Vitamin cycling - do we REALLY need supplementation?

[SteelWeaver]

In about 5 weeks' time I'm going to become a very poor student. Time to start considering exactly what's absolutely essential and what I can dump from my supplement list. So, how does one cycle vitamin supplementation? I take a multi, with extra Vits C, E, and some B's, along with some iron and calcium (not together), sometimes mag/zinc when I remember. Oh, and r-ala. Occasionally selenium. Does one really need all this stuff? If cycling them, what do you do? Dump everything for a few weeks at a time? Dump everything except the multi, and use the extra stuff when dieting?

I figure I should keep the multi, C and E in - any thoughts on the rest?

 

[MS]

It is certainly possible to design a diet that adequately meets ALL of your vitamin and mineral needs. Overt vitamin deficiency is almost unheard of (exception maybe iron) in western cultures. If you're taking super physiological doses of ALA, you should consider biotin supps, or eating lots of foods high in biotin. Beyond that, it's your call and up to you to design a diet. For instance, if you restrict your food intake by avoiding meat and seafood, you should prolly take creatine and carnitine. Likewise if you avoid dairy you need to get calcium from nuts, legumes and leafy greens. It's also a good idea to get as much of your food as possible from organically from sources, but these tend to be expensive. You could grow your own! If you don't eat a lot of organically grown/free range stuff you might also want to supp some EFAs.

But it REALLY depends on your diet/food sources blah blah blah, and there is no definitive guideline that I can give you as to whether or not vitamins/minerals are necessary or beneficial. It's just like buying life insurance. It costs you for sure, and you may never get anything out of that investment......

 

[SteelWeaver]

"It is certainly possible to design a diet that adequately meets ALL of your vitamin and mineral needs."

Mmmmmm ..... Now THERE's a challenge .....Hey, I could do that!

AND I could grow many of my own veggies. Chickens for eggs ..... my family has always kept chickens. I love growing things.

In fact - permaculture has been on my list on things to learn how to do for a while ..... IMAGINE! Big, fat, fresh pumpkins and zucchini lying plump and glowing against the dark soil in the warm sun. lol - although home-grown are usually quite small, ne? No "growth hormones", lol - or whatever they use.

Ha ha ha - Farmer Steel!

And all that digging can ONLY be good for my physique!

Do you cycle creatine? I didn't ask about that, because I just take it every day - I realise veggies need it ... You can only get it from meat, otherwise, right?

The physiology book I'm reading right now says there aren't a whole lot of studies that back the use of excessive vitamin supplementation in athletes (beyond the RDA) except maybe for iron, and possibly calcium. They note that vit E has been found to reduce free radical oxidisation. But that's about it.

??? So the question is, what kind of insurance policy?