Added Goodness - what's your poison?

[Ham]

I've been thinking about this question for a while, and today's Google Doodle is right on point.

My basic attitude is that a good diet doesn't really need supplements. Mrs Ham, by contrast, is a great believer in Taking Something, I'm not entirely sure she is wrong, although she does take six additives and multivitamins daily.

I've been taking Glucosamine and Chronditin for some years now, and because I noticed a significant improvement in joint creakyness, I'm not going back. I eschewed B3, but I've been taking for some months and - where I was getting coldy things quite often - I haven't had a single sniffle develop into a cold, so I'm likely to back that option too, at least for the winter.

I don't think that the additive habit does much if any harm, aside from cost, what's your view?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Gosh! I'd never made the connection before between the name "ascorbic" and scurvy. Thanks for the link!

[Flite]

Daily vitamin D. I'm fair skinned and tend to avoid the sun, not that there is a lot around at the moment.

Veggie diet can be low in Vitamin B12, and I understand that absorption decreases in elderly.
Unexplained tiredness can be a sign of low B12 so I pop an occasional B12 in case.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Vit D because I work long hours inside.

Beer because I'm vegetarian and need my B vitamins.

[rafletcher]

Vitamin D, and beetroot extract (in tablet form).

[ian]

Generally I'm a fan of eat well and let dinner take care of it, but a recent bout of mysterious arthritis resulted in blood tests and the best the GP could come up with was your vitamin D is a bit low. Given it was November in the UK, I wasn't convinced that was a clinically useful finding. Anyway, I started popping some vitamin D. I did get better, but unrelated, it was probably reactive arthritis after a gastrointestinal flu thing.


In for a penny, in for a pound, I also now pop a vitamin C* pill because who wants scurvy and some calcium because my wife is reaching a certain age and has a big bottle of them to chomp through her forthcoming menopause.


*triggered I am, because I am the true discoverer of the biosynthetic pathway for ascorbic acid in higher plants, but I shrugged it off, because I figured some nerdball in the 1800s had already cracked that nut. Then this – although the biosynthetic pathway of L-ascorbic acid in animals is well understood, the plant pathway has remained unknown. There went my publication in Nature.

[Cudzoziemiec]

*triggered I am, because I am the true discoverer of the biosynthetic pathway for ascorbic acid in higher plants, but I shrugged it off, because I figured some nerdball in the 1800s had already cracked that nut. Then this – although the biosynthetic pathway of L-ascorbic acid in animals is well understood, the plant pathway has remained unknown. There went my publication in Nature.

Ninjaed by vodka, you were!

[Wowbagger]

A long tome ago - at least 15 years - my pharmacist bro-in-law drew my attention to a piece in the Lancet about a (iirc) double-blind test on glucosamine and chondroitin with particular regard to the effect on arthritis sufferers. The conclusion was that there was some measurable benefit to taking them.

It’s a longtime ago and I can’t recall a lot else other than to say that b-I-l said it was an unusual test because these things are normally done by Big Pharma to prove the efficacy of something on which they hold a patent, but there are (or so I understand) no patents held by anyone on glucosamine and chondroitin.

[ian]

*triggered I am, because I am the true discoverer of the biosynthetic pathway for ascorbic acid in higher plants, but I shrugged it off, because I figured some nerdball in the 1800s had already cracked that nut. Then this – although the biosynthetic pathway of L-ascorbic acid in animals is well understood, the plant pathway has remained unknown. There went my publication in Nature.

Ninjaed by vodka, you were!

Indeed, credit to Nick for spotting something I didn't. It wasn't anything I was interested in, just a side metabolite that I characterised out of curiosity and came up with L-ascorbic acid, knowledge I discarded because it wasn't of particular interest or utility, I was interested in other side of that reaction which produces a sugar called fucose. I can still talk a lot about fucose. I still don't get invited to many parties.

[Ham]

A long tome ago - at least 15 years - my pharmacist bro-in-law drew my attention to a piece in the Lancet about a (iirc) double-blind test on glucosamine and chondroitin with particular regard to the effect on arthritis sufferers. The conclusion was that there was some measurable benefit to taking them.

It’s a longtime ago and I can’t recall a lot else other than to say that b-I-l said it was an unusual test because these things are normally done by Big Pharma to prove the efficacy of something on which they hold a patent, but there are (or so I understand) no patents held by anyone on glucosamine and chondroitin.

From what I can make out, the jury is very much out for glucosamine, with other tests not showing any benefit. It appears to be one of those where the outcome varies for no known cause. Suck it and see over a period of about 3 months seems the way to go. In my case, the apparent difficulty in knee joints seemed to be ameliorated. Not sure that Mrs Ham whose condition is much worse can point to the same benefit, but it is one of those she take anyhow.

[IanDG]

Magnesium Malate for muscle pain on account of PMR. Vit D too (blood tests have shown me to be deficient)

[sam]

D, due to prompting by my wife, who also takes it. K2 to help the D stick. Used to take B12 in my vegan daze.

[T42]

Caffeine. And multivitamins to placate MrsT.

[hellymedic]

Gosh! I'd never made the connection before between the name "ascorbic" and scurvy. Thanks for the link!

The Olde Name for Vit C was Ascorbutic (= ‘without scurvy') Acid...

[hellymedic]

Big Dose Vitamin D because it was suggested by one of my MS neurologists. Cheaper than chips!
Fish oils - don’t really know why maybe D’s fitness/bodybuilding sites suggested it.

[T42]

Fish oils, yay.  When I was at school there was a mild craze for brewing, using diastatic malt syrup from the chemist's.  The jar a chum got for his first brew was enriched with nourishing cod-liver oil.  Not only that but he tied the corks down too soon and had to explain to his mum why the airing cupboard stank of fish when a couple of bottles burst.

Not sure if he made any more.

[hellymedic]

I was prescribed ‘malt and cod liver oil’ for my chilblains, at around the age of 11.
It was VILE!

I see it’s available in ‘health food’ outlets.
Do Not Like!

https://www.pottersherbals.co.uk/products/malt-extract-with-cod-liver-oil/

[L CC]

I don't take anything now. Glucosamine & chondroitin did nothing for my joints.
Nor did turmeric.
I irregularly go through phases of (home made - have you seen the price of those things!) ginger shots. Mostly because I like it.

[T42]

I was prescribed ‘malt and cod liver oil’ for my chilblains, at around the age of 11.
It was VILE!

My sister would agree, having been dosed with the stuff when we were kids.  Dunno why I wasn't.

I irregularly go through phases of (home made - have you seen the price of those things!) ginger shots. Mostly because I like it.

I used to carry crystallized ginger and mini-salami in my bar bag.  Eating both at once tasted oriental. Dunno why I stopped.

[campagman]

I make milk kefir and drink a mouthful most mornings.

[hellymedic]

Partner HATES yoghurt.
Read somewhere that Kefir is Good For You.

Drinks about 100ml Kefir, twice per day.

[sam]

(click to show/hide)

My wife's. "Love your gut" provides a few laughs, as her gut currently hates her.

[Flite]

I irregularly go through phases of (home made - have you seen the price of those things!) ginger shots. Mostly because I like it.

I don't much like lemon and ginger tea made from teabags, so I make my own.
Grated ginger, grated lemon rind, lemon juice.
Keeps in the fridge for a week or more.
Add hot water and honey to taste.
Gave up on turmeric because of the way it stains everything.

As my fingers get more arthritic, anything grated is liable to have added protein, so I've been looking at lemon and ginger juice, but most of them have preservatives etc.
Biona stock organic lemon juice and ginger juice, no additives, and mixing them together is an easy way to get my fix.

[L CC]

I buy frozen ginger (this is dirt cheap: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/taj-crushed-ginger-400g?) and stick it in the blender with peeled oranges & lemons. If I could get this: https://www.worlddeli.com/products/turmeric? as easily, I'd add that too.

[Flite]

Never thought to look for frozen ginger!
Thanks