Vitamin Supplements Guide List

Preppers will store up a supply of food, but have they considered the nutritional balance of the foods they’ve stored versus what the body needs?

Vitamins are necessary for our general nutrition and good health. Although they do not directly contribute to energy or body-building materials, they are important to form complex chemical compounds that are necessary to convert food to energy and to build tissue.

Note: A prolonged lack of vitamins may result in serious health problems.

The following vitamin supplement guide (list) details some of the specific information corresponding to the USRDA daily allowance for adults.

The list includes the vitamin function in the body and some of the natural food sources for the vitamin itself.


 

Note: Consult with your doctor regarding any vitamin supplement or intake.

 
Beta carotene (5,000 – 25,000 IU)
Decreases free radical damage, may decrease risk of heart attacks

Sourced from algae, orange and dark green vegetables, green leafy vegetables, peach, alfalfa sprouts, sweet potato, papaya

 
Folic acid – B-complex (400 – 1,200 mcg)
Helps in formation of red blood cells, enhances protein metabolism

Sourced from green leafy vegetables, broccoli, asparagus, okra, cauliflower, cantaloupe, nuts, legumes, Brussels sprouts, whole-grain cereals, oranges, carrots

 
Vitamin A (10,000 – 50,000 IU)
Antioxidant, aids in growth and repair of body tissues, necessary for night vision

Sourced from eggs, colored fruits and vegetables, milk and dairy products

 
Vitamin B1 – thiamin (50 – 300 mg)
Maintains healthy skin, mouth, eyes, hair, helps stabilize appetite, essential for normal function of heart, nervous system, digestion, growth, learning capacity

Sourced from pork, nuts, whole wheat, wheat germ, poultry, fish, brown rice, egg yolks, legumes, whole grains, blackstrap molasses

 
Vitamin B2 – riboflavin (50 – 300 mg)
Prevents inflammations, produces antibody and red blood cells, essential for healthy eyes, hair, skin, nails

Sourced from cheese, milk, egg yolks, peanuts, nuts, whole grains, blackstrap molasses

 
Vitamin B3 – niacin (50 – 500 mg)
Essential for digestion, dilates blood vessels and helps blood circulation, reduces cholesterol in blood

Sourced from lean meats, poultry, fish, peanuts, wheat germ

 
Vitamin B5 – pantothenic acid (25 – 500 g)
Aids in resisting stress, formation of fats, provides energy, stimulates growth

Sourced from eggs, orange juice, legumes, liver, whole grains, wheat germ, mushrooms, salmon

 
Vitamin B6 – pyridoxine (50 – 500 mg)
Helps digestion and weight control, enhances healthy skin, nerves and muscles, forms antioxidants

Sourced from milk, cabbage, cantaloupe, legumes, blackstrap molasses, meats, peas, wheat germ, whole grains, brown rice, prunes, leafy green vegetables

 
Vitamin B12 – cobalamin (50 – 500 mcg)
Essential to formation of red blood cells, promotes healthy nervous system

Sourced from pork, beef, cheese, milk, eggs, fish

 
Vitamin C – ascorbic acid (1,000 – 10,000 mg)
Essential in formation of skin connective tissue, strengthens body’s immune system, helps in wound healing

Sourced from tomatoes, acerola cherries, sprouted alfalfa seeds, peppers, citrus fruits, papaya, cantaloupe, broccoli, strawberries

 
Vitamin D – cholecalferol (400 – 600 IU)
Essential for proper function of nervous system, heart and normal clotting, aids in calcium absorption

Sourced from fat, butter, fish liver oil, oily fish (herring, sardines), egg yolks, salmon, tuna, bonemeal

 
Vitamin E – tocopherol (200 – 800 IU)
Powerful antioxidant and free radical scavenger, essential for cell respiration

Sourced from margarine, cold pressed oil, whole wheat and wheat germ, sweet potatoes, molasses, nuts, dark green vegetables, eggs, oatmeal, liver

 
Vitamin F – lineolic acid ( n/a )
Destroys cholesterol, enhances normal glandular activity, makes calcium available to body cells

Sourced from butter, wheat germ, vegetable oils, sunflower seed

 
Vitamin K – phylloquinone (80 mcg)
Produces blood clotting factor, helps prevent osteoporosis, not a true vitamin – developed in intestines

Sourced from spinach, green cabbage, tomatoes, liver, lean meats, egg yolk, whole wheat, strawberries

 
Vitamin P – bioflavonoids (500 – 10,000 mg)
Promotes healthy capillary walls, prevents colds and flu, enhances growth of connective tissue, helps prevent bruising

Sourced from buckwheat, black currants, cherries, grapes, fruits

 

 

Consider stocking up on Daily Multi Vitamins to ensure a balance of nutritional supplements, especially during periods when you know you are not eating a balanced diet.

A daily multivitamin is a good idea regardless…

Do your own due-diligence when investigating the attributes of vitamins or supplements.
This list is not to be considered medical advice.

Centrum Silver Multivitamin for Men over 50
Centrum Multivitamin for Men under 50

Centrum Silver for Women over 50
Centrum Multivitamin for Women under 50

37 Comments

  1. So of course, the FDA has to ban apricot kernels (back in the 80s?) because they can’t have everyone curing their cancers on the cheap. Would put Big Pharma out of business.

  2. I read an article stating that it is better to get a children’s vitamin because it can be taken on an empty stomach.

  3. This is a great informational article. Many people have no idea just how vitamins and minerals help the body. Thank you for the useful information.

  4. I imagine there shall be plenty of recommendations coming up and I would like to suggest the one I have been taking for about ten to fifteen years. During that time I have never had a cold. The same is true of my sister who used to get long, horrible ones.

    It is called Juice Plus. It began when a young man had a father who was “dying” of cancer. He had stopped eating and the doctors said it was “the end”. He began to give his father concentrated foods which resulted in him living another five years. He then began a business.

    Jiuce Plus is a concentration of organically grown fruits, vegetables, and grains. It has become the most studied supplement by the Mayo Institute. I used to have a stack of their and others research on it, but, alas, I loaned it to someone and never got it back.

    It is well worth researching. I have yet to find any research on the drugstore supplements. While I cannot state that Jiuc Plus alone has made me healthy, no illnesses or prescriptions and I am 68, I attribute my immune response to colds and flu to the Jiuce Plus. Hope you look into it.

    Stay frosty.

  5. We take gummy vitamins,,, are great, dont care what the naysayers say,,, lifes too short to have to choke down your vitamins,

  6. Personally I’m not a pill popper, seems every time I try to get on a regimen of vit’s/minerals/what-ever I can choke em down for a week, than give it up for not. I don’t even like to take Aspirin.

    I do much better just eating the right foods and stay off the nastiest.

    Only thing I have really stuck with, because it actually works, is my Turmeric Mix. Ever since Ken did his article on this orange HOT HOT HOT spice, I have had NO effects of inflammation or arthritis AT ALL, ZERO

    Just a couple of Stats for everyone, this is from 2013;

    “Projections show that Americans today spend over $270 billion on prescription drugs vs. slightly over $34 billion for non-prescription alternatives and vitamins.”

    “The average American today takes slightly over 10 pills a day” that is right at 3 BILLION 200 MILLION pills in a single day???? Holy CRAPO Batman…..

    Not saying one should NOT stock up on some ‘stuff’ for when TSHTF, just don’t see a need for those Billions of pills a week for me.

    SOOOOooo, did you take the Red Pill or the Blue Pill?
    NRP

    1. NRP

      Not a pill popper either, BUT given our world condition, I did just receive my order of potassium iodine pills. A one month supply for us was very reasonable and I think a good addition to the first aid kit. Never know what fat boy UN will do.

      1. @ hermit us

        I agree with the Potassium iodide (KI), also Cal Vet Supply and a ton of Antibiotics is a good idea.

        And what that physio in NK, is NOT a good time to slack off on the preparing for TSHTF.

        NRP

        1. NRP

          Thanks for the correction – what I wrote is poison (iodine rather than the correct iodide). You need them two bonded molecules to make it safe for human consumption.

    2. Try the gummy vitamins bud, they are great,,, i take a mens multi vitamin and vitamin c, they taste like a candy treat,,, my sweety and i joke about them that they are our desert!

    3. I don’t like taking pills either….but I was on a regimen for a couple years and decided to stop due to lazy.
      I got the most awful sinus thingy when I worked outside in February on those warm, beautiful days and with it a dry cough it took me over a week to kick…and I never get ill and haven’t had a sinus problem in years.
      So, I started the 7 vitamins again.
      I just don’t want that yukky again.

  7. Here is a great point to those who are against taking pills- In a SHTF scenario you WILL NOT be able to get the minerals needed for survival on scraps or when your food supply runs dry, You WILL need vitamin supplements.
    Let’s use Potassium as an example. Your body needs potassium to keep the Heart and Muscles functioning. When your potassium drops you may begin to get leg cramps, mostly in the calf muscles then progressing to heart “palpitations” or arrythmia’s and then progresses to a fatal arrhythmia and your heart stops because it doesn’t have the Potassium it needs to function. Foods high in potassium include Bananas and Citrus (Oranges/Orange juice). You will not be able to go to the grocery store and get Bananas or Orange juice. If you live anywhere it gets cold you will NOT be able to grow these at all. This is one example of one mineral. Vitamins and mineral supplements are essential stock items.

    1. @ SpudWeb

      I believe you helped to make my point.

      “In a SHTF scenario you WILL NOT be able to get the minerals needed for survival on scraps or when your food supply runs dry, You WILL need vitamin supplements.”

      I agree, but until the SHTF is it a good idea to take pills when you still can get the nutrition’s one needs from foods? I still prefer a Banana to a pill any day of the week for that Potassium. Additionally if your ‘food supply runs dry’ I would think your pretty much toast even if you have 20,000 pills to take.

      I’m not a nutritionist by any means, so just speaking from my own experiences; I prefer to not indulge in handfuls of pills a day. I do have a homeopathic DR. I see about once a year (and a regular Dr. also) to do the blood test thingy, so far not laying on that Granit Slab…. Yet. And no Lead Poisoning…. hehehe

      But as I said before, you-bet-ya one needs to stock some ‘stuff’ for the SHTF. BUT until if/when that happens, all bets are off.

      Question is, what about when the 1 year, 2 years, 5 years of ‘pills’ run out? What about shelf life? What if, What if, What if…… ???

      NRP

    2. SpudWeb:

      I agree that it is difficult to get all the nutrients one needs from foods. Two important reasons are that 1) We get most of our nutrition these days from food that has been sitting in warehouses for days or weeks, food that has been processed, and food that has had all kinds of adulterants added, and 2) we are not as active as we used to be so we need fewer calories than our ancestors.

      But we could actually be better nutritionally in a SHTF scenario because we will be working harder and consuming more calories and we will be growing or producing much or our own food.

      For the past 40 years, I have had a book in my home library, “The Wonderful World Within You” that has a series of easy to understand charts of different foods that shows at a glance how nutrient dense they are.

      You can look up different foods on the Web and find out some of the same info (but more current) about the foods you think will make up the most important parts of your future diet. Wikipedia often has this information about different foods. You don’t need the picture-graphs; just note the percentages of nutrients and the percentages of calories. For example if a certain quantity of something has 5% of your calorie requirement for the day, there might be 8% of your Vitamin C requirement, 0% of Vitamin D, 10% of your calcium, etc. Print out those boxes of information and check them against each other to see which combination or combination of foods in your current or future diet will make a complete nutritional package. If you notice that no matter how you try, you are going to be deficient in potassium or Vitamin D or whatever, stock up on extra of that nutrient along with a good multi-vitamin, multi-mineral supplement.

      I should think that minerals would have a very, very long shelf life, but you need to rotate the vitamins to guard against loss of nutrients during storage.

    3. Copy what the Royal Navy did for a few centuries and add lemon juice to you daily grog to help defer scurvy.

  8. If I ate all the foods that are recommended for a full days regimen of vitamins and minerals,(2000 calories a day recommended to get enough from food alone) I would weigh 200+ lbs. And it wouldn’t be healthy for me since I have a slow metabolism and should weigh 135 lbs.

    Instead, I take vitamins with essential minerals and should eat about 800 calories a day, although I slip in a little more food than I should. In winter I increase the D vitamin because I lack sunlight and it keeps depression away this far north. I also take more C in winter because it fights off day to day exposures to colds. If you drink and smoke moderately, double the C because it is taken away from these bad habits. Many circumstances should be taken into consideration when taking vitamins.

  9. Good info. If you are older up your D to 2000 a day. Watch the Folate, too much has been linked to colon cancer. Common sense should always be used with any vitamin or supplement. Buy the best you can afford. Much of above comes from China these days. Scary. Remember the treats from China that killed dogs.

  10. I just went on Google and read some of the unfavorable comments on Juice Plus. The price is always mentioned as too high, but the time frame for how long a bottle lasts is never mentioned. One bottle lasts two months. So important to do your research.

    Stay frosty.

  11. I got hungry just reading all the foods the vitamins are sourced from.My wife and I both eat very healthy,but being older,still take a daily vitamin.We take the Centrum specialist energy with Ginseng.We’re both still going strong.

  12. Nrp corrected me when I said iodine instead of iodide – one molecule different between poison and safe. How many “franfenfoods” out here are really not good for us and how many vitamins are manufactured with no relationship to real food nutrition. I trust the USDA as much as I trust EPA (haha).

      1. this idiot going out to do chores – can’t type today. Ken please help me with my corrupted auto correct.

  13. A complete vitamin and mineral supplement is good nutritional
    insurance in my opinion but I personally stick with one that is
    balanced and by that I mean it has close to 100% of the amount
    recommended by the NIH, but not 5X to 10X certain vitamins because
    someone has read something that says it’s better for you to do so.

    Good research at the highest levels is always conservative and the
    Centrum brand of vitamins and minerals is a nice conservative
    brand to take. Safe and not imbalanced.

    If you eat the food you have canned yourself then you’ll probably
    be just fine and actually you’ll probably lose less minerals than
    vitamins which are lost through extreme heat. Beans – stuffed with
    minerals. Vitamins can degrade, the minerals don’t.

    I do have a problem with extreme recommendations such as all the
    recommendations for extra calcium pushed on women in years pass. Not
    quite as much anymore. The reason I believe is because they pushed
    calcium to the detriment of magnesium which has to work with calcium
    in an approximate 2/1 ratio (2 calcium to 1 magnesium) because they
    share the same metabolic pathway in the body. Overwhelm with calcium
    and you crowd out magnesium – a very vital mineral for the heart. Too
    much calcium and it can build up in the heart and arteries – the
    last place you need it. And short the magnesium which needs to be
    balanced with potassium in the heart.

    Potassium is vital for the heart and studies are clear that it also
    lowers blood pressure. Yet doctors are loath to recommend it and pre-
    scribe it only for genuine medical problems. This is not something
    you should be taking on your own. It’s needed in gram quantities so
    most vitamin and mineral supplements have just a little of it or the
    pill would be so big you wouldn’t want to take it.

    The opinions on Vitamin D have not reached any consensus yet throughout
    the scientific community. It’s a vitamin and you need it, and it’s
    not exactly easy to get in our diet from the average American diet. But
    how much exactly? The conservative government recommendation for an
    older woman like myself is between 400-800 mcg a day.

    Let the government spend the millions on research in this area and be
    conservative as they are in the recommendations you follow. Balance
    is everything and actually the body survives amazing assaults on itself
    so a simple daily vitamin and mineral supplement should be just fine.

    1. Ladywest, you are so right about the balance between calcium and magnesium. I warn people about the acid reducer, Prilosec, because it removes magnesium from your system and can cause heart palpitations and tachycardia. Several people in my family have taken this bad drug and have had serious heart problems as a result. There are other ways you can mess up your calcium, magnesium, potassium balance, such as eating too much meat and milk and not enough fruits and vegetables.

      After WWII when they rescued POWs that had been held by the Japanese and had been fed 600 calorie diets that were deficient in almost everything, the rescued soldiers started eating regularly again and several of them died from “re-feeding” syndrome. The poor diet had messed up their electrolyte balance and when they began eating again, they were getting too much sodium and not enough of the other nutrients. (The other problem was that there bodies had been feeding on their own muscle tissue for so long that they had stopped producing insulin and some of them died of diabetic shock.)

      One reason we should eat what we store NOW is that we don’t want to suddenly change diets in the middle of an emergency.

    2. More important than calcium, magnesium is the other minerals that enable the use of those properly…zinc has many functions including the balancing of he hormones and preventing the testosterone in the male from being changed into estrogen. Boron helps to enable proper use of calcium and magnesium.
      Vitamin D has had some interesting studies showing it boosts the body’s immune system. So go ahead and cut that Vitamin D and C to the bare core and don’t get any sunshine, you’ll make the oncologist’ and specialists happy with their increased cash flow.
      I have some experience wth potassium imbalance, secondary to xtreme gastric surgery. Potassium is indeed very hard to regulate for those who have diffficulty absorbing/ maintaining nutrients. It is easily available in potassium salt marketed for sodium replacer,” No-Salt”.
      The symptoms for a high potassium are as dangerous as one too low. There is one symptom that the common person can recognise.. the feeling of a ” puckering” lip. It is easy to reverse, should you get an overload of potassium. Just get out the salt shaker and use one serving, evaluate in 4-6 hours, if mouth still feeling odd, use a little more, maybe half as much.. to re balance. My best way to take is to put on a peice of potato or serving of tomato.
      I was taught by a Laboratoy supervisor…The body always has sodium and potassium in balance and each can be re balanced by giving the other. High sodium = give potassium, High potassium = give sodium.
      This is why putting the right amount/balance of ingredients in rehydration formula’s is so imperative.

  14. Each of us must choose fo our selves what we need or want in a vitamin/mineral supplement and how often we deem it necessary. It is truly an individual thing!
    When choosing the vitamin you wish to store for long term,It is very important that you do take them for a time before stocking a large supply, to make sure you can tolerate them without any side effects. I had a reaction to the ones mentioned… the Centrum have something in it that makes me ravenously hungry after taking for 2 days.We never could trace down what the ingredient is.
    Each person should also consider how much flouride you wish in your vitamin, many of the “common name” brands have flouride and aluminum in them, check the inert/inactive ingredient list. Each of these compounds has some toxcitiy, but together the toxic load is multiplied many times. (I choose No poison over a little. Remember, even rat posion is 99% inert.) Many of the chewables have aspartame in those. So those intolerant of aspartame should check those labels carefully…
    I struggle to get as much of my nutrition from food as possible. With the water soluable being my primary concern, I am choosing to supplement with individual B complex that is sublingual and not destroyed by gastric “juices”, a vitamin c, and D ( limited sun and milk in my diet and lifestyle), and Magnesium, boron and zinc.. when my present supply runs out I am going to one of the organic-natural ones. I will have to do some more research, Have been comparing already. Size/ taste are definite factors I must consider to take anything daily.Since I have a tiny stomach capacity and narrow esophagus.

  15. As I said before, buy unrefined salts as they have many micro minerals. These will keep indefinitely.

  16. Sandismom,

    Our Vets recognize events like these (and others over the last two years, like the trespassing at water treatment plants and electrical transformer target practice) as probes for future larger scale events.

  17. Man!! How did people survive all these thousands of years without vitamin pills and pharmaceuticals?!

    1. It’s a different world in many ways. I was listening to the radio and they were talking ‘health stuff’. The short story was us old farts are healthier and will have fewer health problems than the kids and young adults. Due in part to better quality food when younger,less pesticides and less junk food,

  18. Speaking of nutrition from foods?
    I read an article about a study of what the Roundup and other fertilizers farmers use today have done to totally strip our soils of any nutrients, etc.
    This from MIT, or reputable institutions.
    Couple that with GMO and we are at a dangerous time in our lives.

  19. Excellent article, very informative on what food we need for what vitamins. I started a list to add more vegetable seeds to my emergency seed supplies. Red peppers are a great food for vitamin A. Thanks for sharing.

  20. 1930’s Gov’t. study concluded U.S. soil nutrient deficient. MrsUSMCBG referring to sea salt/ pink Himalayan salt? Anyone remember the jingle – If not sure what, where, or why. Give your patient K&I?

Comments are closed.