Question:
How long should you wait between taking vitamines?

Does anyone know the MINIMUM amount of time you should wait between taking iron and calcium? How about between taking 2 doses of calcium? Thanks for any insight! -Kim    — KimBo36 (posted on November 27, 2001)

November 26, 2001
Iron shouldn't be taken with dairy, antibiotics or caffeine. I personally take my iron and calcium at least 4 hours apart. Iron should be elemental (not ferrous sulfate). You can take iron with non-dairy, decaffinated food or drink. Calcium should either contain Vitamin D or you should be taking a seperate Vitamin D supplement. Calcium can't be absorbed without vitamin D in your system. Also, I only take calcium in 500 mg incriments per day (i get 1500 daily); calcium is best absorbed at night so make sure calcium is your last vitamin at night. As soon as I started living by these rules, I found my vitamin regimen much easier. Also, a key you're not absorbing iron would be tar-like feces.
   — [Anonymous]