Vitamins/bloodwork

I've notice some talk lately on the main board about discontinuing your vitamins two weeks prior to blood work.  Anyone know the science behind this?  Couldn't it theoretically cause a false low reading?

I have never heard anything like this...and to me, it makes NO sense why someone would do that.

Even my doctor says to take your regular vitamins until you have the blood test. If the labs require a 12 hour fasting, I stop taking them until after the blood work, then take them as soon as I get back home. NO, do not stop taking your vitamins 2 weeks prior to a lab reading, as it will probably reflect some lower levels of vitamins than actually have when taking vitamins on a regular basis. I look at several OH boards daily, and I failed to note the topic of your post. DAVE

Hi Dave,

It's been a couple of weeks and I couldn't get this idea out of my mind.  Can't remember exactly where I saw it but I agreed with you and couldn't for the life of me figure out why any dr. would tell someone that.  The interesting thing was, whoever the original poster was got a few "my dr. said that also" replies.  ????  Confused the heck outta me.

There are some test that require a 3 day fasting from vits. and meds....Iron is one of them and so are other trace elements like zinc and copper.   They can give false readings because they are "artificially" in your blood and in order to see what is really in your body stores (The Ferritin Test), you must fast from Iron and meds for three days for an accurate reading.  Iron supps can show a false high or low...

If you are not sure, call your lab a week before testing and ask...

I find that different places have different protocol...

My surgeon requests us to stop taking vitamins 2 days before your blood is drawn. So far my labs are perfect except I was boarderline on Vit. D so now I take D