I realize that the title of this post is somewhat provocative, but it’s a sincere question that I’ve had for a while. And it’s become even more nagging with each passing year. I should state from the outset, that I hate ingesting pills, tablets, and capsules of any kind. It’s not that I mind what they might or might do once digested — it’s that  I just don’t like swallowing the darn things!

Until several months ago, I was taking a daily multi-vitamin along with an OsteoBiflex tablet for my knee problems, but then I just stopped taking them one morning for no particular reason other than it was too much effort to take out the pill bottles and choke them down with my hot coffee.

I know I should probably take them with either water or juice, but I’m really lazy.

So how do I feel now all these months later compared to the years I was taking the multi-vitamin and glucosamine supplement?

Absolutely no different!

Yes, but therein lies the rub — at least with the multi-vitamin, there will be little or no perceptible change in sensation. I think unless I was suffering from a severe deficiency of a particular vitamin or mineral, then noticeable changes wouldn’t be evident.

The glucosamine/chondroitin supplement, if it was doing what it’s purported to, then yes, I would expect to notice a difference between being on it versus not.

My knees still snap, crackle, and click.

OK, I will fess up and admit that I’m playing the Devil’s Advocate to the extreme here. I’m well aware that these kinds of micro-nutrients do their work/magic at the cellular level and it then becomes an act of faith that long term, you will derive benefit from regular ingestion of them.

It’s much like an insurance policy that doesn’t really do you any good until it’s time to make a claim. Hmm, maybe that’s not the best analogy. OK, how about this — it’s like making small regular deposits into your savings account that really won’t result in noticeable gains until many years into the future.

No, that doesn’t do it for you either?

In any event, I do hope you are able to see the point I’m trying to make. Though I have done quite a bit of reading and investigation into nutrition and diet over the years, particularly when I was being fanatical with my weight lifting, it’s clear that I need to delve into this subject even further at this point in my life.

The reports and all of the advertising for nutritional supplements make an enticing case for the anti-aging benefits of just about every nutritional supplement under the sun. The big question now is which ones truly live up to their bold claims?

So as I dig into my research I’ll report back on what I find and as for anything I try out on myself, I will give you my honest opinion of it. The last thing I want to do is spend a lot of money on supplements that are little more than snake oil!