Premeds: What supplements do you take?

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majahops

majahops

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Fellow premed crazies,

Do you take any OTC supplements (vitamins or otherwise)? If so, which ones?

It's always bothered me that there's no way to get objective information on which supplements are actually beneficial. I realize the reasons why the funds aren't there to do the necessary controlled research (namely, that big pharm won't make any money off of them even if they are found to be effective, because they are OTC)... but it's still a shame. Because on the one hand I totally buy the plausibility of their efficacy, but at the same time I'm a data-driven man... I rely on hard evidence to make decisions...

I personally take only a multi-vitamin and Fish Oil, since there seems to be overwhelming evidence of its benefit. (Yes, I know about the Omega 3:6:9 ratio stuff, no need to mention it here).

I also realize that the ideal situation would be having a diet rich in all of the ingredients we might turn to supplements for. No need to mention that either.

I just want to know what supplements any of you take, or at least believe to be beneficial, if any?
 
I suppliment with creatine, calcium, protein, fish oil, multivitamin, vit. C, and glutamine.
 
This is exactly the type of response I was looking for. None of the ideological babble that typically ensues on here. Thanks so much man!

Med Addict said:
I suppliment with creatine, calcium, protein, fish oil, multivitamin, vit. C, and glutamine.
Click to expand...
 
Flintstone vitamins
 
My supplements consist of a daily dose of Panda Express or Subway. Gosh, I wish there was a bigger variety of fast-food around my workplace.
 
Whey, multi, creatine, and when I don't mind the stinky burps, fish oil.

Has anyone used those Greens+ pills or added the powderized veggies to your shakes? Keeping produce in a dorm is pretty impossible, so I was considering trying out something of that nature.
 
Right now only Flinstone Sour Gummy Vitamins. I used to take creatine (pills) and protein until my football elegibility ran out, hence I spent all winter break working off needless bulk (and glorious squat-arse). Also, caffeine, it counts as a supplement to me.
 
Last edited:
Brodiewankenobi said:
Ten million strong and growing!

I only take bam bam and fred. STAY away from the great gazoo and wilma as they have been linked to cancer
Click to expand...

If you concentrate really really hard the great gazoo grants you the power of levitation.
 
No one takes Centrum Multivitamins? I take that occasionally. For fun. I thought they were very common.
 
Multivitamin
CoQ 10
Grape seed/skin (for polyphenols and resveratrol)
B complex
Fish Oil 3x a day
Udo's Oil thrown in my protein shakes (a perfect blend of EFA's)
Vit E
2-3g vitamin C
Zinc/Magnesium aspartate before bed

Melatonin occasionally to sleep

Around workouts..

BCAAs and maybe some arginine
Beta Alanine (precursor to carnosine)
Whey protein after lol
 
Which of these are you absolutely convinced deliver a benefit to you, if any?

Alaska21 said:
Multivitamin
CoQ 10
Grape seed/skin (for polyphenols and resveratrol)
B complex
Fish Oil 3x a day
Udo's Oil thrown in my protein shakes (a perfect blend of EFA's)
Vit E
2-3g vitamin C
Zinc/Magnesium aspartate before bed

Melatonin occasionally to sleep

Around workouts..

BCAAs and maybe some arginine
Beta Alanine (precursor to carnosine)
Whey protein after lol
Click to expand...
 
fizzle said:
No one takes Centrum Multivitamins? I take that occasionally. For fun. I thought they were very common.
Click to expand...

i've heard nurses refer to them as bed pan bullets... they come out the other way just the way you swallowed them because their absorption rate is so low...

I've enclosed a PDF file that might interest some of you... i don't know anything about the validity of the results (or even if they're biased), but it might help...

look at the centrum's results 😀
 

Attachments

majahops said:
It's always bothered me that there's no way to get objective information on which supplements are actually beneficial. I realize the reasons why the funds aren't there to do the necessary controlled research (namely, that big pharm won't make any money off of them even if they are found to be effective, because they are OTC)... but it's still a shame. Because on the one hand I totally buy the plausibility of their efficacy, but at the same time I'm a data-driven man... I rely on hard evidence to make decisions...
Click to expand...

Have you ever been on pub med before lol..

There are 1000's of highly regarded journal articles on supplements...I don't know what you're talking about!
 
Well on the order of every day supplements, i had been taking mens health vitamin packs (has like 6 diff vitamins in it), but i ran out and i to lazy to buy another bundle, ha. For the rest depends on if you are working out or not, i do, so I take Muscle Milk, which i have found to be the best in the way of gains etc. Then i have taken some other workout supplements, (NO Explode, Black Powder, Vapor). Then i took arson to try and loose some fat, haha, but for advice, i wouldnt recommend it. It felt like my organs were going to quit, its like 3 pills twice a day each w/ 200 mg of caffeine. BLAH:scared:
 
DrGonz said:
Well on the order of every day supplements, i had been taking mens health vitamin packs (has like 6 diff vitamins in it), but i ran out and i to lazy to buy another bundle, ha. For the rest depends on if you are working out or not, i do, so I take Muscle Milk, which i have found to be the best in the way of gains etc. Then i have taken some other workout supplements, (NO Explode, Black Powder, Vapor). Then i took arson to try and loose some fat, haha, but for advice, i wouldnt recommend it. It felt like my organs were going to quit, its like 3 pills twice a day each w/ 200 mg of caffeine. BLAH:scared:
Click to expand...

Muscle milk is just casein and medium chain triglyercerides. 80% of milk protein is casein anyways...I mean Muscle Milk is ok..its equal to normal milk at least. It's ridiculously over priced.

Muscle milk and No-xplode is the classic "kid stack" that people take because the ads are deceiving.

Here is why I'm anti no-xplode/black powder/vapor. It has caffeine..A LOT, which is a vasoconstricter. The whole point of these products are to increase nitric oxide..yet the negate the vasodilating effects of Arginine by putting in vasoconstricters? Why? Without caffeine you will feel nothing...you'll get great results but you won't feel that quick boost. I personally just take pure arginine because of this...some supplement companies piss me off because they take advantage of un-educated kids
 
Centrum multivitamin + fish oil + caffiene
I take st. john's wart when I need to improve my mood (rarely). It works!

Here is why I'm anti no-xplode/black powder/vapor. It has caffeine..A LOT, which is a vasoconstricter. The whole point of these products are to increase nitric oxide..yet the negate the vasodilating effects of Arginine by putting in vasoconstricters? Why? Without caffeine you will feel nothing...you'll get great results but you won't feel that quick boost. I personally just take pure arginine because of this...some supplement companies piss me off because they take advantage of un-educated kids
Click to expand...

This makes sense, but at the same time, I know people who swear by NO-Xplode (and they have the results to prove it).
 
Right, but there isn't any community consensus on the efficacy of supplements - the type that comes from huge double-blind placebo's - but just a bunch of isolated trials and reports.

Alaska21 said:
Have you ever been on pub med before lol..

There are 1000's of highly regarded journal articles on supplements...I don't know what you're talking about!
Click to expand...
 
majahops said:
Right, but there isn't any community consensus on the efficacy of supplements - the type that comes from huge double-blind placebo's - but just a bunch of isolated trials and reports.
Click to expand...

You need to be a little more specific...

Take leucine supplementation for example. There are 1000's of studies. Some focus on the molecular pathway of protein synthesis activation, others are double blind studies where athletes had muscle biopsies taken. There were also dozens of tests on rats. There is a a huge wealth of evidence that leucine supplementation increases protein synthesis....

A lot of supps do not have this much research, but supps such as fish oil, grape seed, coQ10, Vit C etc have been researched do death..I don't get your point still sorry man
 
If you don't get my point, then that's okay. I'm hopeful that plenty of people DO, but if not, that's okay too.

I frequent pubmed and am aware of the plethora of articles published on different supplements (published on everything under the moon, really)...

But what I wanted was a sense of whether, for human beings in a boat similar to myself, any particular supplements seemed to noticeably "work" (roughly defined) for them. Not to say that that is worth more.... ahhh you know what, I promised myself I wouldn't get baited into this type of crap.

Thanks for your contributions.

Alaska21 said:
You need to be a little more specific...

Take leucine supplementation for example. There are 1000's of studies. Some focus on the molecular pathway of protein synthesis activation, others are double blind studies where athletes had muscle biopsies taken. There were also dozens of tests on rats. There is a a huge wealth of evidence that leucine supplementation increases protein synthesis....

A lot of supps do not have this much research, but supps such as fish oil, grape seed, coQ10, Vit C etc have been researched do death..I don't get your point still sorry man
Click to expand...
 
I dunno if anything really works to stimulate the mind or improve mental acuity or anything. Never tried. I just take a multivitamin cuz my diet is so deprived of healthy things, and I use whey protein + creatine for muscle building for rowing.

As far as what works....protein and creatine definitely work....but i mean, that's just for working out......
 
majahops said:
But what I wanted was a sense of whether, for human beings in a boat similar to myself, any particular supplements seemed to noticeably "work"
Click to expand...

St. John's Wart causes a noticeable improvement of your mood. It is only availible by prescription in some countries.
 
majahops said:
If you don't get my point, then that's okay. I'm hopeful that plenty of people DO, but if not, that's okay too.

I frequent pubmed and am aware of the plethora of articles published on different supplements (published on everything under the moon, really)...

But what I wanted was a sense of whether, for human beings in a boat similar to myself, any particular supplements seemed to noticeably "work" (roughly defined) for them. Not to say that that is worth more.... ahhh you know what, I promised myself I wouldn't get baited into this type of crap.

Thanks for your contributions.
Click to expand...

No I get that and its why I listed all the supplements I take.

Realize that medical/scientific journals will be more accurate though...people are ridiculous with supplements in general. An older guy at school claimed he took a grape seed pill and instantly got a buzz off of it..impossible and a great example of the placebo effect. Another guy I know claims creatine makes him angry and aggressive..another idiotic claim.

I feel muscle biopsies and molecular research and more significant than random people getting placebo effects honestly.
 
majahops said:
But what I wanted was a sense of whether, for human beings in a boat similar to myself, any particular supplements seemed to noticeably "work" (roughly defined) for them. Not to say that that is worth more.... ahhh you know what, I promised myself I wouldn't get baited into this type of crap.
Click to expand...
You rate subjective case studies over reasonably controlled experimentation where N>1?

I'm with Alaska on this one. Even most protein powders now supplement the standard BCAA proportion, and it's not because of anecdotes.
 
I take:
multi + greens + Omega-3 combo (omega is plant-based; fish oil gives me heartburn)
CoQ10
MSM/glucosamine/hyaluronic acid combo
DMAE/alpha-lipoic acid/vitamin C combo
sublingual B complex

I think they're working--the other day, my hubby told me his friend mistook me for our oldest (college-age) daughter. I'm 40, btw. No wrinkles yet...:xf:
 
What I'm finding here is that, at least among those who have chosen to respond in this forum, there are a lot of you who regularly lift weights (inferred by the use of whey and other protein supplements).

In a way, I wish I knew how to reserve the time to do this for myself. It just never seems to make the cut off of priorities for me in the day. In fact, sleeping or playing with my dog usually tops them. What makes you guys keep lifting weights regularly? I mean, I did when I played football... and I've tried to start back up several times since then, but each time I find myself asking "why am I doing this?"
 
I definitely don't rate them over controlled experimentation. I've read through pubmed and I don't feel like I've got a good idea for whether a given supplement will be of benefit to ME. My asking in this forum is just an attempt to gain one more source of input on the matter.

Damn, no matter how hard you try, there are always going to be people who want to argue with you or point out some reason for why the questions your asking aren't the "right" ones.

Please, stop. DON'T... BE ... THAT ... GUY!

schismal said:
You rate subjective case studies over reasonably controlled experimentation where N>1?

I'm with Alaska on this one. Even most protein powders now supplement the standard BCAA proportion, and it's not because of anecdotes.
Click to expand...
 
majahops said:
What makes you guys keep lifting weights regularly?
Click to expand...

Working out relieves stress for me. That's pretty much it.

The supplements are just there to get some better results, but if they don't work, then no big deal.

Edit: Preparing for Medical School works out my mind. Lifting weights and running works out my body. =]
 
majahops said:
...What makes you guys keep lifting weights regularly? ... each time I find myself asking "why am I doing this?"
Click to expand...
It really helps if you get an exercise buddy. Someone else to push you.
I know you probably know that much though.
But I speak from experience...when I joined some swimming, cycling, running clubs; I found my diligence to keep training was much better than when I was going solo.
 
majahops said:
What I'm finding here is that, at least among those who have chosen to respond in this forum, there are a lot of you who regularly lift weights (inferred by the use of whey and other protein supplements).

In a way, I wish I knew how to reserve the time to do this for myself. It just never seems to make the cut off of priorities for me in the day. In fact, sleeping or playing with my dog usually tops them. What makes you guys keep lifting weights regularly? I mean, I did when I played football... and I've tried to start back up several times since then, but each time I find myself asking "why am I doing this?"
Click to expand...

This is a good point and I feel your pain- as much as I am into the gym its HARD to stay on a strict schedule. There's a few reasons I go to the gym 5-6 days a week.

1) Bodybuilding/Stay in Shape
2) Overall health, physical and mental
3) Don't want to be out of shape when I'm at my physical prime!


Try shorter workouts maybe? Like train your whole body 3x a week in 45 min sessions? You know just do like 3-4 sets of chest, 3-4 sets of back, etc. Shouldn't take too long and you'd only have to lift 45 mins. Then on other days just do a 30 min jog or so...won't even take an hour a day! Good luck
 
1) Creatine had the same effect on me when I was playing football and taking it, so I stopped and it went away. Placebo? Maybe. Did I have any reason to expect it, given that I hadn't even had Introductory Biology at the time and had no idea about it's mechanism? No.

2) I take the subjective reports of people who tend to be interested in objective measures with more credibility than those from people who tend to place prime value on subjective reports. This is why I'm asking premeds instead of asking on some conspiratualist/hippy-filled "vitaminsarelife.com" forum. STILL, I realize the very limited value of subjective reports. Thank you.

Alaska21 said:
No I get that and its why I listed all the supplements I take.

Realize that medical/scientific journals will be more accurate though...people are ridiculous with supplements in general. An older guy at school claimed he took a grape seed pill and instantly got a buzz off of it..impossible and a great example of the placebo effect. Another guy I know claims creatine makes him angry and aggressive..another idiotic claim.

I feel muscle biopsies and molecular research and more significant than random people getting placebo effects honestly.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Oh whey protein works. There's no doubt about that. It works.

Med Addict said:
Working out relieves stress for me. That's pretty much it.

The supplements are just there to get some better results, but if they don't work, then no big deal.
Click to expand...
 
Alaska21 said:
Multivitamin
CoQ 10
Grape seed/skin (for polyphenols and resveratrol)
B complex
Fish Oil 3x a day
Udo's Oil thrown in my protein shakes (a perfect blend of EFA's)
Vit E
2-3g vitamin C
Zinc/Magnesium aspartate before bed

Melatonin occasionally to sleep

Around workouts..

BCAAs and maybe some arginine
Beta Alanine (precursor to carnosine)
Whey protein after lol
Click to expand...

Woah, that's pretty sophisticated, I don't even know what half of those are. But then again Alaska gets some serious results so I'm not gonna question it. I have always been somewhat opposed to multivitamins and stuff like that myself I did not know their use was so common.

I personally do caffeine (1-2 cups coffee/day), whey protein after workouts, and vitamin C (2 servings of fortified drink/day)
-Roy
 
majahops said:
Fellow premed crazies,

Do you take any OTC supplements (vitamins or otherwise)? If so, which ones?

It's always bothered me that there's no way to get objective information on which supplements are actually beneficial. I realize the reasons why the funds aren't there to do the necessary controlled research (namely, that big pharm won't make any money off of them even if they are found to be effective, because they are OTC)... but it's still a shame. Because on the one hand I totally buy the plausibility of their efficacy, but at the same time I'm a data-driven man... I rely on hard evidence to make decisions...

I personally take only a multi-vitamin and Fish Oil, since there seems to be overwhelming evidence of its benefit. (Yes, I know about the Omega 3:6:9 ratio stuff, no need to mention it here).

I also realize that the ideal situation would be having a diet rich in all of the ingredients we might turn to supplements for. No need to mention that either.

I just want to know what supplements any of you take, or at least believe to be beneficial, if any?
Click to expand...

I take fish oil sometimes. Also eat omega 3 enriched eggs, flax plus cereal, drink almond milk (takes care of getting zinc, etc.), soy milk. Oh, and also drink lots and lots of tea- green, black, white, everything. So not quite what you asked 😉 but they're cheaper than the supplements themselves and not hard to get.
 
No, no, this totally IS relevant to what I asked. Thanks a bunch!

unsung said:
I take fish oil sometimes. Also eat omega 3 enriched eggs, flax plus cereal, drink almond milk (takes care of getting zinc, etc.), soy milk. Oh, and also drink lots and lots of tea- green, black, white, everything. So not quite what you asked 😉 but they're cheaper than the supplements themselves and not hard to get.
Click to expand...
 
majahops said:
What I'm finding here is that, at least among those who have chosen to respond in this forum, there are a lot of you who regularly lift weights (inferred by the use of whey and other protein supplements).

In a way, I wish I knew how to reserve the time to do this for myself. It just never seems to make the cut off of priorities for me in the day. In fact, sleeping or playing with my dog usually tops them. What makes you guys keep lifting weights regularly? I mean, I did when I played football... and I've tried to start back up several times since then, but each time I find myself asking "why am I doing this?"
Click to expand...

You can't really be into it just for the results, you actually have to enjoy lifting. If you enjoy lifting itself you will make time for it. It's hard to explain but I enjoy the challenge and afterwards I always feel supremely confident and powerful during and afterwards--even though I'm not very strong.
-Roy
 
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