RDA Vitamins & Minerals

[Takmaster]

Its easy to get caught up in the supplements world, the majority of them claiming to have fantastic benefits. However what is often the case is that scientific study results have been distrorted to give a prejudice view to aid a marketing piece.

Whats more is the word supplement has to be considered -

Supplement "something added to complete a thing, supply a deficiency, or reinforce or extend a whole"

A supplement can often become a staple of somebodys diet and thats not how they should be used. However putrition companies aren't going to be
in a rush to correct you as the more pills you pop the more money they make.

RDA's are also taken out of proportion and consideration of the fact of RDA's being differnent from different country to country should be bourne in mind.

The ideal would be to have a balanced diet and get what you need from there. And not taking them daily but for shorter periods or at times of needs. In fairness a caveate to this being if you don't have the budget to get to an ideal diet but again not taking everything all of the time.

My main supplements are a simple multi-vit, high strength vit C, Echinacea, fish oil - omega, milk thistle, B vits, creatine and the odd piece to bolster my immune system.

My multi vits are used when im away on business and nutrition is poor or 2 or so per week as a top up. The vit C and Echinacea is taken at the first signs of a cold to help trigger my immune system. Never daily. Fish oils these are the only ones that come close to being taken most regulalry just due to the real effects of fish oil and it use as fibre aid. Milk thistle for when I have been on the booze. Bvits after hard periods of sweating during training. And creatine after training. They are cycled to help prevent damage.

What is negelected is providing the information upon the damage done by excessive usage of vits and minerals.

For those with ADHD my messge is don't get caught in the hype use suplements in cycles not constantly and before parting with your hard earned cash for the next mega supplement consider spending it in the grocery shop.

If there are further questions regarding this or other supplements I'd be happy to help demistify the bullshit from real science.

[Musky]

Like most things RDA fits into the standard bell curve. Even if we accept that the RDA IS the average amount needed by a individual we have to consider that.

34% are fine with slightly less
34% need slightly more
14% need more than others
14% are fine with less than others
2% need shedloads more than others
2% can do with hardly any

The bell curve principle works with most things where a mean is spread across a population.

[Cookie]

Good post Tak....

Interesting viewpoint Musky....

[Al]

Musky: Good post.
Slightly off topic: I've been arguing the bell curve distribution for a while now as it applied to genetic potential & bodybuilding. BB mags splash their covers with photos of guys who lie at the end of the curve; the "bell end" so to speak. Most of us loiter about the middle, and no amount of supplements or routines can move us up the curve. We is what we is.

[Takmaster]

Musky how does the graph determine the following?

Your current nutritional state?
what is the Y axis and its unit of measure?
Race?
Pharmaceutical intervention?

[Musky]

Tak not exactly sure what you are asking but I will try and answer as best as possible when I have the time. Hopefully later on tonight.

[Al]

Sorry to butt in, but I like graphs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution

Applied to BB potential, the majority of the people will lie in the middle of the graph (in this case, you're stuck where you are on the curve). A few will have Mr Olympia in their sights, while others at the other end will have less than favorable response to exercise.

Applied to RDA, it's a slightly different story in that where you sit depends not only on you as an individual (body makeup) but what you do. Most people will require a similar amount of nutrients, but some will need more (maybe due to the demands of exercise or lack in their diet). The graph doesn't tell you where you are and how much you need, just that there is a variation over the population.

Now Musky can correct me...

[Musky]

Als on the ball here and knows what hes talking about.

The Y axis is simply the amount of people whom that amount is adequate for.
The bell curve can fit anything from from amount of tv watched to the size of the male appendage. The mean will be right in the middle (4 hours, or 5 inches) and there will a similiar distribution each side.

However it doesn't always work with the X axis as the measurement.
As in the graph you use amount of deviation from the mean.

Sorry if you still don't understand where im going with this.

[Takmaster]

Musky im being a little pedantic to be honest but not to your expense , im not a fan of one size fits all graphs especially where physiology is concerned. I prefer to keep to current journals and studies to specific focus groups. Its the world i work and live in, our household is like an episode of House with 2 people constantly questioning everything biology related. We have enough knowledge on this board to get individuals the help they need providing there is a willingness to work.

Al i too have a passion for graphs and am more than willing to share a couple of sexy little Hyperbolas I keep under my bed displaying SEM on values for Peruvian Lama sperm count in none native species .

[Al]

Tak I agree with one of your previous posts: get your nutrients from real food, not out the bottle. After all we evolved to feed ouselves that way. Maybe for those of us who don't always eat their greens, or have to make do with processed foods now and then, supplementation is a bit of a backup. I'm a fan of creatine and couldn't afford (or stomach) the amount of real food needed to boost my intake significantly, so in that case supplementaion is the way to go IMHO. Let's not all get too anal about exact dosages of every XYZ vitamin and mineral out there. Eat clean, train hard, don't do drugs. Nature will do the rest