamins & minerals are essential to our well being, so I believe that periodical blood tests & advice on how to improve them, would reduce a lot of suffering.....and maybe save the NHS a few pounds, on more expensive treatments!

Re: Vitamins for general health

Vitamin D3 is the only vitamin I take every day because it does actually work. Being a night worker it is essential as I miss a lot of natural sunlight.
Some of my co-workers are so ignorant about their health. They go to bed late in the morning after watching TV for hours and sleep all day waking up again in the evening, and I see the effects of that when I look at their zombiefied eyes and wasted skin. Ignorant morons.

Re: Vitamins for general health

I found this article about vitamin B3. Not sure it would do me any good!

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition...efits#section1

Re: Vitamins for general health

Is it so necessary to start consuming vitamins with medical pills at certain age?