All about supplement use

[arahant]

I'm curious about everyone's first reaction to 'dietary supplements'. It seems to me that some are fairly well established, and others are a crock. Does anyone take anything more interesting than a multi-vitamin? If so, do you check original research? Ever research something and decide not to take it? Don't really give a [censored]?

[vhawk01]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm curious about everyone's first reaction to 'dietary supplements'. It seems to me that some are fairly well established, and others are a crock. Does anyone take anything more interesting than a multi-vitamin? If so, do you check original research? Ever research something and decide not to take it? Don't really give a [censored]?

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I am interested in the topic, but unfortunately I don't have much to say on it right now. I know that the market for diet supplements is almost entirely unregulated, similar to the homeopathy and alternative medicine markets. This makes it difficult to really do any research. There are papers on the effects of increased levels of certain supplements, like creatine or androsteindione (if these are the types of supplements you are talking about) but its hard to know exactly what you are getting with most supplements, and how they will interact with your workout or lifestyle.

[arahant]

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[ QUOTE ]
I'm curious about everyone's first reaction to 'dietary supplements'. It seems to me that some are fairly well established, and others are a crock. Does anyone take anything more interesting than a multi-vitamin? If so, do you check original research? Ever research something and decide not to take it? Don't really give a [censored]?

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I am interested in the topic, but unfortunately I don't have much to say on it right now. I know that the market for diet supplements is almost entirely unregulated, similar to the homeopathy and alternative medicine markets. This makes it difficult to really do any research. There are papers on the effects of increased levels of certain supplements, like creatine or androsteindione (if these are the types of supplements you are talking about) but its hard to know exactly what you are getting with most supplements, and how they will interact with your workout or lifestyle.

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When I wrote the question, I was actually thinking more of health-related stuff (recent resveratrol studies were what brought it mind). The same issues apply to body-building/athletic supplements too, though.

FWIW, my opinion is - don't mess with steroids or steroid precursors (unless you need to for athletic reasons), but creatine works wonders if you lift.

It would be nice to see more human studies on everything...damn funding and ethics!

For athletic stuff, I've thought it would be neat just to let the drug companies sponsor athletes. We'd see kick-ass performances, they'd probably come up with some good drugs, and they'd care about safety, since dead athletes would be bad PR.

[Piers]

I have read a few books, but don’t really understand. (Recently started a Biology degree to help rectify this)

Recommend
Any Patrick Holford – in particular New Optimal Nutrition Bible.
Fatastic Voyage Kurzwil & Grossman.

Currently:

Feel confident of the following.

Multi- vitamine.
Vitamine C (Don’t think you can go wrong here)
Vitamine B complex + folic acid. (I did a Homocysteine test and just on the border of ok)
Omiga 3,6 (9?)

Antitoxidants, not sure about these, but feel there are good odds in favour them being beneficial.

Lutein (My eyes are the one bit I can’t afford to have break down)
A mixture of Selenium, Co-enzyme Q10, Beta Caroteine, Lipoic acid. (Maybe reduce free radical damage, * shrug *)

I also recommend doing a food intolerance test http://www.homeinonhealth.com/ . If nothing else it allowed me to loose 4 stone in 4 mounts while eating as much as I wanted. Much the same thing happened to my mother, except that her arthritis cleared up as well.

[m_the0ry]

General:
Multivitamin (brand name is meaningless - buy costco)
Omega 3's (fish oil, eggs, many ways to get this one)

Athletic:
L-Glutamine
Whey protein
Creatine


Don't take creatine unless you exercise a lot.

[MidGe]

m_theOry and Piers,


Can we get any credentials before you advise people on health matters? Or is being a good poker player sufficient? Are you good poker players?

I am targeting m_theOry more so than Piers which at least acknowledged no expertise whatsoever [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Piers]

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m_theOry and Piers,


Can we get any credentials before you advise people on health matters? Or is being a good poker player sufficient? Are you good poker players?

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I have read a few books, but don’t really understand. (Recently started a Biology degree to help rectify this)

Recommend
Any Patrick Holford – in particular New Optimal Nutrition Bible.
Fatastic Voyage Kurzwil & Grossman.

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My suggestions can be found in the books I referenced, but I advise you to check.

No idea if Holford, Kurzwil or Grossman play poker.

[m_the0ry]

I didn't claim to have any credentials. You get what you pay for and my opinion was free.

[MidGe]

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You get what you pay for

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Fair enough! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] The AC'ers would love it! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ChrisV]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm curious about everyone's first reaction to 'dietary supplements'. It seems to me that some are fairly well established, and others are a crock. Does anyone take anything more interesting than a multi-vitamin? If so, do you check original research? Ever research something and decide not to take it? Don't really give a [censored]?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've tried a stack of supplements at one time or another.

I'm of the opinion that it's a good idea to take a range of antioxidants, so I take a vitamins A/C/E supplement daily and occasionally take alpha-lipoic acid and coenzyme Q10. I'll supplement extra vitamin C if I'm feeling stressed. My opinion is that it's next to impossible to take too much vitamin C.

I've also taken things for specific purposes. When I was under a lot of stress my sex drive dropped and I tried a few things to help it. Most helpful were magnesium, vitamin E, L-arginine and an extract of a herb called mucuna pruriens, which contains L-dopa. I've also taken extracts of Siberian and Korean ginseng (actually completely unrelated plants) as stimulants, and a little-known compound called L-theanine as an anxiolytic (I highly recommend this, btw).

My antioxidant regimen is heavily influenced by research I've seen in the area of their neuroprotective effects. For the other supplements, where I'm trying to get a specific effect, I'm driven more by how well they work out for me. But obviously I do research on anything I plan to take often; for example, ongoing daily dosages of vitamin E above 800 IU are considered potentially harmful, and obviously taking something like mucuna pruriens (l-dopa, basically, although there appears to be more to it than that) on a daily basis would be extremely stupid.

In America, the supplement market is less regulated than it is in Australia. Some of the more dangerous supplements, such as DHEA, are banned here. If I was in America I would probably be more circumspect about what I tried.