This picture…Is it bringing up childhood memories?

If you are like me, one your earliest introductions to the world of health was Flintstone’s Multivitamins. Those candy-not quite candy health tablets were given to me and you to promote our young health as we explored this new world. Eventually, you were deemed too old for these Flintstone’s pills and either 1)were given a more age appropriate multivitamin or 2) forewent multivitamins completely, believing that you no longer needed them.

If you chose the second option, this article will provide three important reasons why you should still takes multivitamins, regardless of your age. If you do take multivitamins, this article should solidify your reasoning to continue to use them.

1. Multivitamins Make Up for the Vitamins & Minerals Lacking in Your Diet

Let’s clarify what exactly are vitamins and minerals. Vitamins are organic nutrients that organisms cannot naturally produce in sufficient amounts but nonetheless are necessary for maintaining stable health. When ingested, they promote healthy vision and skin (Vitamins A & B), bone health (Vitamin K), and proper absorption of calcium (Vitamin D).  Minerals (or dietary elements) are inorganic elements that must be consumed in smaller quantities and include calcium (strong bones), iron (supports that transport of oxygen in the blood stream), and potassium (controlling hypertension).

 One could expect to receive their recommended daily dosage of vitamins and minerals from their diet. However, people usually are not consuming the healthiest foods or are consuming said foods in inadequate amounts (thus consuming inadequate amounts of vitamins/minerals). There is also the consideration that because most people do not produce their own food, there is no way of determining how much vitamins and minerals have been removed for the sake of preservation.      

 Multivitamins serve as the ultimate supplement to fill in the holes of an incomplete diet and make up for what may be lacking nutritionally from overly-processed foods.   

2. They Provide Additional Support to the Physically Active

Whether you are a professional athlete or certified weekend warrior, you are pushing your body more frequently than the average person and thus place more physical demands on your physiological systems. While supplements such as Creatine and BCAAs help your body during and after you exercise, they don’t provide the essential nutrients necessary for adequate recovery in the long term. 

 A fortified multivitamin however provides the extra support for protecting the thousands of metabolic processes that must be optimal for any significant improvements in one’s health. They can be taken anytime of the day and are less likely to produce any adverse effects for your body. 

3. Studies that Disregard Multivitamins are Unreliable

In recent years, the effectiveness of multivitamins has been severely doubted from various publications. This new opposition stems from two scientific investigations: a 12 year study that examined whether multivitamins supported cognitive function in elderly men and an 8 year study that determined the cardiovascular effects of a multivitamin on elderly people who suffered from a heart attack at least 4.6 years prior to the investigation.  Both studies concluded that there were no significant improvements in the participants’ health compared to their placebo groups and thus concluded that multivitamins do not provide any meaningful benefits.

Both investigations however have been criticized for their limitations and overall weak design. Life Extension.com points that out that in the cognitive function experiment, participants “were simply asked to report how adherent they were to their assigned intervention once a year”. Unless they meticulously wrote down their multivitamin regime, there is a good chance that they misinformed their usage to the experimenters. The multivitamins issued contained low-dosages of Vitamin C, Selenium and Vitamin B12, sub-standard amounts needed to properly assess multivitamin’s potency. A study conducted by JG Walker showed that regular supplementation of 100 mg of B12 (4x the amount in the cognitive investigation) to older patients promoted cognitive function after 2 years. Another investigation demonstrated that high-dosage of folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12 reduces the onset of brain atrophy in older subjects.   

  The heart attack study has been denounced for drawing it conclusions when only 54% of the participants completed the study. Can an experiment be reliable when nearly half of the subjects quit? The research also designated that the multivitamin must have an effect size of 25% to be considered useful, a size they admit “may have been overly optimistic”.  Like the cognitive experiment, the participants received low-dosage amounts of various vitamins, such as B12 (shown to reduce the homocysteine, which damages blood vessels).  Finally, while the research concluded that multivitamins does not support cardiovascular health, they did find that the recurrence of a heart attack or stroke was reduced by 11 % for those in the multivitamin group.

Ultimately, these studies are limited in their ability to properly address the benefits of multivitamins and do not possess the same rigor and organization of other investigations that had analyzed these health-promoting pills.

Final Thoughts 

When shopping for a multivitamin, you should expect them to contain Vitamins A, B1-B3, B5-B7, B9, B12, C, D, E, iron, iodine, manganese, zinc, borate, potassium, selenium, magnesium, and calcium.  However, depending on your age, gender and specific level of health, you may require higher or lower amount of certain vitamins and minerals. You should talk to your doctor/nutritionist for their advice on which multivitamin to use.     

While multivitamins make-up for the nutrients that may be missing in your diet, you can easily overdose on vitamins and minerals if you are consuming beyond the recommended amount.  

Finally, you should always strive to eat healthy and choose the foods that promote vitality. 

Finally, Finally, if you are interested in receiving a comprehensive understanding of commercially available multivitamins, then click the image below where you will be taken to The Best Multivitamin Brands . Anything that I have not said regarding multivitamins can be found here. Simply put, a must read for those serious about upping their personal nutrition standards.

If you have any questions or if there is a topic you want us to discuss, let us know below.