What's the Best Time to Take Supplements?
 

I was wondering if anybody had any insight on this...What is the best time to take supplements? Right now, I take a multivitamin, milk thistle extract, vitamin D, vitamin C and lutein. What about before or after exercise? I'm just curious what schedule would get the best results.

With a meal
 

Presuming that is about one pill each, I'd likely take it with a meal.

The guidelines I follow:

Take amino acids on an empty stomach.

Don't take any supplement at the same time you take a fiber supplement.

Try to take supplements with real meals; if they're going to upset your stomach the meal will help and the supplements get absorbed better with food, in most cases.

If you get to where you're taking more than one pill per item, spread them out over the day.

I count out 10 days' worth into film cannisters, numbered 1-2-3 for each meal of the day. Each morning, I set three out on the counter and I'm good to go.

I have gotten used to a ritual where I either take my supplements first thing in the morning or last thing at night. I usually break them up into two groups.

I take them 2-3 times a day. When I get up I take GTF chromium, organic oregano oil, and vitamin C. The rest are split into 2 uneven doses with supplements that are antagonists to each other separated into one or the other dose.

I take a lot of supplements.

I take them when I remember them!!!

What suppliments are antagonist to each other? I take many in a day as well, but am unaware of this phenominon..

Antagonists
Copper and zinc
kelp and zinc


http://www.acu-cell.com/acn2.html

Milk Thistle as Fiber?
 

I have heard that milk thistle has similar bodily effects to fiber for some people. Will milk thistle affect my vitamin intake?

I take mine at night
 

Might could. Don't know. I take mine at night, last thing, with NAC, and sometimes with Curcumin if it's a day I take that.

And you get to a point where you just can't freaking worry about it too much, which is where I am. There aren't enough hours in the day to get it all perfect... So take the darn stuff and let your body figure it out. There is a theory that says your body is MUCH more efficient at using nutrients when it really needs them...

Do you know why this is? I take all of mine together...

I spread them out through the day with a meal.

I don't take much at night before bed, it might sound wierd, but if I take them late in the evening, I dream a lot.

If I take them late in the evening I burp a lot. :lol:

I have to take them with a meal, usually w/breakfast.

Fiber encapsulates the supplements
 

This one does make a difference. Do what you can to move the fiber away from the supplements, at least by an hour or two. And if you're taking everything at the same time, it's possible you can move the fiber to the other end of the day, or to a different meal.

I don't know for sure that "encapsulates" is the right word, exactly. Don't care. But I have seen a difference when I took the fiber pills out of the handful of supplements I was taking. The fiber "swells" as it takes on water, and I suspect that if the vitamin pills are in that bolus, they might not get as much stomach acid attention as they will if they're in there with just food. Same goes for prescription meds, BTW.