Taking Supplements/Vitamins

[kanucme2019]

I have recently been diagnosed with gluten intolerance and have changed my diet. I have read that I need to take additional vitamins/minerals.  They tell me what vitamins/minerals but not how many milligrams I should take daily.   What is the daily recommended amount?  And is there an all-in-one product instead of having to taking multi-pills?

[Ennis-TX]

It varies from person to person and what you diet is, Many Celiacs find they need to supplement B-vitamins, Magnesium, vitamin D, sometimes iron, vitamins C, etc.

I use Liquid Health Mega B complex and Neurological support for B-vitamins taking 1 tbsp each twice a day with meal. They also make a multivitamin I think just pour the RD in a glass and drink it.
I take bluebonnet drops Vitamin D 2000iu-4000iu But it varies for everyone
I rotate between Natural Vitality Calm and Doctors Best Magnesium...I used to have to take huge doses to tolerance but now just take the RD twice a day.
I take 500mg Vitamin C pills 2-3 times a day but I do not eat fruit at all for other reasons and it helps with Iron absorbtion
Iron I eat foods high in iron with each meal or take Pea protein which is high in it.
I tend to eat leafy greens like Kale, Spinach, or Collard with each meal for my other nutrients and live on tons of eggs, nut flours/butters, and seed meals/butters I consume at least 1 cup of almond or cashew milk a day for calcium.

I take a few other things that are specific to my issues IE Pancreas and digestive enzymes to break down my food (pancreas issues), some stuff for helping me with body building and extra vegan proteins, along with collagen for my joints due to how active I am. Slippery Elm, Marshmallow, and Aloe Vera for my Ulcerative Colitis, along with probiotics every day or so.
 

[cyclinglady]

Your doctor can test you for deficiencies or you can allow some time to heal.  I think the current recommendation is a simple gluten-free multi-vitamin.  You can supplement with additional vitamins as you think necessary.  For example, I was only low on iron for a few months after my diagnosis.   I took Iron supplements for a few months based on my doctor’s recommendation.    Since then, I take no supplements.  I do have a pretty healthy diet though.  If you are going to dine on gluten-free chips and candy, you might consider supplements.  

Learn more:

https://celiac.org/gluten-free-living/gluten-in-medicine-vitamins-and-supplements/

[GFinDC]

Right, getting tested for vitamin/mineral levels is valuable.  Taking too much if a vitamin / mineral can be bad for you also.  The fat soluble vitamins tend to get stored in the body.  The water soluble vitamins tend to wash out daily, so overdosing on them is unlikely.

Things I think are helpful are minerals, including iodine, boron, and selenium.  Copper and manganese also matter.  Some of these are trace minerals, so don't overdo it.  Amounts we need vary, but there are RDA's you can check.  All the B vitamins are water soluble and worth taking (especially B-12) in reasonable amounts IMHO.  Vitamin D and boron and calcium work together so it's good to get some of them daily.  A 1000 IU vitamin D pill daily is more effective than a 50,000 IU pill weekly IMHO.  You can also get vitamin D from oily fish like salmon, mackeral, sardines and tuna.  Or that bright yellow thing in the daytime sky depending on the season and your latitude.

There may be an all-in-one pill but it may be hard to find.  I take CVS brand calcium/vit D pill ( cut in half), a CVS complete joint heath pill (with boron), Jarrow B Complete,  1000 IU Naturemade Vit D, tart cherry, Rhodiola Rosea, ginseng, men's multi sometimes, a Solgar thyroid pill sometimes, Betaine HCL sometimes.

Sources are CVS, Swanson's, vitacost or the grocery store.

Edited August 12, 2019 by GFinDC

[Wheatwacked]

  On 12/13/2019 at 11:33 AM, CalvinByrd said:

Folate: Folate also comes in organic food and supplements. You should not be talking it 400 µg or else it can cause many major disease. Its biggest source is nut, vegetable, seafood and eggs.

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It is folic acid, not folate that is the problem. Since folic acid was first synthesized in the 1980s there has been reduced neural tube birth defects but there also has been an increase in prostate cancer and I think I read somewhere also endometriosis. I avoid multivitamins because they almost all have folic acid, vitamin E and beta-carotene vitamin A. At this point I take 11 other vitamins daily.

Folic Acid: Legally, Folic acid and folate are interchangeable on the label. The label may say folate but the ingredient is often actually folic acid. Folic acid (synthetic folate) RDA is 400 mcg and Upper limit is 1000 mcg. There is no upper limit on Folate. 

"In a randomized clinical trial investigating osteoporotic fracture incidence in 2,919 participants aged 65 years or older with elevated homocysteine levels, those who received 400 mcg folic acid plus 500 mcg vitamin B12 and 600 IU vitamin D3 for 2 years reported a significantly higher cancer incidence, especially of colorectal and other gastrointestinal cancers, than those who received only 600 IU vitamin D3 [74]. In addition, a 2018 prospective study found that folic acid intake from fortified foods and supplements was positively associated with a risk of cancer recurrence among 619 patients with non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer, whereas natural folate intakes showed no significant association [75].  Higher plasma folate concentrations have also been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation [76]. A secondary analysis of the study by Cole and colleagues [72] found that folic acid supplementation significantly increased the risk of prostate cancer [77] . A meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials that included a total of 25,738 men found that the risk of prostate cancer was 24% higher in men receiving folic acid supplements than those taking a placebo" [79].https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Folate-HealthProfessional/

Vitamin A: The NIH recommends not taking synthetic beta-carotene form of A supplements at all, but more is better if from dietary vegetable sources. Preformed Vitamin A (retinol, animal sourced) is 75% of the A most people absorb. Preformed Vitamin A is minimum RDA of 900 mcg for adult males and 700 mcg for adult females. The UL (upper limit) for preformed vitamin A is 3000 mcg RAE. both the CARET and ATBC studies showed a significant increase in lung cancer risk among study participants taking beta-carotene supplements

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The FNB advises against beta-carotene supplements for the general population, except as a provitamin A source to prevent vitamin A deficiency.  https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/

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Vitamin E: minimum RDA is 15 mg adult male and female and upper limit of synthetic E is 1000 mg. Wheat germ oil is the most concentrated source of vitamin E. Makes me wonder who paid for the research. E deficiency was discovered in 1925 as a cause of infertility in rats.

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In the other analysis of studies of antioxidant supplements for disease prevention, the highest quality trials revealed that vitamin E, administered singly (dose range 10 IU–5,000 IU/day; mean 569 IU) or combined with up to four other antioxidants, significantly increased mortality risk [56]. results from the recently published, large SELECT trial show that vitamin E supplements (400 IU/day) may harm adult men in the general population by increasing their risk of prostate cancer [33]

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