multi-vitamin & calcium plus vitamin D?

[kipper]

I'm switching primary care doctors, and the new one wouldn't accept me into the practice as a new patient without a new patient visit, which included a physical.

I like the new doctor, based on the first visit, which is probably a good sign. She listened to me, asked questions, and discussed topics that my old doctor never suggested. One of those things was that I should take a multi-vitamin, and also a calcium plus vitamin D supplement.

Any suggestions for either or both?

[Analise]

Yup, that's the regimen I do—both Calcium with Vitamin D along with a multivitamin. I am not brand loyal. I'm glad you like your new physician. That's important.

[chgoeditor]

According to this article (and others I've read):

"Avoid the vitamins singled out by ConsumerLab.com, and stick with mainstream names such as Centrum Silver and One-A-Day Women's, which were found to be free of impurities and accurately labeled. Also, check vitamin bottles for the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), NSF International (NSF), or ConsumerLab.com (CL) seals. The USP and NSF are nonprofit groups that verify whether companies offer contamination-free products and use good manufacturing practices. Not every brand has the seals -- some don't want to submit to testing--but those that do (Kirkland and Nature Made carry the USP seal, for instance) are reliable."

[kipper]

Originally Posted by Analise

Yup, that's the regimen I do—both Calcium with Vitamin D along with a multivitamin. I am not brand loyal. I'm glad you like your new physician. That's important.

Can I take them both at the same time? She suggested taking the calcium twice a day, but am I ok to take one dose and the multivitamin with breakfast?

Originally Posted by chgoeditor

According to this article (and others I've read):

"Avoid the vitamins singled out by ConsumerLab.com, and stick with mainstream names such as Centrum Silver and One-A-Day Women's, which were found to be free of impurities and accurately labeled. Also, check vitamin bottles for the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), NSF International (NSF), or ConsumerLab.com (CL) seals. The USP and NSF are nonprofit groups that verify whether companies offer contamination-free products and use good manufacturing practices. Not every brand has the seals -- some don't want to submit to testing--but those that do (Kirkland and Nature Made carry the USP seal, for instance) are reliable."

Thanks! Kirkland is from Costco, right? Since I have to head up that way to pick up Mr. Kipper tomorrow, perhaps I'll stop by our local Costco and check out their vitamins.

[It'sHip2B^2]

Originally Posted by kipper

Can I take them both at the same time? She suggested taking the calcium twice a day, but am I ok to take one dose and the multivitamin with breakfast?

Look at the directions on the back on the bottle. Some brands are meant to be taken on an empty stomach. According to my prenatal vitamin info an empty stomach means two to three hours after a meal or one hour before one. But it's OK to take one with a small amount of food (a few crackers or a slice of bread) if it keeps you from feeling queasy.

You actually might ask if a prenatal vitamin would be comparable to a multi+2*Calcium+vitamin D. It might work out cheaper with the $4 generic deals that Walmart, Target, and some grocery stores have. Of course, you'd be getting a huge dose of folic acid for a person not actively trying to conceive. Somehow I suspect that a pre-natal vitamin it as good or better since my Dr told me to stop your regime when I told her we wanted to have a baby.

Also don't forget to get 2 tsp of oil per day since many vitamins aren't water soluable. You will need the oil to properly absorb them.

[Analise]

Originally Posted by kipper

Can I take them both at the same time? She suggested taking the calcium twice a day, but am I ok to take one dose and the multivitamin with breakfast?

I take the multivitamins and one Calcium with Vitamin D tablet with breakfast. I take a second Calcium with Vitamin D tablet with dinner. Each tablet is 600 mg. The two tablets together each day provide me with 120% of my RDA for calcium and 63% of my RDA for Vitamin D. My doctor recommended taking them with meals and like your doctor, recommended taking the calcium/D tablet twice a day.

[kipper]

Originally Posted by It'sHip2B^2

Look at the directions on the back on the bottle. Some brands are meant to be taken on an empty stomach. According to my prenatal vitamin info an empty stomach means two to three hours after a meal or one hour before one. But it's OK to take one with a small amount of food (a few crackers or a slice of bread) if it keeps you from feeling queasy.

You actually might ask if a prenatal vitamin would be comparable to a multi+2*Calcium+vitamin D. It might work out cheaper with the $4 generic deals that Walmart, Target, and some grocery stores have. Of course, you'd be getting a huge dose of folic acid for a person not actively trying to conceive. Somehow I suspect that a pre-natal vitamin it as good or better since my Dr told me to stop your regime when I told her we wanted to have a baby.

Also don't forget to get 2 tsp of oil per day since many vitamins aren't water soluable. You will need the oil to properly absorb them.

LOL, I might ask about that when I go back for my follow-up in a month. I'm all for less expensive options.

Define getting 2 tsp of oil, please?

Originally Posted by Analise

I take the multivitamins and one Calcium with Vitamin D tablet with breakfast. I take a second Calcium with Vitamin D tablet with dinner. Each tablet is 600 mg. The two tablets together each day provide me with 120% of my RDA for calcium and 63% of my RDA for Vitamin D. My doctor recommended taking them with meals and like your doctor, recommended taking the calcium/D tablet twice a day.

Thanks! I'll probably try that and see how it goes. I'm guessing the multivitamin will probably have some Vitamin D in it too?

[Mary2e]

I've read some interesting articles about taking supplements. The one I'm most closely following is that if you have an adequate diet, there is no need for a multivitamin.

I take individual supplements that most closely resemble food and there is almost universal agreement on their need

Calicum with some D - high dosage slow release
Fish Oil (enteric coated) - 1000mg
Vitamin D - 1000mg
Cinammon - shown to effect sugar metabolism. Diabetes runs in my family, so I figured it can't hurt

All are taken once a day with dinner. Since I'm lazy, I try to buy those that will allow me to take only once a day and at night. I would never take them in the morning, I'm not lucid enough

[chgoeditor]

Originally Posted by kipper

Thanks! Kirkland is from Costco, right? Since I have to head up that way to pick up Mr. Kipper tomorrow, perhaps I'll stop by our local Costco and check out their vitamins.

Yes, Kirkland is Costco's in-house brand.

[It'sHip2B^2]

Originally Posted by kipper

LOL, I might ask about that when I go back for my follow-up in a month. I'm all for less expensive options.

Define getting 2 tsp of oil, please?

Each day you should comsumer two servings of healthy oil (think canola, olive, walnut etc). These can be mixed into somthing like a salad dressing, a baked good, or pasta/rice. Fat solutable vitamins (like A, D, and K) need the fats in these oils to be absorbed into your body. Most people don't get these oils each day (instead they consume fats with no nutritional value). So it's important to get these healthy fats to get the most out of their multivitamin.

[peachfront]

I'm glad another poster spoke up about the elephant in the room -- the fact that there is no purpose to taking vitamin D and calcium without oil. They will not be absorbed. Actually, after a certain age the calcium mostly won't be absorbed anyway but at least you have a chance if you take it with D and oil. You have no chance if you take it with say a nice "healthy" fat-free breakfast.

Some doctors give useless advice that costs us money even though it does no good because they think it does no harm to cost us money. I prefer to avoid such doctors. The "new" doctor who does not know that vitamin D is useless unless taken with oil is not a doctor I want as my general physician because she is missing very basic information about the human body. I don't want a doctor who is a good saleswoman and who makes a pretense of "listening" while handing out bogus information. That's a recipe for disaster. I want a doctor who may not have the best personality but who actually knows at least the basics of human physiology.

A doctor who finds you such a noob to vitamins that you have to be told to make a multi-vitamin, yet she doesn't mention that vit D/calcium need to be taken with oil to be absorbed...that bothers me. This is a doctor who is going to appear to be a great communicator until, too late, you find out there was something very crucial she forgot to tell you.

Originally Posted by It'sHip2B^2

Each day you should comsumer two servings of healthy oil (think canola, olive, walnut etc). These can be mixed into somthing like a salad dressing, a baked good, or pasta/rice. Fat solutable vitamins (like A, D, and K) need the fats in these oils to be absorbed into your body. Most people don't get these oils each day (instead they consume fats with no nutritional value). So it's important to get these healthy fats to get the most out of their multivitamin.

[Analise]

Originally Posted by kipper

Thanks! I'll probably try that and see how it goes. I'm guessing the multivitamin will probably have some Vitamin D in it too?

Yes, the multivitamin certainly does. Just read the label. Remember to do what you can to get nutrients naturally through the foods that you eat.

[l'etoile]

Every vitamin D supplement I've taken has been an oil-based capsule.

[chococat]

Vitamin D taken without supplemental oil does get absorbed-- we see predictable increases in plasma Vitamin D levels in patients that take supplements without additional oil. There are lots of reasons for this- the first two that come to mind are that the vast majority of people consume plenty (some may say excessive) quantities of dietary fats to maintain body functions. The second is that the absorption and transport of Vitamin D in the body is mediated by a Vitamin D binding protein. The majority (probably more than 90%) of Vitamin D in the body is bound to this carrier protein that enables the fat-soluble vitamin to be transported/stored/absorbed in aqueous environments.

That being said, replacing unhealthy fats with the healthier options mentioned above is probably a good thing for everyone.

[kipper]

Originally Posted by peachfront

I'm glad another poster spoke up about the elephant in the room -- the fact that there is no purpose to taking vitamin D and calcium without oil. They will not be absorbed. Actually, after a certain age the calcium mostly won't be absorbed anyway but at least you have a chance if you take it with D and oil. You have no chance if you take it with say a nice "healthy" fat-free breakfast.

Some doctors give useless advice that costs us money even though it does no good because they think it does no harm to cost us money. I prefer to avoid such doctors. The "new" doctor who does not know that vitamin D is useless unless taken with oil is not a doctor I want as my general physician because she is missing very basic information about the human body. I don't want a doctor who is a good saleswoman and who makes a pretense of "listening" while handing out bogus information. That's a recipe for disaster. I want a doctor who may not have the best personality but who actually knows at least the basics of human physiology.

A doctor who finds you such a noob to vitamins that you have to be told to make a multi-vitamin, yet she doesn't mention that vit D/calcium need to be taken with oil to be absorbed...that bothers me. This is a doctor who is going to appear to be a great communicator until, too late, you find out there was something very crucial she forgot to tell you.

Yikes! My guess is that the doctor probably figured that I get enough oil without having to be concerned about it. This is probably true--I probably, between salad dressings and such, eat more than enough oil.

As far as a multi-vitamin, I haven't been taking one in quite a while, which is part of my reason for asking for suggestions on which one to select.

Originally Posted by chococat

Vitamin D taken without supplemental oil does get absorbed-- we see predictable increases in plasma Vitamin D levels in patients that take supplements without additional oil. There are lots of reasons for this- the first two that come to mind are that the vast majority of people consume plenty (some may say excessive) quantities of dietary fats to maintain body functions. The second is that the absorption and transport of Vitamin D in the body is mediated by a Vitamin D binding protein. The majority (probably more than 90%) of Vitamin D in the body is bound to this carrier protein that enables the fat-soluble vitamin to be transported/stored/absorbed in aqueous environments.

That being said, replacing unhealthy fats with the healthier options mentioned above is probably a good thing for everyone.

So, assuming that I'm eating what's probably a fairly normal diet, I shouldn't need to worry about adding additional oils?