Are vitamin supplements effective.

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johnnyb47

Guru
Location
Wales
Hi to all and hope you've had a good day.
Last year I took up cycling again after a long absence from it. At first it just started off as a nice round the countryside just to clear my head of some difficult problems I was facing in my personal life ,but as we all know cycling can be very addictive and I have progressed a fair way to the point I'm now managing to do 70 mile rides. The more I am doing the more i started to look at my improvements and how to improve on them. At the beginning it was more focused on cardiovascular exercise and trying not to get to out off puff here on these Welsh hills. As time went by, and fitness levels increased I started looking at my bike and clothing to make longer rides more comfortable. Lots of adjustments to the bike as well subtle upgrades and some decent cycling clothing now made my longer days in the saddle palatable. I could go on forever spending more and more money ( if the bank would allow ) on looking for that lighter faster bike but I have to pull the reigns in at some point other wise I could and end up becoming to obsessed with it all..
One thing though, that I know could be improved on is my health namely my diet...
Since my beautiful wife of 25 years decided to run off with an old best friend of mine my diet has taken a nose dive. Gone are the veggie meals she used to cook, and in with the microwave meals that are cooked to charred remains. Don't get me wrong I do eat healthily but when your out at work 12 hours a day it's all to easy to just cook something easy which usually results in being unhealthy. My weight has plummeted since cycling so its definitely having a positive effect but i do have a few health issues I would like to address. Smoking is one which I'm trying to give up, but the other problems I suffer from is restless leg syndrome. It drives me mad at night. It usually comes on at night when I'm tired and it feels like your legs are crawling with excess energy. Some nights it gets that bad I feel like I could just get up and gone out on a monumental bike ride to get rid of all this energy that's stored up. In the day time at work I will often tap my feet to alleviate the symptoms. Thankfully I have my own office so it doesn't annoy anybody around me. Apparently this problem is usually caused by a lack of vitamin d deficiency which could also account for my lack of energy some days and very slow healing of cuts when I get them.
Obviously nothing is better than a proper change in my dietary habits ,but while I make a more conscious effort to not cremating my food and eat more green stuff, will vitamin supplements make any discernible improvements towards my general health. I've never taken ,or considered taking them before now and was wondering are they just a waste of money.
I just want to get back on track again with my health and increase my cycling goals further and live to a ripe old age.
Once again ,and as always, many thanks for reading and views that you may want to post here .
Johnny
 

S-Express

Guest
Haven't read all of that, but if the question is 'are vitamin supplements effective?' - then the answer is yes, providing you are supplementing with a vitamin for which you have a known deficiency. Outside of a medical diagnosis, it's going to be pretty hard to establish whether you are actually deficient in any vitamins, or not.

Obviously the vitamin supplement industry (which is hugely lucrative) relies quite heavily on people not being certain, and taking them anyway 'just in case'.
 

Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
A multivitamin a day is unlikely to do you any harm in the short term. A recent study in Australia concluded that multivitamins for the majority of takers was a good way to flush money down the toilet.

On a different tack, it sounds like you have been through a traumatic and stressful time and it might be worth a chat to your GP to have a sense-check on your overall mood/well-being.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
They're effective IFF you're lacking something(s) they contain. I prefer them to those fizzy recovery drink tablets which plenty of cyclists use and cost more so don't worry about the criticism about wasting your money ;)

You won't remedy all the damage of processed foods that way though.

I'd go to a library or bookshop oe search engine and find a good "fresh meals in minutes" book or website I liked and start cooking from it. It need not take long and cycling makes it fairly easy to buy fresh ingredients near the end of the ride, especially at this time of year with so many roadside veg and egg stalls and farm shops and so on.
 

Vegan1

Guest
If you are worried about your diet then contact a qualified nutritionist. You can supplement for vit d if you wish.
 
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OP
johnnyb47

johnnyb47

Guru
Location
Wales
Thank you all for your advice and views on this. I will pop down to the doctors and get a blood test if things don't improve, but in the mean time I will continue to take the vitamin tablets ,and most importantly change my diet and stop smoking .
I will give this a few week and see if any anything changes for the better.
Many thanks to you all
Johnny.
 

PaulB

Legendary Member
Location
Colne
The recommended levels of Vitamin D have changed recently, I believe, so that more people are finding themselves being prescribed a daily supplement that is stronger than over the counter versions. My GP suggested that 20 minutes of sunlight on forearms unprotected by sunblock would give the same result.
Indeed it would BUT we have many days and sometimes weeks where we don't actually see the sun in this country (England in my case) and the sun doesn't see us.
 

welsh dragon

Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
Thank you all for your advice and views on this. I will pop down to the doctors and get a blood test if things don't improve, but in the mean time I will continue to take the vitamin tablets ,and most importantly change my diet and stop smoking .
I will give this a few week and see if any anything changes for the better.
Many thanks to you all
Johnny.


As others have said, supplements are mostly a waste of money. Eat fresh fruit and vegetables. As you are cycling, you are probably getting all the vitamin D that you need. As someome who smoked for 44 years, i can honestly say that giving up was the best thing i ever did. Stay positive and good luck. I hope you succeed in giving up smoking.
 

TVC

Guest
The latest I have heard from proper research is that it is all pretty useless, except for vitamin D which us high northern hemisphere types have trouble getting in the winter months.
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
Some vitamins are actually toxic if taken in larger than the appropriate quantities; vitamin D for instance. Mostly it's just pointless having more than needed unless you are specifically short of something eg for a medical reason albeit folic acid suplements are I understand recommended for pregnant women as it reduces the risk of spina bifida,

Unless of course your diet is poor
 
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