Rotate Vitamin Tires

It is recommended to rotate tires on a car to even out the wear patterns. This same principle, sort of, can be applied to taking vitamins. The obvious take away is to change Brands every so often which would limit or balance any deficiencies or excesses one Brand might exhibit.  

Look at nature. Some days are sunshine and some are cloudy, some are hot and others are cold. On some days the wind blows in from the North, others it comes from the South. Sometimes the trees have leaves and sometimes they don't. The POINT here is  that in nature, there is variety. Why? Science has found overall system benefits from these variety actions in nature. It makes nature compensate and prepare for these changing events, and she uses them to prepare growing cycles, promote soil renewal, and, of course, species survival.

Variety in nature might also be called stimulus variation. If you touch someone with a feather it tickles, but if you constantly touch with the feather, at some point the tickle turns into an irritant. Nature must not like irritants.  

Applying this concept to consuming vitamin supplements could be rather interesting. First, other than rotating Brands, is there an advantage to not taking supplements everyday? Or what about varying the dosages some days? If the vitamin in question is fat soluble, any excess one day gets stored in the body for use another day. The next question logically following this statement; Can too much of these fat soluble vitamins be stored that might change characteristics and begin exhibiting detrimental effects? Does the body adapt and change processes if continually supplied at a higher than normal nutrient amount? 

Science has discovered that the answer is YES for most nutrients, like vitamin D, plus all of the other fat soluble vitamins, many minerals, and even water soluble B and C vitamins get short term storage, with vitamin B12 showing long term storage or a re-using ability. Calcium is one nutrient that clearly shows multiple body changes occur at continuously higher intake amounts. Each nutrient has to be examined separately. Perhaps the greatest physiological body function to simply explain this fact is that the body has controls to either increase absorption if body stores are low OR decrease absorption if body levels are already high for a nutrient. Plus, once inside the body, other controls either speed up or slow down elimination channels out of the body. This innate body wisdom is part of the information used by Government Nutritional Agencies to establish the RDI, or recommended daily intake. Unfortunately, this known information has some gaps which this website exposes.

SIDEBAR: Vitamin Companies, attempting to gain an advantage over the competition, or nature, often unwisely develop nutrient compounds or change molecular size to counter these natural protective body processes. Minerals often have chelate forms designed to maximize absorption over naturally occurring mineral forms the body effectively handles. Which in some cases is a limiting factor. The size aspect is true for Hyaluronic Acid.

Another factor is that nutrients interact with each other and function at optimal rates when ratios between certain nutrients are maintained, i.e. Calcium to Phosphorus and Magnesium, Vitamin E to K, Potassium to Sodium, and Zinc to Copper. Maintaining these ratios is the driving force behind many of the regulating adaptive body processes necessary for survival.

Thus, yes there is a benefit to using "stimulus variation" in consuming vitamin supplements. A rotational and variable dosage approach is favored by nature and your body.

Here is one more concept to consider. Scientists found that they can increase the lifespan of some organisms by systematically under-feeding. Why would giving less food increase lifespan? One answer stated the fact that under-feeding would reduce free radical generation resulting in less oxidative stress. Consumed food and vitamins have to be processed. This naturally generates free radicals. Giving just the right amount of food to sustain the organism but not create extra stress may be the ideal. Since most vitamins are somewhat stored by the body, it is not necessary to consume them everyday in supplements since they are just that, supplements. The vitamins in food should be the primary source for nutrients. 

How and which nutrients can be used on a rotational basis is a topic for another article. For some insight see this article.