I started taking a multi from GNC, and I noticed my pee has turned the color of Gatorade. Should I continue taking them or stop?
It’s just some of the extra vitamins. You’re peeing out the excess. I think excessive amounts of one of the B’s causes your urine to get yellower. I swear by GNC multi’s. They’re the only ones I buy.
That’s normal. However GNC multi are crap. It’s one of the vitamin Bs that makes your urine really bright yellow and I wouldn’t worry about it. Super Nutrition Opti Pak is one of the few multis that are done right. 99% of multi on market are shitty because of the way they were formulated. There are actually some that didn’t even break down at all!
AST - Multi-pro 32x works well for me…
Try drinking more water - the dark yellow could mean you are getting dehydrated.
I once heard Berardi say that you don’t even need to take a multivitamin if you are eating enough fruits and vegetables. He even said that he doesn’t even take a multivitamin.
For a really good multi for training, check out Animal-Pak by Universal. Granted it’s quite a few pills to take and they’re kinda pricey, but they’ve got everything you need and quite a few extras. I love them! Check em out
It is the riboflavin (B2) in the vitamin that turns your urine that color. If you take the vitamins several times a day, your urine will be that color even if you are well hydrated. If you only take it once a day, your urine should be a faint straw color at some point during the day, if it stays bright yellow, you may be a little dehydrated.
I recommend that everyone take a multi-vit regardless of how well they think they are eating. Many athletes tend to eat the same type of foods repeatedly therefore limiting their nutrient intake. In a perfect world if you ate the perfect diet everyday with a variety of foods, you could possibly get all the nutients you need. While you may get enough to avoid an overt clinical def. (think scurvy, beri beri, pellagra, goiter, etc.) that does not mean that you are getting the optimal amount to maximize function. Incidentally, a doc that used to be an RD, and who reads all the clinical nut. journals was telling me about a study where RD’s were asked to write up a diet which would contain all the essential nutients in recommended amounts. They were not restricted in calories allowed and could choose from all foods, and the best diets still came up with 2-3 def.
It should be noted that the MRP’s contain added vit/min. and if you take several of these per day and eat a variey of foods, you could probably get suff. amounts.
Also, in Jan. of last year, even the AMA came out with the recommendation that people take a multivit/min. The article was in either JAMA or NEJM
Many athletes have been shown to lack adequate zinc and Mag. Which is why the ZMA supp. are so popular.
Multivit/min are a cheap insurance program. Most of the supp. that are talked about on this site are designed to tweak the metabolism in one way or another, so it only makes sense to make sure that all the nuts and bolts necessary to run it are provided in ample amounts.
Take care
I used to take a multivitamin but I stopped it. I have a basic multi around for when I am out of town and am not sure I will be eating normal but around the house, I’d be shocked if I don’t proper amounts.
A few things though to pay attention to in vitamins that you take. Iron and vitamin A. Unless you are a veggie, don’t take a pill with iron and make sure the vit A comes from betacarotene, if not, there can be toxicity issues (not that I have ever known anyone to actually have them but why tinker with it ya know?).
With regards to the post by Sexy J, Vit A as with all the fat soluble vits (A,D,E,K) have the ability to store in the body and therefore if taken in high quantities could lead to toxicity. However, most of the toxicity reports on Vit A have been from people who have consumed large quanities of polar bear liver or other such organ meats for extended periods. Most supps do contain most of the Vit A from beta carotene, which is not VitA, but can be converted to it in the body. Pregnant women need to keep the daily dose of Vitamin A (preformed) below 10000 IU/day as high doses have been linked to birth defects in some instances. Of interest, taking high dose Vit A for several days will help fight viral infections due to the effects it has on lymphocytes (Remember grandma trying to make you take cod liver oil when you were sick, turns out it is high in Vit A).
Men have less Iron needs than women since we don’t menstruate every month (at least most of us don’t). Therefore, men do not need to supplement with iron in a multi, however, female athletes often suffer from iron deficiency. It is usually recommended to get iron from an animal source (red meat) as the form in these foods is known as heme iron and is more well utilized by the body. If you take iron supps, take them with OJ as both the acid and Vit C increase the absorption. Probably to much info.
take care
I know Beradi says that we don’t need multi but I find it hard to believe. I’m in school for nutrition/dietetic (too much bullshits as it turns out) and I knew alot of stuff that the professors teach tend to be politically corrected so i took my time to expand my horizon on nutrition on my own and read on why some people design programs their way. Now i know better, most of the nutrition books that you see at the bookstores or the stuff in magazines are completely full of shit. I don’t agree with American Dietetic Association (the one responsible for dietetic program/ registered dietetican in college) on nutrition views at all. I mean look at the food pyramid and it’s completely full of crap. The list goes on. Our food supply (vegetable and fruits) aren’t all that great and are actually lower in vitamin and minerals than in the past with the exception of organic ones (if that’s really the truth) due to depleted soils and chemicals. I personally don’t see the harm in taking multi vit BUT i guarantee that 99% of them on market are medicore to crap. I checked out animal pak and didn’t think it was all that great compared to what i am taking right now. It’s missing a few valuable minerals which is why i didn’t go with animal Pak in the first place and is actually more expensive than what i’m taking that i consider to be superior. LEF multi is another excellent one but tad pricey. There’s one or two others but I forget. When people recommended certain brands, i took time to take a closer look at them but it turns out they weren’t that great because it’s missing several vitamins and minerals in significant amount and you’d have to pay extra for seperate vit and min to make up for them. I don’t have the problem with mine (SuperNutrition opti pak). It might look expensive on the paper (35 bucks for 90 packet- a month supply but i take only one packet so it’s more like 3 months supply since I tend to eat very well. plently of vegetables in every color and all kinds of meats) but it’s loaded in every single vitamin and mineral except for iron, of course.
Well I guess it depends on what flavor of gatorade you’re referring to. If it looks like the classic lemon-lime, then there’s probably nothing to worry about. But if your urine looks like Fierce Grape or Fruit Punch then you may want to see a doctor. 
I have one question, would you get the same bennifits from ZMA if you also used a multi-vitamin? or would taking a multi-vitamin render ZMA useless?
Until Next Time…
HyperX
Well, from a ton of research, the company I chose was USANA Health Sciences. 6 of their products ar listed in the Physician’s Desk Reference (the real PDR) and that is more than any other nutritional company. USANA follows FDA standards in manufacturing standards and quality for pharmaceutical-grade products (pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices). They have in-house manufacturing, which is a rarity. USANA even has a one million guarantee with Olympic athletes.
How can we tell if a multi’s a good product? I’ve trusted GNC and some other brands. I don’t have access to lab tests. I usually figure that if your urine turns yellower and you don’t excrete whole vitamin pills, they’re probably being absorbed properly. I’m aware of certain ingredients being better quality, but I’m questioning digestability and absorption more.
The challenge is that almost all supplements are treated like food . . . not really any rules to follow. USANA’s vitamin and mineral supplements meet USP standards for potency, uniformity, disintegration, and dissolution. Furthermore, they are manufactured using the quality assurance standards put out by the FDA for pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Every step of manufacturing, from raw ingredient purchase through finished product testing, is driven by USANA’s commitment to quality. What you read on the label is what you get in the bottle every time, guaranteed.