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Comment by jbb555 | Hacker News Reader

I wish there were small supplements that contained maybe 10-20% of the recommended amounts of things. I eat reasonably well. Most of the time. So I probably get enough of most of the vitamins and minerals. But I'm sure some I get more than others so a small boost might help overall.

But I don't want to take one of the multivitimins that has 100% of everything in, that just ensures that I have way too much of some things.

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> "... that just ensures that I have way too much of some things."

That only matters if the body cannot quickly flush or discard the things it doesn't need. It's probably different for each type of supplement. As a supporting example, it would be quite difficult to drink too much water as there's an easy mechanism to deal with it [1].

[1] Before anyone leaps on that statement, yes, I'm aware that it is possible to overdose on water. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

Vitamin A and D are more problematic because they are fat-soluble and the excess can’t be flushed away in pee. Other vitamins, like vitamin C, are water-soluble so a little excess is not so bad, but IANAMD. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10...

In fact, last time I looked into multivitamins, most have "megadoses" of nutrients - doses far in excess of the DRV. Either because it's easier for the manufacturer to produce that way, or because 1000% of something sounds better to a layperson than 100%. The major advertised brands like Centrum are especially guilty of this and the generics copy to look equivalent.

To even get a multivitamin with only 80-100% of DRV max, you have to look for a "mature" multivitamin, usually labeled as age 50+ - 60+.

I don't have a varied or complete diet, so I take a mature multivitamin - Kirkland (Costco house brand) Mature Multi, well reviewed in Consumer Reports and elsewhere when I looked into vitamins. And really cheap, as low as $10 for a 400 count bottle.

If you're really interested in less than 100%, most ought to be easy to split in half with a pill splitter.

Split pills in half. Or just take them every couple days, instead of everyday.

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