Multivitamin supplement – Choosing the Right One for You

Summary

The best supply of critical vitamins and minerals is a balanced diet. Even abundant food supplies and nutrient-rich foods may lead to nutritional shortages if the right foods are missed. Choosing the right supplement based on your requirements is crucial.

 

Introduction

Do you feel that in spite of timely and adequate meals you experience fatigue? That perhaps, you are not being able to give your best at work? We require a wide variety of nutrients to keep us going. Vitamins and minerals, although needed only in only minute quantities, are necessary to carry out daily tasks optimally. Multivitamin supplements can help meet your nutritional requirements where food falls short.¹ Multivitamins are nutritional supplements combining several vitamins and minerals in a single capsule or tablet keeping in mind recommended dietary allowances (RDA).

 

According to studies, taking a multivitamin won't help you avoid heart attacks, strokes, or common malignancies. However, research suggests that men who take daily multivitamins have an 8% lower probability of being diagnosed with cancer and a decreased risk of having cataract in the eye.²

So, let’s understand how you should go about choosing the right supplement for you.

 

Categories of Multivitamins

Multivitamins exist in liquid, gummy, and capsule forms. The standard categories of multivitamins include:

• Multivitamins specifically for women or men
• Supplements for seniors (over 60 years of age)
• Multivitamins for children
• Multivitamins for pregnant women
• Supplements for people with chronic illness or specific health conditions

The right one for your best friend, might not be the right one for you. Depending on our lifestyle, dietary patterns, existing health conditions, genetic predispositions, requirements for multivitamin vary between individuals. Thus, it is important that you choose the right one to meet your specific health status.

 

Who needs multivitamin supplements?

A daily multivitamin may be necessary if you are:²

• Pregnant
• Vegetarian
• Lactose intolerant
• Have inadequate sleep
• Poor dietary habits
• Don’t consume nutrient-rich foods
• Breastfeeding
• Using alcohol or tobacco regularly

 

How to choose a multivitamin supplement

You can learn how much vitamin or mineral you should take by reading and understanding the labels or speaking to a doctor. When you take proper guidance from the doctor and use it correctly, the risks and side effects of a multivitamin are very low. Ensure you read keep these in mind when finding the best multivitamin supplement for you:

• Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and Adequate Intake (AI)

It should meet the recommended daily quantities of a vitamin or mineral you need to stay nourished and healthy. They differ for men and women, and among age groups.³

• Daily Value (DV)

The multivitamin should have close to 100% of the daily value for each ingredient when reading the label. Some nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium, cannot be combined in large quantities in a single daily tablet. Exceeding the daily value can be dangerous since these compounds accumulate in your body over time and may cause side effects.³

• Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL)

This is the maximum daily vitamin and mineral intake you can have without running the danger of overdosing or experiencing adverse side effects. For some nutrients, the more you exceed the UL, the more likely you will experience difficulties.³

• Right Nutrients

The commonly used nutrients in multivitamin supplements are:

• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Vitamin D
• Potassium
• Fibre

Since fibre can be found through other dietary supplements, look for a multivitamin that contains most other nutrients.³

Drug Interactions

Numerous vitamins and minerals in multivitamins may interact with other drugs or dietary supplements. These should be looked out for when buying the best multivitamin supplement for you:

• Blood Thinners

Vitamin K, commonly present in most multivitamins, interacts with warfarin, a blood thinner. If you use a blood thinner, discuss with your doctor or registered dietitian whether taking a multivitamin is safe for you or not.⁴ Further, get the dosage details from your doctor.

 

• Nutrient Absorption

The absorption of some nutrients may be reduced in the presence of others. Because iron and calcium compete with one another for absorption, most high-quality multivitamins only include one of the two. Your diet will determine which minerals you require. High iron dosages may also prevent the absorption of zinc.⁵

 

Conclusion

Everyone requires vitamins and minerals to keep up their energy running high. Sadly, many of our diets won't give complete vitamins and minerals required by our body. To overcome this, multivitamins are needed, and enable optimal body functions. Vitabiotics offers a range of multivitamin products. Visit the Vitabiotics webpage – Supplements  to learn more about the various multivitamin products you can choose from and find the most suitable multivitamin supplement for your specific requirements.

 

 

References

1. Ward E. Addressing nutritional gaps with multivitamins and mineral supplements. Nutr J. 2014 Jul 15;13:72. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25027766/
2. Loconti C. How to Choose a Multivitamin. WebMD. Updated on: 14.06.2022 Available from: https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/how-to-choose-a-multivitamin
3. Vitamins and Minerals: How Much Should You Take? WebMD. Updated on: 02.11.2022

Available from: https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/vitamins-minerals-how-much-should-you-take

1. National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin K: Fact sheet for consumers

Available from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminK-HealthProfessional/

1. National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. Iron: Fact sheet for consumers.