Healthy Lifestyle Tip: Multivitamins: Should You Take One?

Food is the best source of most nutrients, but a multivitamin can help provide what your diet doesn’t. Find out what to look for in a daily multivitamin.

Our bodies need many different vitamins and minerals to function properly.

Vitamins and minerals also offer us protection against a host of ailments, including heart disease and some cancers, such as colon and cervical cancer.

The good news is that we can get most of the vitamins and minerals our bodies need daily by choosing the right foods and eating a wide variety of them.

Still, many people take a multivitamin daily as an insurance policy — just to be sure they are getting all the vitamins and minerals that their bodies require.

Daily Vitamin: Our Needs Change With Age

Vitamin supplements can be particularly important during certain stages of our lives, Dr. Novey says. For example, women in their childbearing years can benefit from folic acid, which decreases the risk of some birth defects. Active and older women can benefit from increased calcium, which can help prevent bone loss and fractures. Vegetarians also can benefit from taking extra calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamins B12 and D.

Daily Vitamin: Tips for Shopping for the Right Multivitamin

The Nutrient Reference Values (NRV), formerly Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA), for vitamins and minerals are displayed on their packaging – with 100% being the amount currently seen as an acceptable daily intake for a healthy adult. Multivitamins can be beneficial, but doctors warn not to overdo it. The amount of vitamins in a standard multi is generally what you need for health benefits. Rarely do people need more than the RDA of any vitamin. When it comes to vitamins, the too-much-of-a-good-thing rule can apply, Bickston says.

Daily Vitamin: Ensuring Good Health

Clearly, eating a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, lean meats and poultry, and low-fat dairy products is the best way to get your daily dose of vitamins and nutrients to keep your body functioning properly and to ward off illnesses. But taking a multivitamin daily is a good backup plan, and an easy way to fill in any gaps in your diet.

Orenstein, Beth (2009, May 20). Multivitamins: Should You Take One? Retrieved from https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/taking-a-daily-multivitamin.aspx