Multivitamins and supplements are a multi-billion-dollar industry every year. With over 6,000 results for multivitamin on Amazon alone, how are we supposed to know which multivitamins are helpful and which ones are a waste of money or potentially contaminated? I’m going to be breaking down my 5 tips on choosing the best multivitamin for your body.
Tip #1: Decided If You Need To Supplement With A Multi-Vitamin
If you want a more in-depth explanation of if Multivitamins Work For Healthy People, I did an entire video on my professional opinion on this I’ll link below at the end of this blog. In short, a lot of people who eat a balanced, healthful diet full of a different variant of fruits and vegetables, don’t need a daily multi-vitamin. I’m in no way saying if you take a multi-vitamin, you can ignore proper nutrition and exercise. Supplements are supplemental to a balanced diet.
BUT if you’re elderly, pregnant, trying to become pregnant, take certain medicines, have certain genetic or health conditions, eat a restricted or limited diet or don’t have easy access to healthful food, you may need extra help to ensure you’re getting the recommended daily amount of certain vitamins and minerals. Studies show a high percentage of adults and children in north America eat less than the minimum daily allowance of 10 or more essential nutrients and are therefore more likely to develop chronic disease because of these deficiencies.
If you think that your diet lacks certain vitamins or minerals, you can schedule a blood test with doctor (or with myself) to test your levels of essential vitamins and minerals to help better guide your decision.
Tip #2: Personalize
Multivitamins have different amounts of certain vitamins and minerals based on needs of the individual they serve. For example senior vitamins may contain more vitamin D, women’s vitamins usually have extra calcium and iron and the same is true for multivitamins for targeted age groups or health conditions. Daily recommended intake (DRI) for many vitamins and minerals depends in part on your age and gender. Nowadays, there are multivitamins specifically for men, women, seniors, kids and more. Choose one that best fits your needs.
You can also choose a multivitamin based on your dietary restrictions. I’ve seen mutlivitamins for vegans, vegetarians, keto-dieters and more. *If you’re vegan, be aware some multivitamins may use crushed bone meal as a source of calcium or use gelatin as an ingredient for the capsule*
Tip #3: Check For Completeness & Potency of Vitamins and Minerals
Besides well-known nutrients like vitamin C, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium, a good multivitamin will include vitamins and minerals like Thiamin, B6, B12, D3, Boron, Iron, Folate, K2 and Vitamin E.
Achieving daily requirements for major minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and other essential nutrients, such as vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, may require separate supplementation. In general, look for multi-vitamin formulations that include:
· Vitamin A: No more than 5,000 IU
· Vitamin C: 60-1,000mg
· Vitamin D: 400 IU or more
· Vitamin E: 20-100 IU
· Vitamin K: 10mcg or more
· Thiamin (B1): 1.2 mg or more
· Riboflavin (B2): 1.7mg or more
· Niacin (B3) 14-35mg
· Vitamin B6: 2-100mg
· Folic Acid: No more than 400 mcg
· Vitamin B12: 6mcg or more
· Iron: Premenopausal women: 18 mg; Everyone else: 10mg
· Magnesium: 50-350mg
· Zinc: No more than 30mg
· Copper: 0.5-10mg
· Selenium: 20-110mcg
· Chromium: 35cg or more
It’s also important to check the kind of mineral and vitamin forms used in the vitamin. It’s vital that the nutrients in the multi-vitamin are in the most bioavailable forms as amino-acid chelates or organic-acid complexes. Because what is the point of taking and paying for a vitamin if our bodies can’t absorb and utilize the vitamins and nutrients in it??
Tip #4: Check for Seals of Approval
If you didn’t know already, dietary supplements are not regulated like medication. A lot of supplements have harmful contaminants and sure some companies care and test the safety of their supplements, but most of them don’t. One 2013 study tested 44 bottles of dietary supplements from 12 different companies and found that ONE-THIRD of the supplements tested DIDN’T contain the supplement advertised (meaning a supplement labeled Melatonin 5mg didn’t even contain Melatonin)!
U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), NSF Internationals, and ConsumerLab.com are some organizations that test dietary supplements. They make sure the supplements contains the ingredients listed on the label, in the declared potency and amount and ensure the supplements don’t contain harmful levels of contaminants and the tablet or capsule will break down and release the nutrients into the body.
If you have the budget for it, consider going organic or at least whole food-based with your multivitamin, rather than synthetic—meaning made in a lab. Whole-food vitamins, on the other hand, come from real food and can often be a better alternative.
Tip #5: Update Provider and Pharmacist
It’s important to tell your health care provider and pharmacist about any supplements you are taking. They will check for any possible side effects, drug interactions, disease interactions and any other specific health concerns. They can also provide information on when to best take the multivitamin since the absorption of certain foods and medication can be affected by supplements.
Need Help Choosing A Multivitamin or Other Supplements?
If you want to learn about supplements and superfoods that do have a clinical benefit and could be helpful to you and your health, I offer personalized supplement protocols for helping people go from confused and paying too much for supplements that don’t work to confident and reaching their health goals faster. Whether it’s improving overall health, increasing strength or endurance, losing weight, increasing energy, decreasing stress, managing a specific disease condition or all the above, my step-by-step supplement protocols are backed with proven results. If you have questions or would like to see if my personalized supplement protocols can help you, book an obligation free wellness consultation with me today using this link: https://www.thesuperfoodpharmacist.com/service-page/free-wellness-consultation?referral=service_list_widget
Scientific References:
1. Do Multivitamins Work For Healthy People *Pharmacist Opinion*: Link: https://youtu.be/tnVTjmX09nk
2. Before Taking a Vitamin Supplement…WATCH THIS *Are Dietary Supplements Safe??*: Link: https://youtu.be/x6A6RX5-Z8Q
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