Vitamins health experts take

November 14, 9:51 AMNutrition ExaminerAnnie Kay

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Do supplements enhance our health or just our urine?
(Photo: Dawn Turner)

The supplement industry has had it's share of ups and downs lately. Despite a Herculean effort on the part of vitamin manufacturers to produce science that clearly shows gulping supplements improves health, they just haven't been able to do it.

Earlier this week I posted my nutrition philosophy, and discussed my view of supplement use there. This week, CNN posted a nice piece wherein Dr. Andrew Weil, the great Walter Willett, and others listed the supplements they take and why.

The big winners:

• A multivitamin
• Vitamin D
• CoQ10
• Magnesium

Close contenders:

• Omega-3s
• antioxidants

I thought the experts included were measured and moderate in their philosophies. No mega-vitamin pumping here.

Vitamin D has gotten more attention lately, thanks to the work of Bess Dawson Hughes and others. I tend to get outside quite a bit most seasons, and direct sunlight is a great source of vitamin D. A few weeks ago I tracked my food intake for a couple days on Meals Matter. They have a tracking tool that gives a fairly complete profile if you spend the time to enter your diet - and it's free. I'm happy to say my diet was in overall great shape (yeah) with the exception of vitamin D. I only hit about 25% of the requirement, and in my age bracket, well, that's something to think about. So I've been thinking about looking for a multivitamin with a little more D.

Curious to hear what other take and why.

For another take: Stay healthy with vitamins experts take