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www.mypyramid.gov: See how much of each food group you should be eating daily for good nutrition, based on your height, weight, age and activity level .


http://ods.od.nih.gov: Read more about vitamins at the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements site.

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The ABCs of vitamins
Experts disagree on what to take and how much

August 21, 2007

BY CHRIS SWINGLE

ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE

Are vitamins a sound investment in your health? Or are they a waste of money or potentially hazardous?

The answer from physicians, registered dietitians and clinical studies: It depends on who you are, what you take and how much.

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Any vitamins -- like any medication -- should be reviewed with your health care provider and be appropriate for your diet and your medical and family history.

Our bodies need small amounts of 13 micronutrients, from vitamin A to vitamin K, most of which the body can't make on its own. (One exception is vitamin D, which our skin can make from sunlight.)

For the average person, the best source of vitamins is food -- where they naturally exist -- not pills. That's because fruits, vegetables and whole grains include not just vitamins, but fiber and a mix of nutrients that may protect against disease.

Review your needs

But many Americans don't eat healthfully. A daily multivitamin can be a nutritional safety net for them and for the following groups who tend not to meet their nutritional requirements by diet alone: strict vegetarians, teenagers, people eating fewer than 1,200 calories a day, people older than 60, women of childbearing age (who may not yet know they're pregnant) and pregnant women, says Christina Krueger, a registered dietitian at ViaHealth's Diabetes Care and Resource Center in Rochester, N.Y.

A registered dietitian -- who has taken classes, has work experience and has passed a nationally accredited exam -- can meet with clients individually to evaluate eating patterns and needs.

But, Krueger stresses, supplements don't erase the need for a healthy diet.

Too much can hurt

Clinical studies find little evidence that vitamins prevent chronic disease and raise cautions about excess doses of vitamins, especially the fat-soluble ones -- A, D, E and K -- that can accumulate in the body.

A National Cancer Institute study published in May found that men who take more than one multivitamin a day may be increasing their risk of developing advanced prostate cancer and dying from the disease.

People are wrong if they think that ""if one is good, two must be better"" when it comes to vitamins, says Grace Ricci, a registered dietitian and clinical nutrition manager for Unity Health System.

Some vitamins lose luster

Some science on vitamins has changed over time. A decade ago, vitamin E seemed a superstar, an antioxidant thought to protect against cell damage caused by rogue molecules.

But a number of large studies in recent years have found that vitamin E pills don't slow diseases. A 2004 review of 19 medical studies involving nearly 136,000 people taking varying doses of vitamin E, found that people taking high doses (400 international units or more a day) seemed to die sooner than people who had not.

Supplement industry groups dispute such studies.

So does Les Moore, director of integrative medicine at Clifton Springs Hospital in Ontario County, N.Y. He says vitamins made synthetically -- the ones typically studied -- aren't the same as vitamins made from naturally occurring nutrients.

Moore, a doctor of naturopathy, believes patients need the help of a naturopath, clinical nutritionist, registered dietitian or holistic physician to help navigate the maze of information and misinformation.

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Gretchen

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, every adult should supplement their diet with a multivitamin to help maintain good health.

My experience has been that good vitamins-all natural food supplements with clinical testing behind them-produce good results; bad vitamins-chemically enginnered vitamins with mega doses-produce bad or no results.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:04 pm


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