Why do "experts" recommend a low dose vitamin, like Centrum instead of a super multi vitamin?

Answer 1

Right now, experts recommend low dose vitamins because it minimizes chances of being accused of giving bad advice. They know that vitamins are necessary for health and life, and yet they're not sure how necessary or helpful very large dosages are. Rather than run the risk of people being misled into taking very large dosages that could either 1) be a total waste of money, or 2) actually lead to health problems because large dosages had been recommended, they just recommend the minimum known requirements. In this way they can't be accused of giving bad advice. if it turns out that very large dosages could have had significant health or even life saving value, they can always say, "Well, solid research hadn't backed this conclusion before". They prefer that people run the risk of doing too little than too much, even though it's still a risk either way. What's especially galling about this is that it's bad enough that doctors and experts may demur on recommending large dosages, they even presssure the FDA to consider vitamins as drugs and take this choice of risk away from the people.

Answer 2

These "low dose vitamins, like Centrum" as you call them, usually have at least the RDA recommended values of most vitamins & minerals. However, if you eat a healthy, balanced diet, you should get enough vitamins & minerals anyway. Most people do not require higher than the usual doses of vitamins unless they have some kind of mineral deficiency, which is unusual in the U.S. unless you have anorexia, IBS, or some other disorder that is causing you not to absorb vitamins. There is no evidence that "super" multi vitamins can help you, especially since often your body can not absorb such high doses all at once anyways, so much of it you will just be excreting (i.e. urinating or defecating) out. Worse yet, if you do absorb it, taking too many vitamins can actually CAUSE certain diseases or damage to your body sometimes (especially the fat soluble vitamins, which can be stored for a long time). It really isn't something you should do without a doctor's advice. Centrum, or others like it, is just fine for most people's needs.

Answer 3

Nice claims, but wrong for the mega-dose claims. Vitamin C in any dose does absolutely nothing for colds. It was a nice theory by a brilliant biochemist that didn't pan out. The same for a ton of claims. Doctors and other experts require a higher degree of evidence and are still wrong all too often. One of the fun things about science is that you can have a hypothesis, test it, and get apparently confirmatory evidence quite by chance. Only when a study's results are consistently reproducible are ethical scientists able to say there's a reasonable degree of certainty to justify a recommendation, and to date there have been few studies of vitamins that have shown they do much more than prevent deficiency diseases (scurvy, beriberi, etc.) on a consistent basis.

Answer 4

The body needs vitamins and minerals for certain body functions, normally if the diet is adequate enough no supplementation of vitamins is required but since most of us doesn't have adequate diet, vitamin and mineral supplements is required or ad viced. The body usually obtains a fair amount of vitamins from what we eat thus we need only additions of little amount from what we already had. There's a RDA required daily allowance for each vitamins and it is usually in little amounts. In cases of healing or after surgery or after being sick, vitamin supplementation can be increased needing the higher dose of vitamins, but taking an additional dose of the lower dose vitamins like Centrum usually do the trick.

Answer 5

Recent research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown that taking a daily multi-vitamin may actually decrease life span.

Vitamins are necessary for daily processes like metabolism. The story goes, that vitamins are "antioxidants" that help fight "free radicals." Free radicals, apparently, cause tissue damage. This is a great story for commercial vitamin makers, but it doesn't really reflect the science.

Free radicals are actually important for fighting pathogens and cancer cells. Thus, overdosing on vitamins may actually be counterproductive. The previous comments that suggest vitamin loading may promote health are false. Although the science behind vitamin intake is still being clarified, overdosing is clearly not healthy.

The reason for the low-dose recommendation? Think about it like this, when is taking "super" anything good for you? Even overdosing on water can kill you. The key to health is moderation. Vitamins may help supplement your health, but a super vitamin will never replace a good diet and excercise.

Answer 6

A lot of "experts" recommend a low dose vitamin ALONG with a well balanced diet.

Vitamins and Minerals do NOT give you energy or make you feel better by themself, but when eaten in proportion to your carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and sugars, these vitamins and minerals AID in their absorption and metabolism.

Answer 7

Yes, you can take the two of them together. However, I would check with a health care professional to see what the dosage of the Omega-3 would be for an 18 year old.

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Answer 8

super saturation cures many diseases
if your not sick you can cause disease
its just playing safe [for the average [mean] and to avoid us using vitimins to get healthy
like mega doses of vit c cures colds
magnesium longitivity
ots a long suppressed thing that many vitimins could eradicate ''medications''
we need sicjk to syupport the poor medical industries
[no money in vitamins ] you cant patent them.