Supplements for general health. Needed or not? Which ones if yes?

Check if there is VitC in your multivit firstly.

If you have the means, get a blood check to see levels of iron and b12 etc. Then you can go from there.

In terms of quality brands I would try and stay with Irish websites so that at least you know they are approved by the FSAI. Evergreen and thenutritionstore.ie are great ones as they are picky on who they stock.

The big trend at the moment is liposomal supplementation that is much more absorbable than regular supplements that you just pee out! Liquids tend to be better IMO than capsules.

Im a big fan of Ashwaganda at the moment! Its like bloody rocket fuel! Neuro balance is the one I take Floradix Salus Neuro Balance Liquid with Ashwagandha - Evergreen Healthfoods

They're regulated well for safety, but not for efficacy. Vast majority of what is sold in a supplement shop has little or no evidence to support the claims on the packaging. Harmless albeit, but still a bit of a con for the unsuspecting customer.

If they were regulated for effectiveness, they'd probably only be able to sell vitamins and minerals for people with deficiencies, and then the handful of supps that have actually been shown to enhance performance.

I think it’s in most multi-vitamins being such a common one.

Vitamin C is ascorbic acid. Thats the form vit c that occurs naturally.

The d-ascorbic acid is not vitamin C.

Ascorbic acid is not vitamin C.

Alpha tocopherol is not vitamin E

Retinoic acid is not vitamin A.

And so on through the other vitamins. Vast sums of money have been expended to make these myths part of Conventional Wisdom

L ascorbic or d ascorbic = ascorbic acid listed under same molecular formula C6H8O6 hence if I sold d ascorbic under ascorbic acid I have done nothing wrong.

And when you see label clarification VitC (ascorbic acid) that's how you know, hope it helps.

If label says VitC why do you have to clarify under brackets (ascorbic acid or L-ascorbic acid) that's how we know its a synthetic versions of Vitamin C.

Real Vitamin C not the same infact large doses of so called ascorbic acid cause great damage to human health.

The Winter 2009 edition of wise traditions cites 3 studies, which give pause about large doses of synthetic vitamin C. The first study (from the Jun 15, 2001 issue of Science) showed that “synthetic vitamin C may contribute to the formation of genotoxins that can lead to cancer.” A second study presented to the American Heart Association showed a link between consumption of only 500mg of vitamin C per day and a greater propensity toward thickening of the arteries (Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2000).

Even more recently, athletes taking 1000mg of ascorbic acid per day showed reduced endurance capacity from interference with antioxidant enzymes (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Jan 2008).

The term ‘ascorbic acid’ that is on a food label or a supplement fact label indicates that it is manufactured in a laboratory. The sources may be from food, but the standards are low as they need to contain at a minimum 10% plant or fruit derived ingredients. The other 90% could be synthetic.

This means that whenever you see ‘ascorbic acid’ on an ingredient list, it is a synthetic form. When you read the words ‘Vitamin C’ on a label, the best assumption is it means some form of ‘ascorbic acid,’ but they wanted it to sound more natural so that is why they used the term ‘Vitamin C.’ Usually ascorbic acid is derived from genetically modified corn sugar that is hydrogenated and processed with acetone. So not only do you have a synthetic issue, but also a GMO issue as well.

And I wonder why synthetic vitC comes in such large dosage 500-1000mg cheap to manufacture or...?

The question really why syntethic vitamins wont work as good as naturally extracted ? And I don't know the answer do you?

You getting into complicated topic. Ascorbic acids usually called syntethic versions of vitC. On a molecular level seems identical structures in reality syntethic vitC have side effects vs natural no side effects. Hence at the moment personally consider syntethic versions fake/imitation. Hopefully things will change in the future.

Some illegal drugs based of mashroom also keeps your awake for days.