Ive taken a multi-vitamin for a very long time but recently Ive been looking more into the quality of the vitamins and supplements and which ones, if any, should I be taking.
Last year I was diagnosed as having gout. I had some mobility issues after I started a fast and so I went to the doctor to see if I was in any danger and the resulting blood test showed my uric acid elevated (actually, just a tenth outside of the accepted limits). So I started looking at and taken a few additional supplements to address this (tart cherry extract and so forth. Supplements there were reported to help you metabolize uric acid and reduce inflammation). Well come to find out the issue was not gout. I learned Uric Acid spikes from fasting and while I did experience some issues from the fasting due to that, the rest of my mobility issues were related to my shoes. Poor arch support and support in general.
Well all that said to say this. I started looking more into supplements as a preventative maintenance thing. I absolutely love vegetables and I eat very little red meat. I eat mostly fish, turkey and chicken. But I want to do more. The problem is if I were to take everything that is 'recommended' or the new 'hot' supplement Id have a full belly on pills, and that doesnt even get into the quality and efficacy points.
Ive been buying my supplements from Swanson Vitamins simply because I just dont know anything about the quality of the supplements you get off the shelf in the store. But even so, how does one determine one multi-vitamin or other supplement is a quality one? Additionally, how do I know which to take. There's multi-vitamins, joint supplements (Glucosomine, Eggshell membrane, Type II Chicken Cologen, etc), brain supplements, heart supplements (CoQ10, Ubiquinol, etc), prostate supplements and lets not even get into the amino acids and so forth and heaven forbid you throw in absorption rates and so on.
So how does one determine which supplements are a quality product? Then, how does one determine which supplements need to be taken? Some of these products are quite expensive and while I dont mind spending the money, I do want to make sure that Im taking something that is effective and something I need to be taking. Beyond that, to confuse the matter further, theres also the issue of interactions. Does one supplement reduce the effect of another and what, if any, ill effects are there from taking certain combination's.
Anyway, sorry to write a book but Im at a point that there is an overload of information and little to none of it seems to have any basis in fact or research and I just want to cut through the clutter and do whats best.