Vitamin Supplements

There are always a number of conflicting opinions about the use and usefulness of vitamins in improving athletic performance. Trials in this country have shown that there is no difference in results between athletes taking vitamins as supplements and those who rely on a healthy diet to supply all they need. Most athletes have enormous personal discipline and they apply this to their eating habits as well as to their training. They choose the diet that is right for them and then they stick to it.

If an athlete does decide to try vitamins it is not always easy to find out which are considered best, or why they are best; and there are always plenty of myths and old wives’ tales to contend with. Read the rest of this entry »

Some medical drugs can alter the normal metabolic rate in the body. We have already looked at one of these, the oral contraceptive pill, but there are many others which we may have to take for various reasons and it can be helpful to know how some of these may affect our vitamins and mineral balance. Doctors often prescribe extra vitamins with the drugs or they may be incorporated into the one single tablet. One of the drugs used to cure tuberculosis, isoniazid, tends to speed up the reactions which need pyridoxine as a coenzyme. Addition of this vitamin during the treatment can help to prevent any deficiency. Some of the oral drugs used to control diabetes can destroy vitamin B12 and interfere with its absorption from the gut into the bloodstream. Read the rest of this entry »