Vitamins and absorption

Ok, I still have a few questions about vitamins and the quantites taken.  Since I will getting either RNY or hopefull DS surgery I see the malabsorption is higher.

So with that being said, I see people taking 1 pill daily 50,000 IU. or D, A even higher etc

  How much of that is going down the septic tank?  I mean if the body can only absorb so much protein wouldn't it stand to reason that it can only absorb so much vitamin and the rest is wasted?

Would it be better to take hypothethicly 3 doses of 10,000 IU though the day instead of trying to take one monster dose pf 50,000 since we can only absorb so much?

What is the logic or fact behind the vitamins?

It probably would be better to take vitamins throughout the day. I have to take calcium that way so I put everything else but iron into 2 big batches. If you can take vitamins every hour you could probably do it, but I doubt you want to be bothered with that. The large doses of A, D, and K in separate capsules works well for most of us and Vitalady has done the research and shopping so that you get a great bang for your buck with her stuff.

--gina

First of all, it's a myth we can only absorb so much protein at a time... It's a macronutrient. Our bodies don't have limits on those. If we don't need everything we eat at one time, it stores it for later and our body rebalances our energy stores at night, taking energy from one place and putting it where it's needed.

For example, if you run a marathon, you use up all the glycogen in your muscles. Over the next couple of days, your body puts it back. It can get it from your food or it can convert it from your fat.

Secondly, A and D are fat soluble so they are different. If you take more than you need right that second, the body stores the rest in your fat. (This is why you can overdose on them.) The fat soluble vitamins I know about are A, D, E and K.

Water-soluble vitamins do need to be taken in smaller doses and/or only as much as you need or you pee the extra out.

Minerals are interesting. Calcium, in particular, can't be absorbed all at once even if you need it. We only absorb around 500 mg at a time every couple of hours.

Iron is even stranger... when you take, say, 24 mg of hem iron, the body only absorbs anywhere from 10 to 35% of it. Heme is one of the most absorbable forms of iron, too. So, when you take an iron supplement, you really don't know how much your body is absorbing.