Holland & Barrett mega vitamin time release

[Peregrine]

If any of you knowledgeable people have the time, could you please look through this list of what’s in H&B mega vits and tell me if there’s anything I shouldn’t be taking. I’m hypothyroid with antibodies and on levothyroxine. I take one of these vits everyday at lunchtime and take my Levo at approx 6am. I feel mostly reasonably ok healthwise.

Nutritional Information:-

Each caplet contains: %NRV*

Vitamin A2,400μg RE (8,000 I.U.) 300%

Vitamin D10μg (400 I.U.) 200%

Vitamin E83.9mg α-TE (125 I.U.) 700%

Vitamin C250mg 313%

Thiamin (Vitamin B1)80mg 7,273%

Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)80mg 5,714%

Niacin80mg NE 500%

Pantothenic Acid80mg 1,333%

Vitamin B680mg 5,714%

Vitamin B1280μg 3,200%

Folic Acid400μg 200%

Biotin 80μg 160%

Calcium 8mg 1%

Chromium 25μg 63%

Copper 0.07mg 7%

Iodine 150μg 100%

Iron 2mg 14%

Magnesium 6mg 2%

Manganese 0.12mg 6%

Molybdenum 25μg 50%

Selenium 25μg 45%

Zinc 1.4mg 14%

Betaine Hydrochloride 25mg **

Boron 0.5mg **

Choline Bitartrate 80mg **

Citrus Bioflavonoids Complex 25mg **

Coenzyme Q-100.5mg **

Hesperidin 5mg **

Inositol 80mg **

Garlic 1mg **

PABA 80mg **

Potassium 1.6mg **

Pycnogenol 0.5mg **

Rutin 30mg **

*NRV = Nutrient Reference Value **No NRV established

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Oh dear

I'll try and find something good to say but it's not easy with H&B supplements or even multivit/mins in general.

First of all, soya is listed which isn't good for us hypos.

It contains iron which means absorption of everything else will be affected, iron needs to be taken 2 hours away from other supplements.

It contains iodine which we shouldn't take unless tested and found to be deficient.

It contains calcium which again we shouldn't take unless tested and found to be deficient, and probably even the iron wont be absorbed.

The B12 is cyanocobalamin and the recommended form is methylcobalamin.

It contains folic acid and the recommended form is methylfolate.

It contains magnesium oxide which is the least absorbable form.

The selenium is selenite form which, along with selenate, is less absorbably than the l-selenomethionine or yeast bound form.

Vit B6 at 80mg is way above the recommended 10mg daily. Long term use of high dose B6 can cause tingling of extremities and other problems.

Sorry, couldn't find anything good to say after all.

Supplementing individual low levels or deficiencies after testing is far bette than taking these random, usually low quality, fairly useless multi vitamins.

Important for us Hypos to test:

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

General supplements that can be helpful for us:

Vit C (lots of it as it supports adrenals)

B Complex

Selenium helps conversion of T4 to T4 and helps lower antibodies in Hashi's patients (but you might want to test level first)

[Kari55 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Great post Susie! What is the best way to check selenium levels - blood or hair?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Kari55]

Sorry Kari, I really don't know the answer to that. I can't say I've trusted hair analysis since having it done many years ago when I was suffering with rhinitis. I was told I was allergic to dogs. Well, I did have a dog but I'd had my dog for very many years before the rhinitis suddenly started, and I've had 2 other dogs since the rhinitis suddenly disappeared, so I don't have a lot of faith in that method of testing. If I were to do a selenium test I think I would probably go for a blood test but there is a urine test as well.

[Kari55 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you Susie. I had hair test done twice and only recently found out that minerals are distributed differently in different organs and soft tissues. It looks like the hair test is difficult to interpret. I didn’t realise that selenium can be tested through urine, I will look into that.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Kari55]

Let us know if you do test, I'd be interested to hear about it and the result.

If I ever have a mad moment (and enough spare money) I'd do both urine and blood test at the same time and compare them.

[greygoose]

Totally agree with Susie. As a general rule, the clumping together of a load of random nutrients in one pill is not a good idea. Waste of money because you won't get anything much out of it and even if you did, there's not enough of anything to treat a true deficiency.

The only exception to this rule is a B complex. Even then, you have to be careful that there's nothing else slid in there, and that the forms are the easily absorbed ones - methylcobalamin and methylfolate.

Also, this multi-vit contains copper. You shouldn't take copper without getting tested first, because hypos usually have high copper and low zinc.

[Peregrine]

Thank you Seaside Susie and Greygoose, much appreciated.