How to Choose A Quality Multivitamin For Adults & Children

by Britni Vincent, Registered Dietitian

“Should I be taking a multivitamin?” is a question I get all the time. I always answer YES with one important point … you must choose a high-quality multivitamin to get benefits, otherwise you’re kind of wasting your time (and money). Even with a real food diet, it’s often hard (nearly impossible really) to get the nutrients we need from food alone. This happens for various reasons, read on as I share the most common indicators of nutrient deficiencies that I as a dietitian commonly see among my nutrition counseling clients.

Before I dive in, I want to clear up some recent misleading information in the media stating that multivitamins are useless. We at NutriKey and our sister company Nutritional Weight & Wellness completely disagree with that statement. I personally take a daily multivitamin and have for years, beyond that I routinely recommend them to my clients. Think of it as extra insurance to fill the nutritional gaps that most of us have. Our bodies rely on vitamins and minerals for every function, including: strengthening immune function, converting food into energy, making neurotransmitters, detoxifying, making hormones, and maintaining and repairing tissues and cell regeneration.

How We Become Nutrient Deficient

I mentioned nutritional gaps above, here are some common reasons our bodies become nutrient deficient.

• Not eating enough vegetables (Are you getting 5 cups or more per day? That’s the recommended minimum,and we’re the first to admit that can be difficult.)
• Not eating enough healthy fat (butter, olive oil, nuts, olives, etc.) and real protein (pasture raised, grass fed, free range).
• Eating only conventionally raised meat and eggs, which don’t contain as many nutrients as their grass fed, free range, pasture raised counterparts.
• Stress (Living through a pandemic doesn’t help to say the least.) and toxin exposure from the environment (which you can’t avoid nowadays) increases nutrient needs.
• Soils have been depleted of nutrients from industrial farming.
• Eating too many processed foods; sugar and flour can deplete nutrients from your body. Processed food actually requires more nutrients to break them down.

Recommended nutrient intakes (often called percent daily value (%DV)), or recommended daily allowance (RDAs)) have been established as minimum guidelines for healthy individuals. These guidelines can help prevent severe nutrient deficiency but aren’t a reflection of optimal daily intake for prevention of disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “complete physical, mental, and social well-being - and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Based on that definition not many individuals are “healthy.” 

With that in mind, one study found that those who took a multivitamin had an 8% lower risk of developing cancer. Another study of a group of healthy men found that those who took a multivitamin had less anxiety and perceived stress.

How to Choose a Quality Multivitamin

 

The key to getting benefit from your multivitamin is ensuring you’re buying a good quality one. Again, you get what you pay for in the world of supplements, especially with multivitamins. Let’s break this down into the components you need to look for in a multivitamin.

 

Third Party Testing:Look for the cGMP (good manufacturing practices), meaning which it’s been third party tested. This testing ensures that the supplement contains what the bottle claims it contains. Truly, there are manysupplements out there that don’t contain what the bottle claims. Scary!

 

Form of Nutrients:The form of nutrients is a huge indicator of quality. Often supplement companies use the cheapest form of nutrients, which are not bioavailable to your body – meaning your body can’t utilize them at all. Meaning you’ve wasted your money and time.

 

• Quality multivitamins should contain magnesium and calcium. Though, if it’s calcium carbonate and/or magnesium oxide it’s not a good quality multivitamin. Calcium carbonate can actually cause calcium deposits in your body because you’re not able to absorb it so it has nowhere to go. Magnesium oxide won’t provide you the benefits of magnesium supplementation (relaxation, better sleep, less muscle pain), but it will likely give you diarrhea. I’ve heard people refer to multivitamins as giving you expensive urine. Well, that is true if you’re buying poor quality.
• Find a multivitamin that contains minerals fromAlbion® labs, the world leader in manufacturing highly bioavailable mineral chelates, a specialized form of minerals bound to amino acids. This patented process creates natural mineral compounds that enhance mineral absorption. Comparison studies show significantly superior absorption over other forms of minerals.

 

Dosage Requirements: Getting the optimal vitamins in minerals requires at least two capsules or tablets per day. If a multivitamin only recommends one capsule/tablet per day that’s another sign of poor quality.

 

Other Ingredients to Avoid and Which Are Safe:Some multivitamin brands contain fillers and other additives, which can also make them hard to absorb. As we read the ingredient list on our food, reading the ingredient list on our vitamins and supplements is just as critical.

• NOT SAFE INGREDIENTS
• Maltodextrin
• Corn starch
• Food coloring/dyes
• BHT
• SAFE INGREDIENTS
• Magnesium stearate
• Natural Vegetable Capsules
• Stearic Acid

 

Our Recommended Options

• Alpha Base without Iron is a comprehensive multivitamin for anybody. It contains a 2:1 ratio of magnesium to calcium, which is ideal. It also contains activated (methylated) forms of B12 and folic acid.
• Twice Per Day multivitamin is a wonderful general multivitamin for anyone who’s looking to fill nutritional gaps. The serving is only 2 capsules per day, which is helpful for those who may have difficulty taking multiple capsules per day.
• Mitocore is a multivitamin that is specificially designed to help individuals that are struggling with a lot of fatigue. In addition to vitamins and minerals it also contains acetyl L-carnitine, which helps with cellular energy, N-acetyl cysteine and alpha lipoic acid which are both powerful antioxidants.
• Liquid Multi is a great option for those individuals who have difficulty swallowing capsules or tablets. It’s lightly flavored with natural pineapple and coconut, which provides a delicious taste. Extra perk of this multi— it’s suitable for the whole family. 

 

What to Look for In Children’s Multivitamins

It’s important for children to take multivitamins for the same reasons I listed above. However, you need to be even more aware of the ingredients in children’s multivitamins. Since these multivitamins are typically in a liquid or powder form, ingredients are added to make them palatable, which often includes some form of sweetener – some of which are okay, while others are not.

NOT SAFE SWEETENERS

• High fructose corn syrup or corn syrup
• Artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame potassium (acesulfame K)

SAFE SWEETENERS

• Stevia or Rebaudioside A (a form of stevia)
• Monk fruit extract
• Sugar alcohols (erythritol, sorbitol, typically they end in -itol- in some individuals these cause digestive symptoms such as diarrhea, gas, or stomach aches)
• Fruit sources

Our Recommended Options

• SuperNutes is a comprehensive children’s vitamin in a natural lemon flavor that kids enjoy. It provides a variety of micronutrients to help support a child’s development.
• Suppy’s is a children’s multivitamin that not only contains vitamins and minerals but also includes 6 organic vegetables. This tastes like a sweet and sour treat in tropical punch flavor.

 

References

 

Gaziano JM, Sesso HD, Christen WG, Bubes V, Smith JP, MacFadyen J, Schvartz M, Manson JE, Glynn RJ, Buring JE (2012) Multivitamins in the Prevention of Cancer in Men: the Physicians' Health Study II Randomized Controlled Trial JAMA. 2012;():1-10. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.14641.

 

Carroll D, Ring C, Suter M, Willemsen G. (2000) The Effects of an Oral Multivitamin Combination with Calcium, Magnesium, and Zinc on Psychological Wellbeing in Healthy Male Volunteers: a Double Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial. Psychopharmacology. 2000; 150(2):220-5. doi: 10.1007/s002130000406

 

Graff et al. Magnesium: wide spread benefits. Albion Research Notes 1992; 1(2):1.