The world is gravitating towards healthcare like never before. We are all keener to maintain health by embarking on a workout spree, gorging on raw food so that we can stay healthy, and supplementing on tablets to fulfill our nutritional requirements. The upsurge of advertisements and the recommendations by influencers – That’s it. We fall for all those that come across as remotely ‘healthy’. When they say that popping in vitamin pills would supplement you with the required nutrients, you fall for it. But are you aware of the Multivitamins Composition to ensure that you are supplied with the requisite nutrients? Let’s dive deep into the world of health supplements.
The health that is synthesized in a multivitamin plant.
Quite often, the resounding question that we, as nutritionists, face is whether I should take multivitamin supplements. The answer to this question can be two questions.
- Do you take multiple servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day? (not once in a while but every day)
- Does 80% of your diet consist of unprocessed or whole foods?
If your answer is yes, you need not take any health supplements unless you have any specific ailments or deficiencies. Because a balanced diet is enough to keep you healthy. But as the present conditions stand, the soil is depleted of its natural minerals and goodness due to the continuous and inadvertent use of fertilizers. This in turn tampers with the nutritional quality of the produce. Also, we receive our fruits and vegetables after transportation.
A lot of nutrients are lost in this process. So we cannot be rest assured of the quality of the produce that we buy from the shops. If the vegetables and fruits are produced in your backyard or they are bought from an organic farmer in your locality. Your dietary routine should be as per mentioned above, you need not take nutritional supplements. Otherwise, it would be ideal to supplement your diet because more nutrients could be lost due to overcooking and unscientific packing.
Single vitamin and multivitamin
Now that you have an idea about whether you should consume supplements. The next question is whether you should consume any particular vitamin or multivitamin. If you have a specific vitamin deficiency, it is advisable to take single vitamins. For instance, I have Vitamin C and Vitamin D deficiency. Hence I take supplements for these two. Though my levels are almost back to normal after my wellness lifestyle, I take supplements once in a while just in case. If you are pregnant, the gynec might prescribe folic acid, iron, and calcium supplements. Patients above 50 would be suggested Vitamin D and Calcium because their chances of having Osteoporosis are higher. Vegans are suggested Vitamin B12. But if you are an overall healthy human it is better to have the right multivitamins dosage for adults due to the following reasons.
Single vitamins can be expensive
If you choose to consume a separate tablet for each vitamin and mineral requirement, it would burn your pockets. Moreover, you have to pop in multiple pills instead of a single multivitamin tablet. The multivitamins multi minerals and antioxidants tablets uses are more pronounced in such scenarios.
We don’t know how they act
If we pop in multiple vitamin pills, we don’t know how they will react and whether one vitamin will affect the absorption of another. The medical world is still unsure about the repercussions. Multivitamin contraindications are lesser in comparison because a good multivitamin company will take into account all of these while formulating the tablets.
Now you know whether to take single vitamins or multivitamins. Now let’s have a look at the Multivitamins Compositions which is the key factor in deciding whether the tablet we consume is beneficial or not.
Multivitamin composition – What to look for?
The multivitamins multiminerals and antioxidants tablets uses depend on the composition that they are formulated in. You need to know if you are consuming the synthetic drug created in a multivitamin plant or the one with the right multivitamins compositions. While all the jargon would be overwhelming for you, we shall share a few terms to look for in your supplement. Before we go further, take your multivitamin bottle and look at the label.
Before going further let us see what are co factors. Co factors are the substances that along with the enzymes and other substances, help the nutrients to be absorbed into your body. Once you take synthetic tablets with multivitamins composition that mimic the chemical structure, they don’t get absorbed due to the lack of co-factors. However, there are other companies that go about to ensure that you are provided with bioactive (easily absorbable) forms of vitamins and minerals.
The composition to look for
To know the difference, let us dive deep into the multivitamins composition.
- Vitamin B-6 -The bioactive form of B-6 is Pyridoxal 5′-phosphate but if you look at the label, most of the commercial tablets available have Pyridoxine HCL, which is the synthetic form and would be ejected through urine.
- Vitamin B-12 – The bioactive form of B-12 methylcobalamine but most tablets have cyanocobalamin in their tablets. This is the cheaper version and is not the bioactive form
- Vitamin B-9 – For Vitamin B-9 or folate, the bioactive form is L-5 Methyltetrahydrofolate
- Minerals – Minerals are mostly poorly absorbed unless combined with the chelate. Most companies don’t provide chelated minerals.
Some companies skip the addition of bioactive forms of the vitamins. In such cases, without any further research, you can be assured that the product is synthetic because the companies that go the extra mile to provide you with bioactive multivitamins mention that on the label. We don’t want any unnecessary fillers like gluten, yeast, artificial colors lactose, etc. The components that you might want to look for are cellulose and silicon dioxide which are natural.
The dosage matters
Another key factor is the dosage. We need a continuous supply of nutrients in our body. Though it is not practicable to take 5-6 dosages of the tablet per day at least two doses is a must. If a company is asking you to pop only one pill and go about the day, you can be assured that their Multivitamins Composition is as good as not. The website multivitamin guide has a comprehensive list of approved multivitamins. For more assistance about your diet, you can take our diet plans and start formulating healthy eating habits.
This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’
hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.
I generally read label before buying but while going through your post it has hit me hard that I never read the label on the multivitamins ever. very useful post for ignorant people like me.
Wow! I am so glad I came across this article. I was digging for some info on daily vits and this article answers a lot of questions.
This is a really useful article on multivitamins. I think everyone should read it. It has really helped me to make more informed decisions when it comes to my nutrition and overall health. Thanks for the great information!
Your post should be an eye-opener for all who are running after expensive food supplements, and forgetting that the bounty of nature is able to cater to most of our needs.It is really important to understand requirements and take professional advice before popping a vitamin capsule.
This is a very helpful post. Usually, we don’t pay attention to such fine details and that is rare to find. Thank you for highlighting this and an informative post.
I take multivitamins now I am already checking the label this was eye opening also can you elaborate about iron tablets
Thank you for sharing this
This is definitely a good eye opener. I’ve not checked , but I take them individually. But I think after reading now is the time to start checking
Being a not-so-conscious shopper, I often ignore those that you mentioned in this blog. This is a personal eye-opener for me, I will start looking at those leads that you mentioned here from my next shopping…!!!!
Saved to my pin. Thank you for the article
Oh Rakhi, I cant thank you enough. I just remembered that after answering the poll that you shared few days back I answered that I take multi vitamin but after a gap of 2-3 months. You asked me to wait as something is coming. I never in my weird dreams of life ever thought that there will be so much unknown to me about Multi vitamin. God blessed me that’s why I am having a friend like you who showers so much knowledge which is no less than a gift from you to me. I will be more careful now onwords and read every particular details on the label before buying and consuming. Thanks a ton once again.
This is a very helpful guide Rakhi. With our scary city lifestyles, vitamin supplements tend to become the norm. And knowing your supplement is even more important. I will look up the website, Multivitamin Guide as well.
Wow, this is such an eye-opening post, Rakhi. I never realized how much we might be missing out on with our multivitamins. I completely relate to your concern. In this age of information overload and influence res promoting various supplements, it is important to be well-informed about what we are putting into our bodies. Understanding the composition of multivitamins is essential for ensuring we are getting the nutrients we need. And yes after your last poll, I found out how important it is to understand the specifics of what goes into our supplements. Thanks for sharing this valuable information.
This is such a helpful and well written post on multivitamins. So thankful for your detailed post.
Still I do not take any vitamin. I took in my pregnancy only . But when doctor prescribed we tend to ignore to check label. Your post is eye opener. I never dig in detail when it comes to medicine. Thank you for informative post.
That’s a very important post, just got my levels back of b12 and VitD, many of us take in multi vitamins without being deficient and that cannot always lead to positive impact.
I’m one of those who get colds whenever I drink some vitamin-c. So you can say that I’m “kinda” an anti-multivitamins and though I don’t eat that much vegetables and fruits as needed, I know I’m slowly going there. Getting more mindful with my food intake. Commercialism is really evident anywhere and its only up to us on how we should be able to be mindful of our purchases.
This is a very useful article Rakhi… your research is commendable. I had no knowledge of the components as I don’t take vit supplements. Most of us leave our health in the hands of our health care providers and we dont even know what they prescribe and what we consume. Its scary.
The only supplement I take so far is fish oil capsules.
This is a very important post. My husband was a doctor and he would often say multivitamins are required only in some cases. Just having a vitamin when the body does not need it makes no sense. We should only have multivitamins if they are prescribed.
An interesting post, Rakhi. I looked up your multivitamin list. The top ones are not available in India, it appears. Which is the best supplement for women over 45 that’s available in India?
That is a wonderful post about multivitamins. I think I have to bookmark it for coming back when I need it. Great work.
OMG–I was taking Supraplus for a long time and I knew it is natural, but recently when I didn’t get it, I got B12 pills. I barely took them for a week. I got my blood tested randomly and my B12 is 1500! Indian brands write the ingredients in such small font that it is difficult to read. I will now look out for all the negatives you have shared and go for cellulose and silicon dioxide as you have suggested.
So glad I seen your post. Such an eye opener. Now that we are so relying on supplements and multivitamins especially covid, we ignore all this. Your post will be so useful to many.
I dont take multivitamins, may be I should, but now that you have mentioned these important points it is something that I will keep in mind to check out for when I try them.
That was really helpful Rakhi. Personally I am not a fan of supplements and prefer gaining everything through natural diet. However the absorptivity of certain nutrients also matters and sometimes it just can’t be absorbed through diet. That’s when I ask my patients to take supplements.
This is very informative…. We humans always in take medicine without thinking all these
This is a very helpful and important post. Thank you for sharing.