This is a very popular area with scammers, cranks and the deluded.
On both sides.
but there is also excellent reason for caution with regard to any claims you might hear about micronutrient supplementation.
I’ll note that the caution here, as is so often the case, is with respect to people given (or who themselves decide to take) toxic levels of vitamins A and E. Yes, overdosing on most fat soluble vitamins is a terrible idea. Also, don’t drink mercury.
I’d be interested in seeing any properly blinded and controlled studies that show that micronutrient intake over the daily requirements has meaningful benefits
What are these “daily requirements” that you speak of? The numbers you read on the back of the cereal packet? … But before I get distracted by that can of worms I’ll remind myself that the matter discussed was not regarding higher-than-RDA level vitamin consumption. The claim that Solvent made (then wisely recanted) was that we shouldn’t consume any minerals from supplements. Your breakfast cereal and meat sandwich diet claim was along these lines too.
While I do happen to assert that for certain vitamins (most notably D and much of the B group) the RDI is poorly calibrated the potential for improvement there is comparatively small. The low hanging fruit (so to speak) is in correcting the all too common chronic but mild deficiencies that even the RDI can tell you are way off.
On both sides.
I’ll note that the caution here, as is so often the case, is with respect to people given (or who themselves decide to take) toxic levels of vitamins A and E. Yes, overdosing on most fat soluble vitamins is a terrible idea. Also, don’t drink mercury.
What are these “daily requirements” that you speak of? The numbers you read on the back of the cereal packet? … But before I get distracted by that can of worms I’ll remind myself that the matter discussed was not regarding higher-than-RDA level vitamin consumption. The claim that Solvent made (then wisely recanted) was that we shouldn’t consume any minerals from supplements. Your breakfast cereal and meat sandwich diet claim was along these lines too.
While I do happen to assert that for certain vitamins (most notably D and much of the B group) the RDI is poorly calibrated the potential for improvement there is comparatively small. The low hanging fruit (so to speak) is in correcting the all too common chronic but mild deficiencies that even the RDI can tell you are way off.