I have a little guide that I cut out of Prevention Magazine a couple of years ago. It's not as detailed as the information Trish provides at www.hormonejungle.com/supp.php but it's handy - here's the info in a condensed form - hope it helps, and Trish: Please review this info if you have time.
Guidelines for supplements
Vit. or Mineral:Vitamin A - Critical for healthy eyes and skin
RDA: 5000 IU
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% RDA - all or part may be from beta carotene.
Safe Upper Limit:10,000 IU
The Scoop: Avoid single supplements of beta carotene in amoungs of 25 mg or more. Studies suggest NO benefit, even possible harm.
Vit. or Mineral: Thiamin -helps the body turn carbs into energy
RDA:1.5 mg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit: 50 mg
The Scoop:High levels of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and b6 are sometimes sold as "stress" formulas. There's no evidence they help relieve stress.
Vit. or Mineral: Ribovlavin - Helps produce energy in all your cells
RDA: 1.7 mg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit: 200 mg
The Scoop: By law, white bread is enriched with riboflavin (as well as thiamin, niacin, iron and folic acid)
Vit. or Mineral: Niacin - (nicotinic acid) Helps body use sugars and fatty acids
RDA:20 mg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit: 35 mg
The Scoop: Take higher levels (2000 mg or more to reduce cholesterol) ONLY under a doctor's care
Vit. or Mineral: B6 (pyriodoxine) - Helps produce antibodies that fight infection
RDA:2mg
What to look for in a multi:Aim for 100% RDA (most womens' diets run short on b6)
Safe Upper Limit:100mg
The Scoop:Too much b6 can cause (reversible) nerve damage
Vit. or Mineral: b12 - (cobalamin) Helps make the protective lining of nerve cells
RDA:6mcg
What to look for in a multi:Aim for 100% (especially in menopausal women)
Safe Upper Limit:3000 mcg
The Scoop: As you age, you absorb b12 better from supplements than from food
Vit. or Mineral:Folic Acid - Critica for making DNA for new cells, helps reduce high levels of hemocysteine
RDA:400 mcg
What to look for in a multi: 100% of RDA. It's unlikely that diet alone provides 100% RDA Top sources are beans, legumes, orange juice and spinach.
Safe Upper Limit:1000 mcg
The Scoop:This is a must for women capable of bearing children, it's proven to cut nervous sytem birth defects in half. Folic acid may fight heart disease and colon cancer.
Vit. or Mineral: Biotin - Helps your body turn food into energy
RDA: 300 mcg
What to look for in a multi: Ignore - you're diet has enough
Safe Upper Limit:2500 mcg
The Scoop: Bacteria in your intestines create biotin
Vit. or Mineral: Panthothenic acid - helps turn your food into energy
RDA:10 mg
What to look for in a multi: Ignore - you're diet has enough
Safe Upper Limit:1000 mg
The Scoop:Pantos means "everywhere" in greek. and is thus found in most foods
Vit. or Mineral: Choline - part of a brain chemical that lets nerve cells communicate
RDA: females over 18.425 mg
What to look for in a multi: Ignore - you're diet has enough
Safe Upper Limit: 3500 mg
The Scoop: In 1998 Choline became the newest nutrient deamed "essential" by the National Academy of Sciences.
Vit. or Mineral: C - Keeps your immune system, gums and capillaries in good health
RDA:60 mg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit:1,000 mg
The Scoop:Only humans, guinae pigs, and monkeys need vitamin c; other animals make thier own. To maintain even levels take half in the morning, half at night.
Vit. or Mineral: D - Makes it possible for you to absorb calcium from food
RDA:400 IU - people over 50 800 IU
What to look for in a multi:Aim for 100% RDA, Choose calcium supplements with vitamin d
Safe Upper Limit:2000 IU
The Scoop:Research hints that vitamin D keeps arthritis in check
Vit. or Mineral: E -neutralizes free radicals that can cause heart disease and cancer
RDA:30 IU
What to look for in a multi:Aim for 100% RDA, add e supplement
Safe Upper Limit:1200 IU
The Scoop:Vitamin E is one nutrient that appears safe and beneficial at levals far above the RDA. If you take blood thinning medication, consult a doctor before taking it.
Vit. or Mineral: K - Essential for blood to clot
RDA:80 mcg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 25 mcg
Safe Upper Limit:30,000 mcg (or 30 mg)
The Scoop:If you're on blood thinning medication, tell your doctor before taking vitamin K.
Vit. or Mineral: Calcium Essential for bones, fights high blood pressure, colon cancer, and pms
RDA:1000-1500 mg
What to look for in a multi:Aim for 100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit:2500 mg
The Scoop:If you don't get enough calcium, your body will take it from your bones. If over 50 you may need more D than a multi vitamin supplies. Take calcium carbonate with meals or take calcium citrate on an empty stomach. For best absorption don't take more than 500 mg at one time.
Vit. or Mineral: Chloride - helps regulate fluid in and out of your cells
RDA:3400 mg
What to look for in a multi: Ignore - you're diet has enough
Safe Upper Limit: Not known
The Scoop:1 tsp of salt has 3000 mg of chloride (see, I told you your diet had enough!)
Vit. or Mineral: Copper - needed for healthy connective tissue in the heart and blood vessels
RDA: 2mg
What to look for in a multi: 100% RDA (most women's diet are way short)
Safe Upper Limit: 9 mg
The Scoop:Oysters, lobsters, and crab are loaded with copper
Vit. or Mineral: Chromium - Works with insulin to help your body use blood sugar
RDA: 120 mcg
What to look for in a multi:100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit: 1000 mcg
The Scoop: Take more than 200 mcg (to control blood glucose) ONLY under a doctor's care
Vit. or Mineral: Flouride - helps harden tooth enamel
RDA:3.1 mg
What to look for in a multi: flouride supplements are sold only by prescription
Safe Upper Limit:10 mg
The Scoop: You only need this if you drink NON-flourinated water. Check with your doctor for a supplement if you drink non-flourinated water.
Vit. or Mineral: Iodine - part of a thyroid hormone that regulates energy burn
RDA:150 mcg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit: 1,000 mcg
The Scoop: Most dietary iodine comes from iodized salt
Vit. or Mineral: Iron - part of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to cells
RDA:18 mg
What to look for in a multi: Low iron supplements are best
Safe Upper Limit:65 mg
The Scoop: Don't take iron above RDA unless blood test indicate anemia. High iron intake may be linked to heart disease.
Vit. or Mineral: Magnesium - Part of many enzymes that control the chemical reactions in your body
RDA:400 mg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% RDA and eat lots of cooked dried beans, whole grains, and spinach
Safe Upper Limit:700 mg
The Scoop: Don't take more than 350 mg from supplements; higher amounts can cause diarrhea in some people
Vit. or Mineral: manganese - part of many enzymes that control the chemical reactions in your body
RDA: 2 mg
What to look for in a multi: Ignore - you're diet has enough
Safe Upper Limit: 10mg
The Scoop: Whole grains are the best resource
Vit. or Mineral: Molybdenum - helps your body make hemoglobin
RDA: 75 mcg
What to look for in a multi: Ignore - you're diet has enough
Safe Upper Limit: 350 mcg
The Scoop: Molybdenum deficiency has not been found in humans
Vit. or Mineral: phosphorus - part of your dna and bones (second only to calcium)
RDA: 1,000 mg
What to look for in a multi: You're diet has enough
Safe Upper Limit: 4,000 mg (if over 70 3,000 mg)
The Scoop: So prevalent in foods that deficiencies are extremely rare
Vit. or Mineral: potassium - helps maintain normal blood pressure
RDA: 3,500 mg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% rda, most multi's don't contain it, eat lots of veggies and fruit
Safe Upper Limit: 4,500 mg
The Scoop: Because of potential serious risks (life threatening), take potassium supplements ONLY under a doctor's advice
Vit. or Mineral: Selenium - protects cells from free radicals that can cause cancer and heart disease
RDA: 70 mcg
What to look for in a multi: 100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit: 200 mcg
The Scoop: People taking 200 mcg a day cut their risks of lung, prostate, anc colorectal cancer in half one study found - it may be toxic at 1,000 mcg.
Vit. or Mineral: Zinc - important for wound healing and a strong immune system
RDA: 15 mg
What to look for in a multi: Aim for 100% RDA
Safe Upper Limit: 30 mg
The Scoop: Too little zinc can impair the immune system AND too much zinc can impair the immune system.
adrite
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Thanks Angie! I think I'll sticky this to the top for awhile. This is some valuable information.
I do have a couple of questions. For B-6 it says recommended 6mg, why do they only sell it in 50mg. Same for zinc, I could only find 50mg.
Kim M
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I had that same problem! I couldn't find it in any smaller doses, and when you find it in a multi, well the calcium/magnesium is usually lacking - so I think to get the proper ratio's you have to get a good multi, then add calcium and magnesium (eeeeew reading labels stinks!)
adrite
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Kim,
I get zinc in 15 mg. It is made by Bio-san and I order it from www.naturesdistributors.com My last order cost $4.95. I don't understand dosing sizes, they are confusing.
Sheri
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Thanks Sheri,
I'll check it out. I've only been taking the zinc every few days due to the 50mg. But than it's hard for me to remember which days I've taken and which days I haven't. I'd rather have a lower dose and just take it every day.
Kim M
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Great info! Here's a little fact that I found out about Calcium at my last dr.'s appt: it is absorbed better at night, but is a stimulant, so it may keep you awake! She said it was far better to take it during the day, and to take magnesium at night, which can help you sleep.
Is there a multivitamin out there that comes close to meeting all of these?
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supplements..
Hi all...
Directly after my TAH/BSO I grabbed a bottle of calcium with D (600mg per tab) and a bottle of Vit C (I've always taken Vit C). A few weeks later when my head started to clear (my opinion only), I asked my step-daughter to pick me up a MVI that had B-6, B-12, Calcium, Zinc... yadda, yadda, yadda.
Much to my pleasant surprise she brought me home One a Day for Women. It had 100% daily values of Vit A, C, D, E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vit B6, B12, Folic Acid, Iron, Zinc and Pantothenic Acid. It's only 45% for calcium so I take one calcium pill with D.
Don't I have a smart step-daughter? LOL.
Hugs and god bless.
jhenna
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You sure do!
I'll have to check that out...my med cabinet and supplement bill will be alot lower! Thanks...
adrite
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Just wanted to add something on beta-carotene. If you are going to take a beta-carotene supplement, consider taking one that's all natural (most are synthetic, so you'll have to look hard). Anyway, many of the studies that are showing possible harmful side effects are using synthetic beta-carotene which apparently has little resemblence to natural beta-carotene. I have also read several sources that suggest perhaps a broad-spectrum carotenoid (has MANY carotenes, not just beta) may be more beneficial than beta-carotene alone. Granted, there's no good research to back that up yet, just thought I'd pass on information I'm gathering in my self-directed herbal studies. As always, check with your doctor on any medications/supplements you might be taking.
Jeanine
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The 100% RDA is really a minimum amount. It's really only if you think your diet is not reasonably balanced.
If there's a particular reason why you think a particular nutrient will help particular symptoms, the amount in a multivitamin won't probably have much effect. In particular, they do not have enough calcium for us.
There is one multi-vitamin I've seen that has therpeutic amounts of a variety of nutrients, and that was just prescribed to a friend of mine.
It's Enzymatic Therapy's Doctor's Choice for Women over 45. At first, I pooh poohed that a multi could have enough--but it's the only one I've seen that really has the kind of levels you want--of course you take 6 pills a day. And it's pricey enough to prove it's at least possible that it has what it claims in it.
But still, it simplifies things. I'm thinking of switching to it after I run the pills I have out.
The only things I want it doesn't have is evening primrose oil and fish oil. And maybe gingko biloba.
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