Multi vitamins, which ones to choose??

[redhotmuslbear]

I'm not sure why my body's reaction to the 2 brands are so different when the composition is supposed to be exactly the same between these 2 multis, but I can tell you the difference is drastic. Just my 2 cents.

Churck,
Virtually all pills, including vitamins and supplements, including some non-active ingedient to keep the active ingredients together.  It may be a gelatin capsule, a binder derived from plants or animals, or a soft candy shell (sorry, I couldn't resist).  My first thought in considering your different reaction to the pills is that either something was different about the state of your stomach or the vitamins used different non-active ingredients, and your stomach had an adverse reaction to the one.  There are also dyes and colorings to consider.

It sounds onerous, but you may want to contact each company and ask what non-active ingredients are in the pills and then compare them.  If one binder or coloring caused this reaction, it might do far worse things to you if taken in larger quantities.

Cheers,
DAvid

[J.R.E.]

I take centrum Silver ( multi-vitamin ) once a day, besides other things. One of the best things to do for yourself, is to eat properly. Read this article :

http://www.tpan.com/publications/pa/special_06/even_better.shtml



Ray

[redhotmuslbear]

One of the best things to do for yourself, is to eat properly.

It's a peculiar phenomenon among Western people, more so with Americans and much more with HIVers, that we come to believe that ingredients for health come in a pill or two or twenty, instead of through our food, drink, and physical activity or lack thereof.  One of the best things I did for myself upon starting treatment back in 1998 after getting over hep A was to make and keep a series of appointments with an HIV nutritionist working at a local hospital.  I had already stuffed my head with lots of knowledge about vitamins and micronutrients, but the nutritionists helped break me out of the pill mindset and got me planning meals and snacks to keep me sated, energetic, and properly nourished.

[camille07]

Check out New Chapter for multivits (www.new-chapter.com)...they're in a sort of food-base, probiotic, highly tolerable, super-critical standardize formula...I use their Men's Best Once Daily. 

I have using New Chapter's multi Women's Best Once Daily.  Very happy with it because it can be taken on an empty stomach.

I was taking primrose a few years back and had a problem with ovarian cysts as a result.  The primrose was egging them on, no pun intended.  But I believe each body is individualized and reacts differently to supplements and herbs.