Will a daily Multivitamin give me enough?

[Galadriel1]

Hi all, have started to use a multivitamin (7 seas complete multivitamin for Women 50+) is this going to be enough or should I use additional supplements?  I am about to start taking vit D from Dr as just been tested low and she says I will need blood checked in a month, not to check vit D as that will not be back to normal by then (her words) but to check calcium levels.  Any advice on what else I should have?  I get confused by amounts on multivits, but it says %NRV; Vit D - 120, B1 - 182, B2 - 286, B6 - 429, Folic Acid - 100, B12 - 200, many others but not sure how important they are...

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Not sure what units have been used for the folic acid which looks really high - the B12 looks really low.

Different assessors use different equipent so it is important to quote the ranges that were given as well as the actual result.

Having said that though the B12 is definitely on the low side and you may well be deficient - I'm guessing that you aren't a vegan/strict vegetarian with very little meat/fish/dairy in your diet in which case you probably have an absorption problem ... which for B12 also means that you won't be able to rebuild stores of B12.

a multivitamin is not going to give you the amounts of B12 you need if this is the case.  Some people with absorption problems do find that they respond to oral B12 1% is absorbed outside the ileum which is where absorption problems tend to have the biggest impact so flooding the gut with huge doses of B12 can work - but you need to be taking around 1-10mg = 1000-10000 ug a day.

[fbirder in reply to Gambit62]

The units are NRVs (National Reference Values) which is the new name for RDAs (Recommended Daily Amounts). So all of them deliver the minimum dose required by a healthy person, or more.

Some people take large amounts of vitamins. In many cases (like B12) this is OK as they're eliminated fairly quickly. Others can be quite harmful (early Antarctic explorers sometimes died from too much Vit A - from eating dog livers).

The NHS has a fairly groovy site - nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-...

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to fbirder]

my turn for a Doh! moment - misread the post and though that the figures quoted were test results rather than contents.

Think they have yet another name for RDA/NRV in the US ...

[Galadriel1 in reply to Gambit62]

Sorry, foggy when I wrote it, I am not vegetarian/vegan and I am on B12 twice daily at the moment, see reply I put to clarify.  Vit D at 25 (80-150) being the range.  Sorry for confusion, worried about other levels such as B6 which you can have too much of and maybe others I should be watching and also folic acid - is there enough in the multivit?

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Galadriel1]

Suggest this document in relation to deciding what are safe doses of various vitamins.  

efsa.europa.eu/sites/defaul...

NRV for B6 is 1.4mg - so supplement above contains about 10mg.  Recommendations for upper daily limits vary a lot from country to country but the general basis is that levels over 100mg a day over 6 months can cause neurological symptoms and in at least one case this didn't reverse after supplementation started.  That means you could take 10 of the tablets before reaching the limit - however, you need to be careful as you may be getting artificial B6 in other things - such as breakfast cereals.

[Galadriel1 in reply to Galadriel1]

Sh**t!  Still got it wrong twice weekly not daily!

[NovicePA]

I have heard the Jarrow B Complex is good. I take the WellWomen one. I would check the back of labels and take the ones with the most in! Every little helps as they say!!

[engels]

Are you saying that you want to try treating B12 deficiency with the Seven Seas multivitamin you mention or are you already treating a B12 deficiency and this is just to supplement other vitamins to try to maintain a balance?

Those tablets contain 5mcg/μg of B12 (don't know what form but probably cyanocobalamin) which is twice the NRV/RDA but in terms of treating a B12 deficiency is such a tiny amount as to be insignificant. Treating a B12 deficiency with oral tablets (as opposed to sublingual tablets which are different) is rarely successful but if you do want to try I would suggest that you need to take at least 2000mcg/μg daily.

[Galadriel1 in reply to engels]

You are correct 2 injections a week at my Dr's, I am trying to get the other vitamins right.

[Galadriel1]

Aargh sorry guys!  Was a bit foggy when writing and forgot to mention I have been on loading since end of Jan until end of Feb at 3 per week and since then have been on twice a week from Dr's.  The multivit is to help with the depletion of the other vits due to the B12 loading and I'm not sure of what is best to take and amounts.  I have now been diagnosed as low Vit. D (25) and been given tablets at 20,000 units it says on the bottle, 1 tablet twice a week for 7 weeks and I have to have a blood test after a monthe apparently to check calcium levels?  I have no idea what I need or should be taking to help the B12 do it's job.  Any advice?