blue artichoke

I try to eat more good stuff than bad, and try to get my daily dose of vitamins through food rather than supplements. But have you ever really sat down and looked at food labels, trying to calculate what and how much to eat to get the necessary nutrients? It's difficult, especially because vegetables don't have food labels. You have to do research. And math. I love the research part, but I throw up my hands at the math and think in unquantifiable terms, such as "butt-load," "handful" (but keeping in mind that my "handful" is tiny), "bunch," "some," or "too much," and generally rely on my multivitamin to fill in the gaps of my faulty math. It's a good system, and I've been happy with it. I've never had scurvy or overdosed on iron. But then I read in the Lean Plate Club column in the Washington Post that there is little evidence that multivitamins are effective, and some concern that some ingredients may be harmful. But the evidence is tepid: According to the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, an expert panel convened by the National Institutes of Health notes that there's not enough evidence to recommend for or against these common dietary supplements." So, if you're already taking multivitamins, there isn't enough evidence of harm to recommend you stop, but if you don't take multivitamins, there isn't enough evidence of benefits to recommend starting. Huh. Well, I don't really mind so much wasting money on an ineffective multivitamin, but I am more troubled about these suspected harmful ingredients. Most of the concern is about a vitamin overdose. Certain vitamins, such as Vitamin A, can be toxic at high levels. Just enough Vitamin A boosts vision and the immune system; too much contributes to osteoporosis. If you already get 100% of the recommended daily allowance from your multivitamin, you'd better not be eating additional sources of Vitamin A, such as eggs, meat, milk, cheese, cream, liver, kidney, cod, and halibut fish oil. Plus, beta carotene is converted to Vitamin A in the body, so you'd better stay away from carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, winter squashes, cantaloupe, pink grapefruit, apricots, broccoli, spinach and most dark green, leafy vegetables too, just to stay on the safe side. Beta carotene helps protect the lungs, but only if they're already healthy. If you're a smoker, beta carotene supplements actually increase your risk for lung cancer. Yikes! This adds even more calculations to my already jumbled nutrient-math.

My landlord has been talking up some supplements that he swears has cured all his ailments and makes him immune to everything. I think he takes several, but the top three he recommends, all from Garden of Life, were Primal Defense, a probiotic mix that supports intestinal health; Living Multi, a multivitamin that contains the optimal balance of vitamins in whole food form; and Perfect Food, a caplet equivalent to 5-10 servings of vegetables. These supplements aren't cheap. For these three, you'd shell out about $250 for a 90 day supply (and these prices are taken from a vitamin discount site), because the recommended daily dose of the Living Multi is 9 per day and 5 per day of the Perfect Food (just one per day for the Primal Defense)! Oy, that's just ridiculous. No wonder rent is so expensive; we're feeding the landlord's Garden of Life supplement habit! 15 pills a day? No thanks, I'll keep pressing my luck by trying to eat more good than bad, and I think I'll elect not to replenish my multivitamins when I run out. Without the safety net of a multivitamin, maybe I'll be forced to eat a healthy mix of veggies daily. I'll continue to take my fish oil supplement twice a day, though. There's no way I'm going to eat salmon.

Get to Know All About Those with a TypeKey Account Who are Approved to Leave Comments: Do you take vitamins, a multivitamin or other supplement?

You know, I seldom answer these questions I pose. I take a Women's One-a-Day multivitamin, Vitamin C, fish oil pills, and potassium whenever I've had an overzealous go at weight training (it's supposed to help muscle recovery and repair).