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vitamin supplements for alcoholics?

deos68

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 30, 2015
Messages
1,170
as the title states is there a good multivitamin supplement for alcoholics?
i know B1(thiamine) b12 b6 what are some other ones?
 
First. . . No supplement or combination of supplements makes one immune to consuming lots of alcohol on a daily or near daily basis.

One large lifestyle study did suggest heavy drinkers who drink three cups of coffee a day are 75% less likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver. But lifestyle studies aren't good at establishing causality. Did people disinclined to drink coffee tend to have more vulnerable livers as opposed to coffee providing a protective effect? Those important things don't come up in lifestyle studies.

Next big thing, by manufacturing labeling among many other sources, if you drink daily don't use acetaminophen.

Thiamine and other nutrients are important. If one is drinking so much that they never have a solid stool, its likely that they are heading towards numerous malabsorbtion based nutritional deficiencies. Along with thiamine, I'd mention magnesium as a special concern in the nutritional anxieties about someone who perpetually over indulges in alcohol. But that's just one concern among thousands.
 
First. . . No supplement or combination of supplements makes one immune to consuming lots of alcohol on a daily or near daily basis.

One large lifestyle study did suggest heavy drinkers who drink three cups of coffee a day are 75% less likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver. But lifestyle studies aren't good at establishing causality. Did people disinclined to drink coffee tend to have more vulnerable livers as opposed to coffee providing a protective effect? Those important things don't come up in lifestyle studies.


Next big thing, by manufacturing labeling among many other sources, if you drink daily don't use acetaminophen.

Thiamine and other nutrients are important. If one is drinking so much that they never have a solid stool, its likely that they are heading towards numerous malabsorbtion based nutritional deficiencies. Along with thiamine, I'd mention magnesium as a special concern in the nutritional anxieties about someone who perpetually over indulges in alcohol. But that's just one concern among thousands.

i consider myself an alcoholic.. but i usually drink about 2/3 to 4 beers a night.
 
Back when I was a heavy drinker (~14-24 beers a night) I drank a half a pot to a full pot of coffee a day. I also took a good multivitamin (Garden of Life for women) and a good vitamin B complex (Garden of Life). I would take and still take magnesium in the morning and evenings, and vitamin D. Because I am primarily vegetarian, both back when I was drinking and now I would have vegan protien shakes (Orgain) to try to increase my protien. I was a heavy drinker for 17 years and went to the doctor every quarter to have bloodwork done to check organ function...in all that time I never had bad results so I just have been doing something right ;)

I would recommend the suppliments I listed above, and that brand as they make a quality bioavailable suppliment. If you feel like you're an alcoholic have you considered stoping while your consumption is still low? I'm not trying to pry or lecture, but an alcoholic life is not easy. If you have any questions about alcoholism or trying to be as healthy as possible with it, or stopping let me know :) I have a lot of experience in those areas. I have been sober a little over two years now and medical professionals can't tell I was ever an addict (I did other stuff aside from booze, but I was an extreme drinker and couldn't really hide that aspect of my life).
 
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Alcohol especially strips the body of B vitamins. It also prevents their absorption, along with the mineral class of nutrients like zinc and magnesium.

It's challenging to restore these lost nutrients because some of them are absorbed passively in the gut over the course of days after they are ingested (like magnesium), but when you ingest alcohol they get washed away. I would say that if you're in a difficult situation with alcoholism but want to supplement, you should look into sublingual or topical vitamins.

For instance, sublingual B complex, topical magnesium oil, injectable B12... anything that bypasses the digestive system. Unfortunately it's difficult to do that with all vitamins. An important one is zinc and you can't really get that any other way but food.

Until you get your alcohol consumption down, it's just damage control. Not judging you though... I get how tough it is. Just do what you can for now and get better when you're ready.
 
IM injectable b complex is good if you have deficiencies. Best to get a blood test to make sure.
 
Alcohol is such a volatile substance in the body it's honestly futile to think that taking any real micronutrients in supplement form is going to help alleviate any issues that are coming about from alcoholism and it's daily presence in the body. It's all tied together.

Example: Generally in alcoholics, low protein intake along with deficiency in amino acids greatly lowers our ADH levels (vasopressin) in our liver. ADH is the pathway alcohol takes for breakdown and it dictates the speed at which this metabolism occurs. Low protein died > lowered ADH levels > lowered alcohol metabolism > more liver damage due to a prolonged period of heightened blood alcohol levels...

More scar tissue that occurs and more destruction to the metabolic pathways that our hepatocytes use, more likely nutrients will never be absorbed in a nutshell.
 
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