NB "The article turned out to be lengthy, so I've conditionally divided it into two chapters—an introduction and the practical essence. Those who are impatient can jump straight to the second chapter, but I would still recommend reading it in its entirety to form a more complete understanding of the topic."
I. Introduction
Today we continue our crusade against sports nutrition, specifically targeting those representatives that may prove to be not only useless, but what's more repulsive, actually harmful to each of our health.
We'll be talking about "sports vitamins," the consumption of which has long become not just an everyday matter, but a vital necessity for every training person who wants to not only be big and strong, but also feel great and of course be healthy. Well, it's hard to blame any of us for such a simple desire, if not for one thing... horse-sized dosages. Yes, you heard that right, and I'm sure you've observed this yourselves more than once on the back of an attractive jar, simply not paying much attention to it. The irony is that these dosages couldn't be something to be proud of or show to people at all (due to the intentional harm, which we'll discuss below), if not for the vitally important necessity of competing with pharmaceutical companies that produce vitamin-mineral complexes in adequate, healthy dosages. It's all simple here. The vitamin sales niche was long ago and historically occupied by official medicine, unlike all sorts of gainers and creatines, and somehow money needed to be made from mainstream enthusiasts. They didn't have to think long about the solution, and "sports vitamin" dosages were raised like rocket carriers far beyond the stratosphere, threatening to shoot down at least several Chinese satellites along the way. Naturally, all this outrage was motivated by the needs of the athletic body. For a simple amateur iron-pusher, this argument was already more than sufficient, as the love of attributing oneself to the divine caste did its work. It was unseemly for the heirs of Olympic gods to drink vitamins for mere mortals. The desire to undermine health from the "demand" side, and the desire to make money from the "supply" side merged into a single ecstasy of indescribable stupidity and money-shaking from the latter to the former. But let's take everything in order.
Let's start by clarifying several key terms and getting better acquainted with the nature of vitamins themselves.
Vitamins are essential nutritional factors that are present in small quantities in food and ensure the normal development of animal and human organisms, as well as adequate rates of biochemical and physiological processes.
From this definition, we can conclude that vitamins are essential substances, meaning they enter our organism from external sources, while we can add that they possess no energetic value (are not absorbed as food), and most importantly, they influence the rate of biochemical and, consequently, physiological processes. It's worth dwelling on this last assertion in more detail, if only for general education. The fact is that academician Zelinsky, back in 1922, proved that vitamins regulate metabolism not directly, but indirectly, through enzymatic systems of which they are components. To put it simply, in the presence of vitamins, biochemical reactions proceed normally, but without them they are simply impossible, which is why death is inevitable with prolonged avitaminosis (a simple example being scurvy among sailors). This educational overview is important for understanding one simple truth—vitamins are not a protein shake that I can drink or not drink as I please, or gulp down like a maniac, then go to the bathroom and everything will be fine. No, these are complex organic substances that possess side effects when overdosed, similar to medicinal drugs, and no less frightening side effects when deficient in the organism.
A few more terms:
Hypovitaminosis - insufficient intake of vitamins into the organism.
Avitaminosis - complete absence of vitamin intake.
Hypervitaminosis - excessive intake of vitamins.
Thanks to the rationalization of nutrition over the last century, cases of alimentary avitaminosis (non-intake from food) can only be "boasted of" by perhaps the poorest countries of Africa. And hypovitaminosis itself occurs perhaps only during the winter-spring period, when consumption of available fruits and vegetables decreases, and the nature of nutrition becomes more monotonous. But the real scourge of modern society has become, of course, not the troubles of African republics, but a problem of a completely different nature, which can be described by the simple folk expression - "going mad from excess." We're talking, of course, about hypervitaminosis, and about "sports vitamins" as the root of evil, in particular.But with all this, the reader has a natural question: "So does an athlete need to take additional vitamins at all?" - both yes and no. Let me explain. Simply put, with an excellently selected, diverse diet, additional vitamin intake is not needed at all, but if you're not confident in your dietary plan, then it's worth paying attention to ordinary pharmacy vitamin supplements, like the same "Complivit." The dosages of such vitamin complexes are selected partially equal to the daily norm, and partially even lower, which allows you to make up for this deficiency from food (don't forget that besides vitamin pills, we also actually eat food, which also contains quite a few of them). Only thanks to this can we obtain the full spectrum of vitamins without the risk of hypervitaminosis, not even mentioning the elementary saving of money and preservation of health. Well, and so as not to be unfounded, we will now conduct a comparative analysis using the example of vitamin A from the popular vitamin complexes from Optimum Nutrition "Opti-men" and "Opti-women".
II. Practical Essence
Vitamin A (retinol) is a fat-soluble vitamin. Vitamin A was first isolated from carrots, which is why the name of the vitamin A group—carotenoids—comes from the English word "carrot." The most well-known carotenoid is β-carotene. It is a provitamin of vitamin A (in the liver it converts to vitamin A through oxidative cleavage). Its daily dosage is within the range of 2-5mg β-carotene (on average 2.7 mg of pure powder), or the more common form of notation in international units—3300 IU. Let's first understand what problems vitamin A hypervitaminosis can cause us.
With vitamin A overdose, the following may be observed: abdominal pain; delayed menstruation; enlargement of liver and spleen; gastrointestinal disorders; hair loss; itching; joint pain; nausea; vomiting; small cracks on lips and corners of the mouth.
With chronic vitamin A hypervitaminosis, the following is observed:
- dryness and pigmentation of skin, hair loss, nail brittleness;
- pain in joints and bones, diffuse bone thickening;
- enlargement of liver and spleen, dyspeptic phenomena.
Vitamin A can be very dangerous for women wishing to become pregnant or who are already pregnant, as vitamin A has a teratogenic effect—that is, due to excessive accumulation in the body, it can cause fetal developmental pathologies and various deformities. Lock this into your memory, as there will be some shocking information soon.
Now let's turn our attention to the vitamin A dosage in the extremely popular Opti-men complex. We see that the recommended dosage equals 10,000 IU, which corresponds to 200% of the daily norm. The attentive reader will notice that I previously indicated a daily dosage of 3300 IU, but following the logic of the Opti-men label, the daily dosage should equal 5000 IU (100% of the daily norm, if we believe ON). Why such a discrepancy, have you ever wondered? The answer is just as simple, but no less interesting for that. The fact is that human need for vitamin A differs depending on the climatic conditions in which a person lives. In cold climates the need doesn't change, but the hotter the climate, the more sunny it is, the more vitamin A the body needs. This is precisely why absolutely all vitamin complexes originating from the magical land of America are adjusted for local residents and the healthcare framework of that same country. What for an American is 10,000 IU—200% of the daily norm—for us is already 300%. Don't forget that you also don't stop eating, and this will already be 350-400% of the daily norm. Believe me, even the most intensively training athlete doesn't need dosages designed for a small horse weighing 400kg.
And now for the frightening part. We already know that vitamin A has a cumulative effect, and in pregnant women, under conditions of hypervitaminosis, it can disrupt fetal development, up to the formation of developmental deformities. Even the bastard marketers understand that if monsters start being born after their vitamins, their fly-by-night operation won't last long, so what does ON do? That's right, it releases a separate line of vitamins specifically for women, namely Opti-women. Unlike Opti-men, the vitamin A dosage in Opti-women equals 100% of the daily norm (according to ON's version), but it should be understood that we're talking about the daily norm for women living in different climatic conditions than women in Russia and many other CIS countries. The daily vitamin A dosage in Opti-women equals 5000 IU, while the maximum daily dose for women in most CIS countries should be no more than 3300 IU. We face a shocking picture where if a successful pregnancy is still possible for American women, then for Russian women taking such vitamins resembles targeted genocide of the population, as if not deformities, then health problems in the future child are simply guaranteed. The famous "Roaccutane" has exactly the same effect, which is structurally modified vitamin A. So there it's written in black and white that taking the drug is contraindicated for pregnant women, and after a course of "Roaccutane" treatment, pregnancy is undesirable for 6 months. In fairness, it should be added that exactly the same restrictions are imposed during a course of treatment for vitamin A hypovitaminosis with vitamin A (such an amusing tautology), if during therapy dosages significantly higher than daily norms for a healthy person are used.And what's the dosage in the unfashionable and unmarketed among the fitness brotherhood "Complivit" (or any other pharmacy complex)? I think you've already guessed—3300 IU—that very norm that was developed for OUR people, and which is adequate under the conditions of our climate. I won't illuminate all vitamins and/or minerals in this way, as it seems to me you've already understood everything. I'll only add that the remaining components of the same "Complivit" also equal either an adequate norm not exceeding 100% of daily indicators, or even lower, as it's assumed that a person still eats and gets the remainder of their norm from products, as it should generally be.Such are the pies we get, comrades. People pay considerable money for foreign sports vitamin complexes, firmly confident in their quality and benefit, but receive for their hard-earned money only new health problems. Feeling another bout of illness, think—maybe you should just stop taking vitamins?
And what's the dosage in the unfashionable and unmarketed among the fitness brotherhood "Complivit" (or any other pharmacy complex)? I think you've already guessed—3300 IU—that very norm that was developed for OUR people, and which is adequate under the conditions of our climate. I won't illuminate all vitamins and/or minerals in this way, as it seems to me you've already understood everything. I'll only add that the remaining components of the same "Complivit" also equal either an adequate norm not exceeding 100% of daily indicators, or even lower, as it's assumed that a person still eats and gets the remainder of their norm from products, as it should generally be.
Such are the pies we get, comrades. People pay considerable money for foreign sports vitamin complexes, firmly confident in their quality and benefit, but receive for their hard-earned money only new health problems. Feeling another bout of illness, think—maybe you should just stop taking vitamins?
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