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The big guns of nutritional supplements
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, multivitamins might just send the doc packing. In just one pill, you can usually get 100% of your daily essential vitamin and nutrient RDA -- more than you usually get from your daily diet. These include infection-fighting antioxidants (vitamins A, C, and E), energy converters (B complex vitamins), healthy bone makers (vitamin D), blood clotters (vitamin K), and more. Some multivitamins contain iron and other minerals.
Taking daily multivitamins can prevent maladies caused by vitamin deficiencies such as scurvy, rickets, and beriberi.
You can find a specially formulated multivitamin for everyone: kids, men, women, pregnant women, seniors, even vegetarians. So consult your doctor, then carefully read the labels to find the one that's right for you.
Quick Facts About Multivitamins
- There is no RDA provision for multivitamins, but one pill per day provides 100% of your vitamin RDA for healthy adults.
- No single food you eat provides the 11 essential fat- and water-soluble vitamins you need.
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You May Need More Multivitamins if You Have (or Have Had)
- History of alcohol or drug abuse
- Chronic malnutrition
- Portion of your gastrointestinal tract removed
- Recent injury or severe burns
- Recent surgery or illness
- Liver impairment
Or if You're
- Pregnant or breastfeeding (consult your doctor)
- Taking oral contraceptives or estrogen
- Over age 55
- A smoker
- Rarely eat fresh fruits or vegetables
- Under excessive stress
- Are severely depressed
- Participating in a vigorous exercise regime
- Receiving kidney dialysis
- Taking bile-sequestering drugs or the drug methotrexate
- Taking antibiotics or sulfonamides, which may inhibit the function of the friendly bacteria in your intestines that produce biotin and vitamin K
- Taking medications that inhibit fat absorption
- Following a low-calorie weight-loss diet
- A strict vegetarian or vegan
What Works Best -- and Worst -- with Multivitamins
- Alcohol prevents the uptake and absorption of some vitamins
- Tobacco decreases absorption, so smokers may require supplemental multivitamins
- Absorption is maximized when ingested with food
- Allergy medications may inhibit multivitamin function
Forms Available
- Commonly available as capsules, tablets, powder, and in liquid form.
- Children's multivitamins are available as chewables and in liquid form.
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Comments on Multivitamins
Multivitamins typically contain the following vitamins:
- Vitamin A: supports normal growth and development, promotes healthy skin, builds strong nails, and maintains good eyesight.
- Vitamin B-1 (Thiamin): plays a key role in the body's energy production. Part of the B-vitamin complex, it acts as a catalyst, helping convert carbohydrates into energy. Helps keep nerves, muscles, and the heart working properly.
- Vitamin B-2 (Riboflavin): key to the functions that keep energy flowing. Along with the other B vitamins, vitamin B-2 metabolizes fatty acids, protein, and carbohydrates. Essential to keep eyes, skin, hair, and nails healthy, mucous membranes moist, and red blood cells in optimum condition.
- Vitamin B-3 (Niacin): helps lower triglycerides and provides numerous cardiovascular benefits. Helps the body's production of energy, synthesizes hormones, creates red blood cells, promotes healing through its antioxidant properties, and helps keeps skin clear.
- Vitamin B-5 (Pantothenic acid): like other B vitamins, this nutrient is essential for a wide variety of processes. It helps with red blood cell creation, antibody production, neurotransmitter formation, and many other functions.
- Vitamin B-6 (Pyridoxine): this coenzyme works with more than 60 different enzymes to help decrease the risk of heart disease, produce energy, maintain normal nerve functions, build red blood cells, and keep the immune system running smoothly.
- Vitamin B-7 (Biotin): while not a major B complex vitamin, biotin is just as important for converting carbohydrates, proteins, and fats into energy and creating numerous enzymes.
- Vitamin B-9 (Folic acid): helps prevent birth defects. Essential for the proper development and division of red blood cells, the creation of RNA and DNA, and protein synthesis.
- Vitamin B-12 (Cobalamin): keeps red blood cells red; creates energy from fats, proteins, and carbohydrates; works with folic acid to synthesize DNA; and maintains myelin (a nerve fiber covering) to keep neurotransmitters firing away.
- Vitamin C: one of the most essential vitamins. Performs a multitude of vital functions, including the formation of the body's connective tissue, gums, teeth, bones, blood vessels, and skin. Works as an antioxidant by combating cell damage and helps keep the immune system strong.
- Vitamin D: helps bones and teeth develop properly, aids the body's absorption of calcium and phosphorus, and helps prevent rickets and osteomalacia.
- Vitamin E: like vitamin C and beta-carotene, vitamin E is an excellent antioxidant. Helps the body absorb free-radical molecules and reduce the damage they cause.
- Vitamin K: helps blot clot normally, prevents abnormal bleeding, and helps calcium form bones.
Special Considerations
People have different needs when it comes to vitamin and mineral intake. Making sure that the following vitamins and minerals are included in their multivitamin supplements may benefit the following groups:
Women Women taking oral contraceptives Pregnant womenChildren and teensNote: Don't supplement children under age 2 unless approved by a doctor.
SeniorsVegetarians
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Known Benefits of Multivitamins
- Can provide at least 100% of the Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins.
- Ensure the RDA of vitamins to people unable to get all they need from food.
- Ensure adequate vitamin intake in people recovering from surgery, disease, drug or alcohol abuse, chronic malnutrition, and liver impairment.
- Can prevent maladies caused by vitamin deficiencies, like scurvy, rickets, and beriberi.
Dietary Sources
Food Tips
- Use food as soon as possible to prevent vitamin degradation. Fresh vegetables and fruits are especially susceptible to vitamin loss after they are harvested.
- Eat whole, fresh foods whenever possible. Processing is a major culprit in robbing foods of their natural vitamin content.
- Cook vegetables in a small amount of water, briefly, to preserve their nutrient content. Fresh produce has the highest concentration of vitamins, followed by frozen, and then canned.
- Light, oxygen, and heat destroy many vitamins, so keep this in mind when storing your food. A cool, dark place is usually best.
When and How to Take Multivitamins
- Take with food or after meals to enhance absorption.
- While many multivitamins come in one-a-day doses, it is even better to divide them into three smaller doses taken throughout the day for better absorption.
What to Take with Multivitamins
- Absorption is generally maximized when taken with food, either with or after a meal.
What Not to Take with Multivitamins
- Alcohol prevents the uptake and absorption of some vitamins.
- Tobacco decreases absorption of many vitamins.
- Allergy medications may inhibit multivitamin function.
Storage
- Keep multivitamins in a cool, dry place away from light and moisture.
- Don't store them in your bathroom medicine cabinet, as heat and moisture can make multivitamins less effective. A refrigerator may also be too moist and/or cold. A cabinet or drawer is best.
- Store safely out of children's reach.
- Check the expiration date to ensure the potency. Unopened, most multivitamins will last for several years. Once opened, they are usually good for about one year.
Recommended Daily Allowance for Vitamins
RDA (recommended daily allowance) values are set as the minimum needed to offset deficiency or disease, not as an actual value needed for optimum health.
The following amounts for the Adult RDA for vitamins are shown in retinol equivalents (RE), mcg (micrograms), and mg (milligrams).
Note: Two B vitamins, biotin (B-7) and pantothenic acid (B-5) have no official RDAs, although they are often found in B complex supplements. A provisional daily allowance for biotin is 30 to 100 mcg per day for healthy adults; for pantothenic acid, from 4 to 7 mg per day.
| VITAMIN | RDA/MEN | RDA/WOMEN |
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Vitamin A
Vitamin B-1
Vitamin B-2
Vitamin B-3
Vitamin B-6
Folic acid (B-9)
Vitamin B-12
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
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1,000RE
1.5 mg
1.7 mg
19 mg
2.0 mg
2.0 mcg
200 mcg
60 mg
5 mcg
10 mg
80 mcg
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800 RE
1.1 mg
1.3 mg
15 mg
1.6 mg
2.0 mcg
180 mcg
60 mg
5 mcg
8 mg
65 mcg
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Warnings
Consult a physician before use or do not use multivitamins if:- You intend to start a high-dose supplement program.
- You are pregnant or intend to be.
Multivitamins May Have Interactions with the Following
The following drugs and substances may interfere with or negate the uptake and absorption of some vitamins and minerals -- especially with heavy or long-term use. Check with your doctor for specific advice.
- Alcohol
- Allergy medications
- Antacids
- Antibiotics
- Antihypertensives
- Aspirin
- Cholesterol-lowering drugs
- Diuretics
- Estrogens
- Laxatives
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
- Oral contraceptives
- Sunscreens
- Tobacco
Signs of Overdose
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea
- Discoloration of urine or stool
- Disturbed vision
- Enlarged liver and spleen
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Hair loss
- Headache
- Lingering sores
- Liver and kidney problems
- Menstruation disturbances
- Peeling skin on lips and palms
- Skin eruptions
- Vomiting
- Weight loss
Some symptoms may develop gradually if overdose is milder and takes place over a longer time period. Others may develop immediately in the event of a large overdose.
Note: accidental overdose of iron is a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children under age 6. Keep multivitamins out of the reach of children.
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Sources & Further Reading
Books
1. Groff, James L.; Gropper, Sareen S.; Hunt, Sara M. Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Co., 1995.
2. Hendler, Sheldon Saul, M.D., Ph.D. The Doctor's Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
3. Lieberman, Shari, Ph.D., and Bruning, Nancy. The Real Vitamin and Mineral Book. Second Edition. Garden City Park, NY: Avery Publishing Group, 1997.
4. Machlin, Lawrence J., Editor. Handbook of Vitamins. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1991.
National Research Council. Recommended Dietary Allowances. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1989.
5. Prevention Health Books. Healing With Vitamins. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1996.
Find more books on health and wellness at  barnesandnoble.com.
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