Benefits of a Daily Vitamin
There’s plenty of conflicting evidence about multivitamins and their efficacy. Even practitioners have opposing views on whether or not they recommend multivitamins. The research can be frustrating to sort through, so we wanted to shed some light on the topic.
The good news is that there is peer-reviewed research being done on multivitamins and how they can help support various aspects of the human body, both on a biochemical level and for dietary supplementation.
Here are some excellent benefits multivitamins may provide for your patients, and important considerations when choosing a formula for them.
Three Important Multivitamin Benefits
A Daily Multivitamin Supplements your Diet
One of the most common reasons practitioners recommend a multivitamin to their patients is to supplement an insufficient diet — and in the United States, this isn’t out of the ordinary. People in America follow a wide variety of diets, from fad diets that cut out or severely reduce entire food groups (like Atkins or keto) to lifestyle choices (like veganism).
Even if people aren’t following a structured diet for the purpose of weight loss, gain, or maintenance, the is far from ideal. Our diet is full of refined carbs, sugar, processed foods, and not nearly enough fruits and vegetables to give us all the nutrients our bodies need.
“We are at a disadvantage in many ways with our modern diets,” says Emerson Ecologics Medical Advisory Board Chair . “They are too processed, grown on depleted soils and our total intakes are limited by our lower caloric intake due to our sedentary lifestyle.”
Dr. Sheeler brings up an important point here — the soil in which our produce is being grown is deficient in nutrients itself. “It’s not just a problem in the United States — depleted soil has also been found to be a problem in many parts of Europe,” says Sheeler. “As farming becomes more focused on yield per acre than growing quality produce and all they have to offer, the nutritional value is compromised.”
Of course, this compromise affects the nutritional value of our food, and Sheeler says we can’t discount the role it plays in overall health. “We end up with less magnesium and potassium, but also other micronutrients that are found in trace amounts like boron, chromium, selenium, manganese, and lithium. It seems trivial that a few micrograms less of a trace mineral could make a difference in your health but in fact it can.”
Given this information, it’s unlikely that patients who are eating this way are getting all the from food alone. So if they’re not already taking some sort of supplement, it’s entirely possible that they’re experiencing some kind of vitamin deficiency.
According to of the Second Nutrition Report, the overwhelming majority of Americans (over 90%) aren’t getting the recommended amount of vitamins D and E from food sources alone.
have “an eating pattern that is low in vegetables, fruits, dairy, and oils” and “most Americans exceed[s] the recommendations for added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium”
Of course, the first line of defense to any vitamin deficiency should be dietary changes, and as practitioners, we can’t assume that our patients know what and how they should be eating. This is something that reviews with each patient he sees. “One of my goals of treatment is to teach them how to eat healthy and nutritious meals, but this can take time.”
To help people more effectively shop for produce, we often . This app provides information about how to pick out ripe fruit, how to store it for maximum freshness, and determine what produce is in season where you live. It’s an invaluable resource for people trying to incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables into their diets.
Even so, Nichols says that he recommends a multivitamin to most of his patients — at least at the beginning. “Most are eating a standard American diet (SAD), which is high in empty calories, but low in vitamins and minerals,” he says. So while he’s working with them to improve their diets, “the multivitamin can ensure they don’t become deficient in vitamins and minerals.”
Even Nichols himself supplements his diet with a high quality multivitamin. “Although I eat a healthy diet full of lots of variety, I also take a multivitamin as a kind of insurance policy in case I get stuck in a routine cooking the same meals, which has the possibility of missing nutrients and proper levels of vitamins,” he says.
And that brings up another important point: many Americans end up eating similar meals each week either for convenience reasons or out of a lack of interest in finding new recipes. This can cause them to miss out on nutrients that are not in their regular rotation, which is where a multivitamin can help supplement those missing pieces.
A Daily Multivitamin May Help You Feel Better Overall
As a practitioner, you know that vitamins and minerals are essential for the body. Every nutrient is necessary for some sort of process within the body, all the way down to a cellular level, where energy is produced and metabolism is managed. Making your patients understand how important it is to eat a healthy, balanced diet — and then actually do it — is a bit more difficult.
investigated the effects of a multivitamin/mineral complex supplement (MVM) in healthy young people (ages 18-35) who already exercise regularly. In terms of methodology, subjects were asked questions to get subjective responses, in addition to measuring substrate metabolism “during 30 minutes each of increasingly effortful incremental exercise and demanding cognitive tasks.”
Researchers concluded that “energy expenditure (EE) was increased during cognitive tasks following MVM across Day 1 and Day 28, with greater effects in males.” In addition, men in the study experienced an increase in carbohydrate oxidation and energy expenditure while exercising.
For women, “mental tiredness was lower during exercise; increases in physical tiredness following 30 minutes of exercise were attenuated; and stress ratings following cognitive tasks were reduced following MVM.”
It’s important to note that these effects were acute, but very quick. Subjects exhibited “modulation of energy expenditure and subjective tiredness following a single dose,” but of course, these effects don’t last over long periods of time.
Furthermore, the effects of multivitamins in men and women differs — something the researchers specifically mention as needing additional investigation.
May Support Vision and Eye Health
In the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS Parts I and II), a specialized supplement containing vitamin C (400mg), vitamin E (400 IU), beta-carotene (15mg, Part I only), copper (2mg), lutein (10mg, Part II only), zeaxanthin (2mg, Part II only), and zinc (80mg) was given to randomly assigned individuals with cataracts, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), or both.
The purpose of both was to “assess the clinical course, prognosis, and risk factors of AMD and cataract,” and to “evaluate the effects of nutrients, including high-dose antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, and zinc, on the progression of AMD, cataract, and related vision loss.”
While the studies concluded that the specific AREDS supplement formulation did not prevent the formation of cataracts and AMD, they did conclude that the risk of progression from intermediate to advanced AMD decreased by about 25%.
Most multivitamins contain all of these vitamins and minerals, but in smaller amounts. If you’re concerned about your patient’s family vision history, it may be a good idea to look into a high potency daily multivitamin to support their eye health.
Can Everyone Benefit from a Multivitamin?
Because it’s so difficult to eat a balanced diet that gives your body the necessary nutrients it needs, most Americans could benefit from taking a daily multivitamin. Even people who eat a healthy diet may be lacking in nutrients because they aren’t incorporating enough variety.
Some practitioners recommend multivitamins to people on strict or limited diets, such as the vegan or vegetarian diets, keto, low carb or low calorie diets, and many other types of therapeutic diets. Additionally, multivitamins are often prescribed to aging adults because nutrient intake and absorption declines with age.
All that being said, men and women have different needs from a multivitamin. Here are the important factors to consider when making recommendations to patients.
Multivitamin Considerations for Women
Women will have their own that won’t necessarily be the same as the ones men have. We also know that RDIs vary according to age and biological sex, which is why there are differing formulations for men and women, as well as “senior” men and women.
Multivitamins made for women sometimes have a higher concentration of iron because many women are iron-deficient (12.5%, according to of healthy 19 to 25 year old females). Additionally, multivitamins specifically formulated for women may also include more calcium, , iodine, and folic acid (folate).
Women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant are always prescribed some kind of prenatal vitamin, which is essentially a multivitamin, but with specific nutrients that are known to be essential for fetal development (such as folate). Women are typically told to continue taking these until they’re finished breastfeeding.
found a possible link between long-term use of multivitamins and multivitamin-minerals (the study used a period of three years) and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. This is not definitive, but is an interesting possible connection.
The National Health and Medical Research Council makes these recommendations of key nutrients for women under age 50:
Multivitamin Considerations for Men
Men have their own that pertain to reproductive and health. While women’s multivitamins also contain zinc, men have an increased need for this mineral. Researchers in a 2018 review of studies examining the role of zinc in men’s health found that “adequate zinc content of seminal plasma is needed for men’s health, germination, normal sperm function and fertilization.”
Because heart health is a leading concern for men in the United States, men’s multivitamin formulas often contain additional CoQ10, which to supporting heart health.
is also an important part of a men’s multivitamin, as it’s essential for muscle movement, and men’s bodies (on average) have more muscle mass than women.
Of course, is a major concern for men, which is why and the following ingredients are often included in men’s multivitamin formulas:
- Saw palmetto berry extract (Serenoa repens at 85% fatty acids)
- Beta Sitosterol
- Stinging nettle root extract (Urtica dioica)
- Pumpkin seed oil
- Lycopene
- Pomegranate fruit extract (Punica granatum)
- Selenium
- Flower pollen extract
Choosing a Multivitamin
Multivitamins come with many variations and formulas, so it’s important to customize your recommendations for each patient. Read the ingredient label and make sure that the doses of each vitamin and mineral are sufficient for the individual.
If your patient follows a specific diet (such as a vegetarian or vegan diet), pay extra attention to the label for animal byproducts, or vegan certifications. There are vegetarian and vegan multivitamin options available.
Of course, quality is the most important consideration when prescribing a multivitamin. Telling patients to pick up any bottle at the grocery store may not be the best course of action — you get what you pay for, and sometimes the cheaper varieties come with fillers such as heavy metals, solvents, pesticides, and contaminants like talc, artificial colors and toxic chemicals.
Quality and potency — and that meet those standards — are the major reasons we started the (EQP)®. We work tirelessly to ensure that every supplement (including multivitamins) offered on our Wellevate® platform is of the highest quality.
Our facilities all adhere to cGMP standards, and we require that our brand partners and do as well. To learn more about the EQP®, check out .
Are you interested in learning more about multivitamins? Check out these articles with additional pro tips: