42 replies to this topic

[freebird91]

So I've recently decided to start a more strategized vitamin routine since I know for a fact I don't eat healthy enough and I want to see if they help my skin (even if they don't, I'd like to be healthier anyways). I've been on a multi-vitamin for quite a while now and then added fish oil and picked up some other stuff today. Here's what I have right now:

One A Day Teen Advantage Complete Multivitamin for Her (Once a day)
-Vitamin A 2500 IU
-Vitamin D 800 IU
-Vitamin E 30 IU
-Vitamin K 25 mcg
-Thiamin (B1) 2.3 mg
-Riboflavin (B2) 2.6 mg
-Niacin 30 mg
-Vitamin B6 3mg
-Folic Acid 400 mcg
-Vitamin B12 9 mcg
-Biotin 300 mcg
-Pantothenic Acid 10 mg
-Calcium 300 mg
-Iron 18 mg
-Magnesium 50 mg
-Zinc 15 mg
-Selenium 20 mcg
-Copper 2mg
-Manganese 2 mg
-Chromium 120 mcg

Omega-3 Fish Oil 1200 mg softgels (2-3 times per day)

GNC Zinc 30 mg tablets (once per day)

GNC Vitamin D-3 1000 IU tablets (once per day)


So the multivitamin and the fish oil I have been taking for a while but the zinc and the D I just got today and used as I described above, 1 tablet of each per day.

So with the tablets and the multivitamin together I'm getting a total of:

-1,800 IU of vitamin D per day
-45 mg of zinc per day
plus...
-2,400-3,600 mg of fish oil per day (is that too much? I didn't think I could take too much of that but I'm not sure)
-the rest of what's in the multivitamin alone.

I bought the extra zinc and D supplements because I've read on this site that both may have great benefits for acne. Should I be taking more of either or both of them to see the best results? I don't want to take more than I'd have to but I don't want to be wasting them by not taking the right doses and getting no results. I know that results aren't a sure thing but I'd like to give it a chance to see if some kind of deficiency is part of my problem.

If anyone who happens to be very knowledgable in this subject could help me out by at least saying whether I'm on the right track, I'd appreciate it a lot. Advice or tips would be awesome too.

And finally I just want to clarify that I'm not treating vitamins as a "cure" for my acne, just as something extra I can do to promote overall health for my body which will hopefully aid in getting consistently clearer skin.

Thanks in advance

[X3Kell3X]

u sound like me. ive started taking vitamins cuz i don't have the best eating habits. im also just looking to vitamins as a way to make my skin healthier as well as my body but not as a cure. ive been using fish oil for a week. im going to pick up zinc and vitamin D3 and possibly vitamin b-complex. the multivitamin ur using sounds really good. i mightt look into that. im in the same boat as u really. so i don't have much advice cuz im just starting.

[freebird91]

Yeah the multivitamin says right on the bottle that it promotes healthy skin :] I actually noticed an improvement in my overall complexion and the way I felt when I started just taking that a while ago (I'm on my second bottle) so I really like it. But yeah, it sounds like we're pretty much going to be taking the same stuff. How much zinc are you going to take? I've read a lot of differing things on this site and I'm wondering if I should be taking more than 45 mg of zinc...

[X3Kell3X]

u should be fine with 45. i take 50mg and plus theres zinc in the mutlivitamin i think.

[Boss01]

It's more about what you don't eat than what you do
All that stuff should help but that doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want.

[freebird91]

It's more about what you don't eat than what you do
All that stuff should help but that doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want.

I choose not to restrict what I eat simply because I love food way too much haha it sounds pathetic but honestly I just am not willing to eliminate the joy of food from my life. Luckily I can eat whatever I want and stay a healthy weight so I want to enjoy that while it lasts. I have tried eliminating soda and chocolate for months at a time (I gave them each up for lent several times) but I saw no difference. I tried limiting dairy as well without change. I don't eat terrible food, but I don't feel that I always get a balance of everything like certain fruits and veggies, hence my supplementing with vitamins. I personally don't see a correlation between the foods I do eat triggering breakouts, so I don't consider that a cause of my acne. I'm hoping the vitamins just help my body stay healthier in order to help keep my skin healthier along with it. Thank you for the insight though, that is a good point. Vitamins probably won't stop acne if your acne is caused by eating junk.

[aFriendFromAfar]

Supplements and vitamins can definitely make a difference in your skin, although that alone may not be enough to cure someone's acne. I'm not the grandfather of knowledge or anything, but there are lots of vitamins that help and a multivitamin is a nice balance but it would have to be one giant pill to really have all the vitamins you need. My suggestion:

10,000-20,000 IU of Vitamin A
400 IU of Vitamin E
100-200 mg of Chelated Zinc Gluconate
Vitamin C!

Those are the vitamins that I credit a lot of my skin clearin too. For two months, I took 200 mg of Zinc gluconate (100 in the morning, 100 at night) and it helped a lot but didn't clear me entirely. Sources about zinc are mostly unclear, because they say 200 mg of zinc is dangerous and it is...but only in the form of elemental zinc. 200 mg of zinc gluconate converts to around like 26 mg of elemental zinc so no worries. Stomach aches maybe but it's not dangerous. Zinc boosts your immune system to fight off infection. After those months, I reduced my intake to 50 mg.

Vitamin A is the main ingredient in accutane and retin a, so i definitely recommend some of that. But again, people will say it's dangerous. But it's not. Accutane pumps ridiculous amounts into people, I mean like 150,000 IU a day or something like that. But even if you took that much, you'd have to keep taking it awhile to notice any side effects (like hair loss.) But I think like 20,000IU outta be good.

Vitamin E helps with skin healing and scars, and vitamin c reduces inflammation.

Vitamin D, a B complex, and magnesium are helpful vitamins too. Just remember that they take time to show results, so have faith!

[X3Kell3X]

i completely agree with u freebird. im just like u. i enjoy food wayy to much. i don't eat that much chocolate and ive cut down on soda and replaced it with green tea and water. but im not going to get rid of everything...

and afriendfromafar: i just started taking fish oil, zinc, vitamin D3 and a mutlivitamin filled with vitamin A and B. i was wondering how long it took u to see results. and any vitamins i should add to my regimen. I also drink an organic supplement mix that is supposed to contribute to healthy skin, and i am drinking lots of green tea. but is there anything i should definatly add to see more results? i can't take more vitamin A besides whats in the mutlivitamin because i was on accutane and that was FULL of vitamin A so i don't want to give my body a break from that. but should i add something else?

[aFriendFromAfar]

Hm sounds like you're doing very nicely if you're gonna add anything else, vitamin c is I think the best. But those alone should deliver some nice results after probably just a week. I think they'll definitely help but I don't think they'll eliminate acne entirely. Your skin will probably look a lot healthier though.

[X3Kell3X]

yay thats all i want. im on spiro/bc/differin so im hoping that clears the acne. but i want the vitamins to help the over all look of my skin/redmarks etc. and to calm it down. i actually started most of this a week ago besides the green tea.. i haven't noticed amazing results but thats mainly cuz i also tried a new makeup which im pretty sure broke me out. but i think, give another week, that i should see improvement.

have u ever tried green tea? drinking/applying to ur face?

[aFriendFromAfar]

Yeah i would definitely say that'll take care of your acne and the vitamins will give you a healthy look to go along with it. I started drinking green tea at the same time i started taking vitamins..I think more than anything laying off the soda and sugary juices helped but the green tea i'm sure helped i'm just not sure how much.

I've never tried applying it to my face bc nothing seemed to work super well for me anyway so I didn't bother but i know proactiv uses that green tea moisturizer so i'm sure it would help

[Jaerid]

You sound like you're on the right track. I've also had good results with these vitamins:

Vitamin A—5000-10,000 international units (IU) daily
Vitamin E—400 IU, with 200 milligrams (mg) gamma tocopherols daily
R-Lipoic acid—150 to 300 mg daily

[X3Kell3X]

@afriendfromafar: i picked up some vitamin c yesterday! and i took it for the first time yesterday too. its 500mg. fishoil is 1,000mg 2x a day. zinc is 50mg and D3 is 1,000IU and the multivitamin is a bunch of stuff. but ya ive decided im not going to put green tea on my face anymore. it was too drying. but im still drinking it. i love it. i used to be addicted to diet coke. no joke. i HAD to have a can of diet coke a day at the least. and the past month or so since its summer ive had probably 1 to 4 diet cokes a day. bad i know. but now ive replaced it with water and mainly green tea. since i cut it out i started to get really bad headaches but they have gotten better. then i opened one yesterday and had a couple sips and could't finish it. i don't crave it. i just crave green tea now. haha.

@Mirrfiak: do u think vitamin E plays a big role in clearing up acne? would it be worth adding?

Edited by X3Kell3X, 18 August 2010 - 01:31 PM.

[Jaerid]

@Mirrfiak: do u think vitamin E plays a big role in clearing up acne? would it be worth adding?

This is an excerpt from LEF (Life-Extension):

"The benefits of vitamins A and E in acne was highlighted in a recent study in which investigators identified plasma vitamin A and E concentrations in 100 untreated patients with acne, compared with 100 healthy controls. Plasma concentrations of both vitamins in patients with acne were significantly lower than those of the controls, and a strong relationship between a decline in vitamin A and E levels and an increase in the severity of acne was noted (El-Akawi Z et al 2006)."

For some reason I'm unable to post links on here, but if you google "Does the plasma level of vitamins A and E affect acne condition?", you should come up with the study that documents their findings in regards to Vitamins A & E.

Edited by Mirrfiak, 18 August 2010 - 03:44 PM.

[X3Kell3X]

oh ya since ur a new member u can't post links. but once u become a veteran member i think u can.

okay well theres like 2500IU of vitamin A in my mutlivitamin and i just picked up vitamin E. its 1,000 IU. im not gunna take a vitamin A on top of the multivitamin cuz i was on accutane which has ridiculous amounts of vitamin so i need a break from that. but i just added vitamin E into my regimen! might as well

[aFriendFromAfar]

Lol i drink a glass every morning and when i'm out I'm like, "noooooooooo!" And vitamin c rules! Plus it's kinda tangy when u let it sit in ur mouth instead of swallowing it immediately lol

I was always a big coke drinker (lol for whoever predicted me sayin 'head' instead of 'drinker') but i dk if i ever made it to 4 cans in a day lol although i would drink a lot of it with some enchiladas! But green tea is tasty now especially with some honey i wish some restaurants would serve it!

[X3Kell3X]

ya i did that! well by accident. i had some trouble swallowing it for a minute. then i was like.. uh what the hell is that taste. lol

hahaha! head. ya i was pretty bad. and ya i would down cokes at resturants. haha yum enchiladas love mexican food.

oh ive never had it with honey! do u just pour it in? i wish they would too. i mean u can get in bottles or cans at some stores. like the arizona brand. but idk i would want just plain green tea. alot of them are flavored with lemon and sweetened beyond belief.

[freebird91]

oh my, I was without computer for a few days and there's a lot of posts haha

Based on suggestions I kind of want to get extra A now because that makes so much sense about the accutane and stuff. When I was buying vitamins I had a Vitamin D and Vitamin A combined supplement (can't recall how much of each) but when I asked the guy if it was ok with my multivitamin he said to just get plain D because Vitamin A is overdose-able...but if I only get 2500 IU with my multi then I think more is ok. It says it's only 50% of the recommended daily value so I think I'd be safe with more, right?

So far my vitamin regimen is going good; I don't get nauseous or anything even though it seems like I'm swallowing so many things. Plus I just started my birth control pill a few days ago so I was afraid it would all make me feel gross but I'm feeling fine....great even. Even if there's no effect on my skin I'd be happy just to feel healthier haha

I saw you guys discussed green tea and I love love love green tea. I don't know if you guys drink it hot or cold but I found that I like it much better cold. It's simpler too; no need to heat water. I also love this pomegranate green tea that I have (I can't recall the brand off the top of my head). It smells kind of like bubblegum but it's really yummy and it brews to a really pretty mauve color. If you don't like plain green tea you should try the ones with added natural flavorings. I keep tea bags in my purse so at restaurants I can order water and just put a bag or two in haha I haven't gotten in trouble or anything yet...I still drink a fair amount of soda though; Mountain Dew is my weakness. I know it doesn't really quench your thirst but I crave it when I'm thirsty and it's only 55 cents at my work. If I don't have soda I have a headache and feel nauseous by 2 in the afternoon; it's horrible but I'm addicted to the caffeine haha green tea and coffee help though.

Oh and I try to drink EmergenC as often as I can but it tastes so bad haha I just add it to a tiny amount of water and down it as quickly as possible.


Mirrfiak, I've never heard of R-Lipoic Acid but am curious about it. What does it do for the body?

Sorry there was a lot to respond to. Thanks for the posts though :]

[X3Kell3X]

ohh i love the taste of just plain organic green tea warm. i love it! can u brew tea with cold water??? ya i get headaches too. i literally went through withdrawal from diet coke. but its gone now! and i don't crave it either. just green tea lol.

omg i hate emergenC. i tried to drink it and i couldn't do it. too hard.

i might add vitamin A too. i was just a little nervous cuz i was on tane 8 months ago but im sure ill be fine if i add it. how much should i add do u think?

[freebird91]

Steeping does work in cold water, it just takes longer. I've also brewed it hot then chilled it. I don't know why but I love it when it's just cool, not really cold. And yes, EmergenC is like torture to drink so I do it as quickly as possible. I've also added it to iced tea and that cuts the nasty aftertaste a little bit...but just a little bit haha I have the raspberry kind btw.

I'm curious exactly how much A to take as well..On the GNC website there only appears to be a 10,000 dose, so one of those plus the 2500 from the multi makes 12,500...that seems to be about in the middle of what people have suggested in this thread. Maybe a half of one would be good if you want to be cautious with it because of accutane. I'm still weary because the GNC guy said you can OD on vitamin A...is 12,500 too much? Especially for a gal on the petite side...