Vitamins and Supplements: How Much is Too Much?

There are guidelines for taking reasonable amounts of vitamins, but which is the best and who knows what's best for you? Unlike the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval and indications of pharmaceuticals (prescriptions), neutraceuticals (vitamins and supplements) fall under another category. With vitamins you want to verify if they have received the GMP stamp of approval. This stands for Good Manufacturing Practice and is a real way of knowing if the brand you are consuming has adhered to their practices. Another way of determining the efficacy and quality is through standardized testing conducted by NSF International. What they do is:

• Conduct testing independently through a minimum of three laboratories.
• Duly verify and attach a Certificate of Analysis and a Material Safety Data Sheet.
• Set the bar higher by placing standards for quality and purity of the integrated ingredients.

After Quality, What About Quantity?
Once you know which companies have the highest quality of vitamins and supplements, you need to inform yourself what you need to take. The FDA produced a table listing the the required daily allowance to be taken, based on a 2,000 calories daily intake. There is a comprehensive table outlining the RDA broken down into men, women and children as well as fat soluble vitamins, water soluble vitamins and minerals and others. This can help with quantity consumption but the question of which to take still remains open.

Vitamins for Better Health
The fact that the table mentioned above give values for specific vitamins is a good indicator of which ones may be considered of higher importance than others. However, if you suffer from specific deficiencies or from a particular disease or illness, you may require other supplements in addition to standard vitamins such as a multivitamin, calcium, vitamins A, C, D, and some of the B vitamins. Everyone is different and requires different types and quantities.

What has happened over the years is creation of a need. At times it is a true need since some of the foods eaten today may be nutritionally barren, however, you cannot live your life ingesting 50 to 100 tablets a day. It is best that you speak with a nutritionist and establish what would benefit you personally. You may also want to check out which vitamins come in liquid form as this one of the most efficient delivery systems for prescriptions and neutraceuticals alike. Between your doctor and a knowledgeable nutritional practitioner you can formulate a plan for better health. Please contribute your tips for supplemental good health on Twitter @YourMovingSquad. Moving Squad reviews are created by people like you who want to promote our professional moving company to others just as the FDA promotes ethical pharmaceutical companies and GMP promotes high quality neutraceuticals.