Runners are unusually health conscious, and therefore tend to take multivitamin, mineral, and other supplements to “ensure” optimal body functioning. There’s little to no evidence that this is an effective strategy, but we continue anyway. Fans believe they are paying a small price for extra protection. Skeptics claim the pills do nothing but produce expensive urine, since the body eliminates excess amounts.
I’m probably the world’s most irregular consumer of vitamins and supplements. Every six months or so I’ll decide it’s time to return to a basic multivitamin pill. I’ll rush out to the store, buy a fresh supply of thick, grainy pills that are virtually impossible to swallow, and take one a day for…three or four days.
Of course I won’t notice any difference in how I feel. I don’t gain a big energy boost, and I can’t run any faster or farther after using the pills for three or four days.
So I’ll forget them for a couple of days. They’ll drift deeper to the back of the refrigerator until they disappear. Out of sight, out of mind. I don’t take them for the next six months.
Then I’ll read a magazine or newspaper report and decide that I absolutely need to begin taking vitamin D, or a beet supplement, or maybe turmeric—a recently popular herb used in Indian curries. I buy the new supplements, take them for a couple of days, and…repeat the process I’ve just reported above.
This is no way for anyone to enact a supplement plan. I’m certainly not recommending it. Mostly I’m pointing out that runners are always looking for that special advantage, but it’s very difficult to find one. I’ve taken a variety of supplements through the years, and I can’t point to one that has made me feel better or run stronger.
That’s not a complete condemnation. I keep expecting that eventually I’ll find something that works. However, when researchers have studied the benefits of vitamins and other supplements, the results have been notably mixed. A 2014 report from the US Preventive Services Task Force concluded that “the current evidence is insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of multivitamins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease or cancer.” It also recommended against the use of beta-carotene or vitamin E supplements.
Eat foods, not pills: While studies of multivitamin pills often produce confounding and conflicting results, reports on the foods that contain the most vitamins and minerals (i.e., fruits and vegetables) always seem to yield positive findings. A 2017 meta-analysis of fruit and vegetable consumption in the International Journal of Epidemiology concluded, “Fruit and vegetable intakes were associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality.”
Reach out for fish oil: The World Health Organization recommends that everyone eat several servings of fish a week, but not everyone enjoys fish. That’s one big reason fish oil capsules containing ample amounts of omega-3 fatty acids are among the most popular of supplements. These pills also have a long list of potential benefits, including better mental health, reduced heart disease, and lower levels of inflammation. Be cautious if you are at risk for prostate cancer, since a 2016 report showed a link between fish oil and increased risk of prostate cancer.
Consider glucosamine or chondroitin: Several decades ago, a Runner’s World survey revealed that more than 80 percent of readers were taking glucosamine and/or chondroitin supplements to prevent knee pain and injury. Since the supplements had no major side effects, taking them seemed an easy and risk-free decision. Runners will do just about anything to avoid knee pain.
The popularity of glucosamine and chondroitin suffered little after a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment released in 2010 found no evidence to support the use of these supplements. On the other hand, a 2017 study in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases concluded that eight hundred milligrams a day of “pharmaceutical grade chondroitin sulfate” relieved knee pain better than the prescription drug Celebrex.