Supplement obsession.

Monica I have been in plenty of Health food shops and have seen the prices they charge

I agree Calistemon you never know what’s around the corner but I do not obsess about my health. As long as I feel ok and eat well and exercise reasonably, I’m not about to spend money on supplements.

Missfoodlove You are obviously very enthusiastic about ensuring that these supplement companies can continue ensuring good profits to their shareholders.

A properly balanced, good diet will give you all the vitamins you require, most of what you list here are just giving you some sort of 'feel good; factor nothing more.

The only one may be Vit D - although, as has been said here, where blood tests show up a low level, then GP's usually prescribe Adcal.

How can you describe somthing as a money making racket, when you probably have no idea how much people are spending. I pay less than £25 for mine, less than £1 a day. In fact less than the cost of a daily paper.

There is no virtue in not taking prescription drugs. I am not on any prescription drugs. I put that down to coming from a genetically robust family. I have friends who have had fragile health all their lives; my DiL has an auto-immune disease despite being slim and fit and eating a healthy diet.

Good health is often a question of good luck rather than good judgment.

That doesn't sound like that many supplements to me, OP.

have taken selenium one a day for years. vit c drink daily and dip in and out of various others but not every day!

M0nica if you’re wondering who devours the other half then look no further

As you get older you need to eat much less, so getting all the micro-nutrients you need from your balanced diet is a lot harder.

I must be eating only half what I did before the menopause.

Callistemon

Well, a balanced diet does not always mean no prescribed meds.

We never know what life may have in store for us.

Agree, Callistemon, without "prescription meds" I would struggle even more with my breathing than I do now.

Gingster if you can get through your life without any prescription meds, then you are very fortunate indeed.

I take evening primrose oil, cod liver oil and a multi vitamin with iron every day.
At 70 I feel healthier with these supplements, esp. evening primrose oil for keeping skin supple and hair bouncy. Feel like a dried up prune without them...
.

Well, a balanced diet does not always mean no prescribed meds.

We never know what life may have in store for us.

No prescribed meds or supplements for me. A balanced diet , Normal food plus anything we might fancy. Everything in moderation.I agree with Bluebell - a money making racket.

I just take a multi vitamin for the over 50s from October to March, I have the soluble ones that make a pleasant orange drink as some supplements are too big to swallow.

No prescription items, but

Vitamin D3
Acidophilus (probiotic, to help with bloating and gas, as the Yanks call it.)
A cranberry tablet, to help ward off cystitis
Green lipped mussel extract, for arthritis, or rather for fending it off - I hope.

We do eat a good, varied diet, with loads of veg and fruit, but if they may help (not much doubt about D3) then why not.

Missfoodlove you mention "occasional vitamin B".

Please remember the vitamins A,D, E and K are fat soluble, and can store in the body, hence excess carrot juice or liver can end up becoming toxic.

Vitamins B and C are water soluble, so (as an example) eating 6 oranges in one day will only give you Vitamin C for that day, the rest will just go as bodily waste.

Take no medication and just one Vit D tablet daily 75 and feel pretty ok
I don’t think all the supplements are necessary for most people just a money making racket

I started supplements when I lost my post menopausal weight and realised that keeping it off meant eating much less than I used to. I then became concerned that this meant that I would no longer be eating enough to meet my micro-nutritional needs.

I read Dr Paul Clayton's Health Defence and now take the vitamin package he recommends. I buy it direct and as well as minerals and vitamins it includes a wide range of other micro-nutrients. I do not have to think about what amounts of what to take. It is all done for me and the nutrient mix is updated regularly in line with the most recent research findings.

Forgetting about my folic acid supplement during both pregnancies.

I’ve never had a supplement since I was a child and we were given a spoonful of Virol every day! But literally just today I’ve started taking vitamin D. I hear it mentioned a lot recently and thought I might as well.

I don’t take any supplements. I eat lots of fruit , veg and enough dairy and meat. Probably to much home baking.
I have tried some for arthritis but didn’t find after some time that they made any difference.

I have prescription AdCal/Vit D.
I have atrial fibrillation (and RA and its auto immune pals). A friend suggested that people with AF are usually short of Magnesium, did I get leg cramps at night. Yes I did. I started a supplement of magnesium, vit C and Zinc- leg cramps are a thing of the past. Fabulous

My husband is like you Miss Chateleine, it sounds like you live well but I think genes have a lot to do with it.
I take turmeric, fish oil for my joints, vitamin b12 because I'm vegan, a b complex occasionally. If I'm unwell, vitamin c and quercetin.

I’ve never taken a supplement in my life neither have I ever had a days serious illness. I am probably very lucky or have exceptionally good genes. I vaguely recall having flu for a day 25 years ago and a cold 10 years ago. Otherwise nothing. I’m 65 I look after my health, exercise daily, don’t eat any processed food and walk 10 miles a day. I totally believe in personal responsibility for my own health. I do weight training most days. I really am so not frightened of this virus that I’m going through the application process of applying to be a doorstep tracer for my local council.

I used to have malt and cod liver oil religiously every winter but that had to stop when I started on the warfarin in 2006, so no supplements allowed It's the oil in these things that upsets the balance.

I take Vitamin D (we don't get much sun here in London) and B vitamins, just in case, as I'm vegan. There's no substitute for a really good diet, though.