I want to take a vitamin..

Alright so I'm 19, in college, and I've decided that I want to take a multi-vitamin to make up for any nutrients I'm not getting.

However I know nothing about vitamins. Is it safe for me to take them? And which brands would you recommend for me?

Is there anything extra I need to know about taking vitamins?

Thanks :)

I've found that the Viactive ones are nice

i like one a day womens and because i live in northern alberta, where we don't get much sun in the winter, i take vitamin d with it.

theres a bunch of websites on what type and amounts of vitamins &minerals you should be getting for your age etc. just search on google!

Yes it is safe.  Centrum is great.  Speak to any pharmacist.  Even Flintstones is better than nothing.  Also, eat any fruit(s) and vegetable(s) daily. 

I purchase and sell a series of vitamins from an online store and I've found that they are better then the leading vitamins that I've brought from regular stores. My hair and nails are looking fabulous and I feel so much better than before.

www.livetotalwellness.com/yourdream2

There is a big difference between vitamins.  There is a book called Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements.  It outlines the reason for taking vitamins and compares about 1500 different brands.  There are 2 main types of vitamins, food grade and pharmacutical grade.  I use a pharmacutical and have had good results.  For instance, I sleep about 5 hours a night because of my job and I have seen a huge difference in energy levels.  Also, I have chronic kidney stones and my kidneys swell up and get painful if I drink too much.  the pain has gone down.  Everybody is different so its up to you to do your homework.  If you have any questions, feel free to write me at my profile.  Thanks,

Bryan 

Just want to throw out there that most people don't need to take a multivitamin. You should try first to get your vitamins from real food- there's evidence that people don't get the benefit of vitamins from pills that they would from natural food. Also, I've heard that most of us don't get enough sunlight to process 100% RDI of calcium.

That said, I decided to take Women's One-A-Day. I eat very healthy, clean, and balanced, but after a few months of keeping an eye on my daily vitamin intake on CC (if you haven't found this awesome function yet, hold your mouse over the date in the analysis section), I found that I was really struggling to get a decent amount of iron every day, and I often had days where I was low on C. Since I've stopped calorie counting, I don't have a way of knowing whether I'm low, but I know that my diet tends to be low on those things. I considered taking iron pills, but too much iron can be very dangerous, and iron pills often have 200% or more of your daily value. If you're consistently hitting 100% or more of your RDI of iron, I would NOT take a multivitamin, as you'll risk getting too much iron.