Subject: RE: Daily Supplements I take a multi-vitamin about 4 times a week. I take extra vitamin C because the mult-vitamin is too low, and extra B12 for stress.
You are supposed to get all the vitamins you need from food. But the way we eat and the way food is processed, there is no guarantee.
Vitamins will not improve your performance, but a vitamin deficiency can make you sick and hurt performance.
I read some place that a good multi-vitamin, three times a week, is all that's needed to insure you won't have a vitamin deficiency.
I think this is a pretty balanced view of vitamins and sports...
http://www.gssiweb.com/reflib/refs/290/rt45.cfm?pid=38
Benardot: I have not witnessed any toxic reactions to vitamin excess in athletes, but such effects usually take a long time to become apparent. I believe that consumption of one supplement providing 100% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance taken every other day or every third day makes sense in that it would provide sufficient nutrient value to act as a security blanket, yet avoid the potential for over consumption that could lead to toxicity. Importantly, taking a supplement several times each week, as opposed to every day, makes it less likely that the supplement would be confused as a satisfactory alternative to normal eating. |