Intermediate/Advanced Level Vit Questions

1) What is max dosage of Vit A that can be absorbed at once? Vitamin Lady splits the 100,000 IU into 3 doses.

2) What is max iron that can be absorbed at once? Vitamin Lady has all 300 mg at once? Can we take more if needed?

3) Does it matter if you take mag citrate or mag oxide daily? I see most people take mag citrate, but mag oxide is recommended for constipation.

4) Does anyone know of any problems using chewable calcium and multi-vit?

5) Are all D3 sublinguals red like Vitalady's? I feel like a kid who took the tablets to see how much plaque was left on your teeth after brushing.

6) I know you can't take iron and calcium together. Are there restrictions with zinc and copper?

7) For the people who take 1600-2000 (8-10 doses) of calcium during the day. How do you fit that in 2 hours apart plus iron?

some answers based on my research and experience....

1.  I am not aware of any maximum, but logic supports spreading out the larger amounts to maximize absorption.  I take two 25,000 vitamin A as part of two separate doses

3 - mag citrate helps calcium absorption and bone health.  Take with the calcium citrate.  Mag oxide can help if you are constipated.  Not a problem for me so I don't take it

4.   Chewables tend to be costlier than normal pills.   Once you have taken vits for a while, you'll find you can take a handful all at once.....no need to pay extra for chewables.  I buy my calcium citrate and multis from Costco.  Chewables also often have extra sugars and carbs that you don't need

6 - zinc and copper work against each other, so do not take together.  Also, do not take with iron.  I have seen some folks take the zinc and copper on alternate days as a way to get all their doses in

7 - you can take 500-600 mg of calcium in a single dose, so your 2000 mg per day could be done over 4 doses, rather than 10.  I take five doses with 630 mg (2 horsepills of 315 each) to reach my target of 3000 mg per day

I only know the answers to 5 & 7:

5) My dry vitamin D3-50s are not sublingual. They are from BioTech: http://www.biotechpharmacal.com/catalog/d3-50-50000-iu/

7) I take 2,000 mg of calcium citrate per day (500 mg per dose). One at 7:30am, one at 11:30am, one at 2:00pm, and one at 5:00pm. I take my iron at 9:00pm.

For question #2, once i got my 6 month labs, and saw that my iron was lower than at 3 months despite doing VitaLady, I increased from 5 of her orange iron pills to 6 (360 mg), and voila, I was feeling more energy.  So to answer that question, yes, we can take more if needed, if you tolerate it ok.  I wouldn't jump up too much too quickly.

2)  I've taken more iron than her 5 orange pills, but not at the same time. I add some HEME iron from Biotech (love this stuff cause I can take it with any kind of foods).  I know what you mean when you break up the calciums, and then try to get the irons in, it seems like I'm popping pills every 2 hours all day long!  So I wear a cheap watch that has an alarm on it.  I try to get all the calciums (1,000 mg a dose plus a magnesium to stop the consipation) 4 times a day, starting with my morning coffee.  Then the iron at night before bed time.

I don't take the iron with eggs, coffee, dairy, other vits really = anything but meat for at least 2 hours before I take the iron.  Then nothing but meat/fish for 2 hours after I take the iron.  This is why I take them at bed time because I always seem to be drinking coffee or slurping dairy all day long.

3.  Mag citrate is easier to absorb.

4.  I use a chewable C that I take right after my iron to help with iron absorbsion.  It kinda kills the icky taste I get when I take those 5 orange iron pills.

 

You can take heme iron with dairy?

I have been doing it.  Somewhere else I read that HEME iron could be taken with anything...  And I think Gina takes it with other vits or dairy.... 

The Biotech web site didn't say anything about it either.  I searched all over that site for info like this.

Oh well, we will see if it works or not when I get my labs done in a couple of months.

Cool, I'll ask my hematologist if I can get something like that when I see him next month.

The rumor is you can take Proferrin with other things such as calcium. I don't trust the rumor and only take it with my sleeping potion and Zantac at bed time. I want to get the biggest bang for my buck so I try not to take things that would weaken the chances I have to absorb it.

--gina

I don't take anything with calcium, but I have taken HEME with dairy or coffee and haven't seen a dip in my numbers.  I take it with any food I happen to be eating. 

Or if I am eating, and behind in my vits for the day, I will take the HEME instead of the orange Vitalady pills just to stay on track for the day.