To supplement or not?

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Sapphire Lightning
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To supplement or not?

Post by Sapphire Lightning »

Ok, I have been vegan for 4 years, but I have never taken supplement pills. It has crossed my mind a few times, but I never seem to be able to convince myself that there would be any real need for me to, especially after checking occasionally with chronometer.
Before I hear the obvious: I get more than 100% of the RDA/RDI of my B12 from fortified foods, such as soy milk and the metric ton* of fortified nutritional yeast I eat every week. As per calcium and D, I am over 100% on those as well in my daily intake. As far as I can tell, I am not significantly below 100% on any of the vitamins and minerals that I am aware of.

So, to take a supplement pill or not to? I've heard many opinions on either side of it. Ranging from absolutely needed to "well, it helps cover the bases" to claims that supplements are harmful or even just pointless. The later often revolving around the body's lack of ability in absorbing and/or utilizing the nutrients in the pills, or even that high levels of certain nutrients can interfere with the absorption and bio-availability of other nutrients.

So.. Yes? No? Maybe?
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_Doc
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Re: To supplement or not?

Post by _Doc »

Have you tried the cronometer?
Here is a post that explains how to use it http://philosophicalvegan.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2054&p=21519&hilit=https%3A%2F%2Fcronometer.com#p21519

it lets you list your foods and view how much vitamins and minerals you consume. If you have done this for 4 years I'd say you are in the clear. You would by now experience some form of deficiency. But, I am not nutritionist so I am not positive on side-effects of low counts of vitamins and minerals.
Its a nice feeling when people can agree on something. Don't you agree?
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Sapphire Lightning
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Re: To supplement or not?

Post by Sapphire Lightning »

As stated above, I do an occasional check with chronometer (although I am not a total fan as their database often has glaring omissions, such as the amino acid breakdown for nutritional yeast missing). I am never below 90% of all nutrients, and often (especially my B complex) often in the 300 to 1000 percentages with just food. (Again, I eat a lot of nutritional yeast).

It is reassuring that I would otherwise have had symptoms of deficiency after 4 years, although I have read that it can take decades for B12 deficiency to show up in some cases.
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_Doc
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Re: To supplement or not?

Post by _Doc »

Sapphire Lightning wrote:As stated above, I do an occasional check with chronometer (although I am not a total fan as their database often has glaring omissions, such as the amino acid breakdown for nutritional yeast missing). I am never below 90% of all nutrients, and often (especially my B complex) often in the 300 to 1000 percentages with just food. (Again, I eat a lot of nutritional yeast).

It is reassuring that I would otherwise have had symptoms of deficiency after 4 years, although I have read that it can take decades for B12 deficiency to show up in some cases.

Wried when I first read your first post I didn't even see you talk about the chronometer. Sorry about that.Well your other opption is to get blood work-up and view your vitamins that way. I have Chrones' and my doctor did a b12 test on me and I was at a really good level. My B12 is at 433 pg/mL standard level is 211-946 pg/mL. And this was when I took my vitamin once every 3 weeks.
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miniboes
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Re: To supplement or not?

Post by miniboes »

Take B12. It's not harmful and not particularly expensive. No credible nutrition source will tell you it is a good idea not to take a B12 supplement. You can take it once a week, once a day or in whatever frequency you like; it is stored very well.
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Sapphire Lightning
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Re: To supplement or not?

Post by Sapphire Lightning »

miniboes wrote:Take B12. It's not harmful and not particularly expensive. No credible nutrition source will tell you it is a good idea not to take a B12 supplement. You can take it once a week, once a day or in whatever frequency you like; it is stored very well.
So even though I am getting more than 100% daily from fortified foods, you still think it a good idea to supplement just in case? I had been thinking of getting some sublingual B12, maybe I will pull the trigger and do that.
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: To supplement or not?

Post by brimstoneSalad »

Sapphire Lightning wrote: So even though I am getting more than 100% daily from fortified foods, you still think it a good idea to supplement just in case? I had been thinking of getting some sublingual B12, maybe I will pull the trigger and do that.
Yes. B-12 is harmless and cheap.
Don't trust fortified foods to have enough of it in them (not all nutritional yeast has B-12 added), or your digestion to be guaranteed to absorb it at only a couple hundred percent of your RDI. You may not become deficient, but you could still have suboptimal levels.

Also: It's just good advice for all vegans to take at least B-12 to be safe. So, you're serving as a good example for others. :)
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