What Makes a Multivitamin Effective
With the constant speculation on whether multivitamins are good or a waste of money, there seems to be no disclosure on why it would be a waste in the first place. You’ll often see the quote that says “9/10 multivitamins are worthless and have no effect”, but don’t explain why that is an issue. They don’t explain what brands failed the test or what changes would make the supplement effective. There is just too much misinformation about what is going on in the multivitamin section of your local health food store. Here’s what to look for to know you’re not throwing away your money.
B Vitamins
Now B vitamins are all coenzymes that are needed from food intake to make sure we can function properly when it comes to energy, stress levels, detoxification, and hair, skin, and nails. But poorly absorbed B vitamins are the main reason your urine can be that bright neon yellow color after you take a vitamin.
Choosing the right B vitamins can be all the difference when it comes to maintaining top-quality heath for your body. Obtaining a Methylated form of vitamins like B12 and Folate can allow for much higher absorption and utilization compared to their counterparts, Cyanocobalamin and Folic Acid. Looking for P-5-P instead of just normal B6, or Niacinamide instead of normal Niacin, it makes all the difference in how your body will utilize B vitamins.
Keep in mind, anytime your body absorbs more B vitamins, the more likely it is to overdo it. B vitamins are normally water-soluble and will process the vitamins out rather than use them compared to taking their higher bioavailable forms. Always start low, and work your way up as needed.
Vitamins A, C, D, E and K
Vitamin A
For vitamin A, look out to see if they are using beta-carotene or retinyl palmitate. Beta-carotene is poorly converted in the body, compared to retinyl palmitate. Ideally, you would want just retinyl palmitate, but a combination of both is usually sufficient for getting the benefits of vitamin A. Benefits include proper eye health, as well as skeletal health.
Vitamin C
When it comes to vitamin C, ascorbic acid is usually the most common one, and that is completely okay. As the other water-soluble vitamin, this is meant to overload and flush out the system, which is why it has great properties when it comes to immune health. Vitamin C is also completely necessary for collagen production in our system, so even those with a healthy immune system can benefit.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is arguably the most important vitamin on this list, due to the number of processes that it is involved with. From proper hormone regulation, parathyroid support, to immune system responses, there is no shortage in ways this vitamin helps your body function. Most of the time, a multivitamin will use D3 (cholecalciferol), which is the most bioavailable form of D that is currently on the market.
Vitamin E
Using vitamin E, we typically know there is only one our body can readily utilize. That’s alpha-tocopheryl. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that our body will use to protect from free radicals. Checking your multivitamin to avoid other forms of vitamin E can help prevent you from throwing away some money.
Vitamin K
Now, vitamin K is the most interesting on this list because we’ve just now realized the benefits of vitamin K and how it is used in our body. It is the only vitamin with no upper limit on how much our body can use. It is essential for proper circulatory health, including blood clotting and blood calcium regulation. We are now learning that it plays a much higher role in our bone metabolism, and how it currently interacts with vitamin D.
With any vitamin listed above, I would recommend talking to a doctor about current levels of nutrients in the body. Taking too much of anything is never good, and vitamins are very specific to the individual.
Minerals
In the supplement industry, there is always talk of which version of minerals are the best. The most typical stance we see is that elemental minerals are the best… but all minerals are elements regardless of how they are bonded.
The most common form of bonding found in multivitamins is combining it with oxide. Things like magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, and others. This is due to how cheap it is to bond things this way. But bonding in this way degrades absorption and utilization rates. If you’re looking for a colon cleanse then, by all means, this bonding will be fantastic, but that is not usually the purpose of a multivitamin.
I always recommend looking for any bonding that ends in “ate”. Whether it be citrate, glycinate, chelate, picolinate, and so on and so forth. They have much higher absorption rates, and while different bondings can lead to different outcomes, as long as you are absorbing them, your body will be thankful.
Dosage on minerals will be pretty varied between the brands, the sex, and the age.
Males will typically need higher amounts of Zinc and Boron for proper testosterone usage, compared to females who will typically need higher amounts of Iodine and Selenium for thyroid support.
Extras
Now, this is where we start getting more specific. Brands will start to define their multivitamins by the extras that are found past the initial vitamins and minerals. These will include everything from herbs, to antioxidants, to fruit and veggie extracts, and probiotics. The list can go on. Those are just the more common ones. This is where the term “fairy dusted” will come from, as these are typically in very small amounts, but not always.
Herbs
Extra herbs in the multivitamin are typically very minimal when implemented in multivitamins. I would say the two most common herbs are Turmeric and Ashwagandha. Turmeric is a powerful antioxidant, but the issue with Turmeric is the extremely low absorption rate. You need to take a bunch of it to see effective results, but most multi’s will only have around 25–50mgs at the high end. Ashwagandha can be effective in helping reduce cortisol levels over time. However, most multi’s will use Ashwagandha whole herb, which means the leaves have been used versus the root, which does not contain the properties of Ashwagandha that will help reduce the cortisol levels.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants in multivitamins will mainly consist of things like Lutein, which can be extremely useful in maintaining eye health. A healthy dosage of around 6mg is sufficient. Others may include Trans-Resveratrol, which may provide a link to healthy aging. This one usually falls into the fairy dusted category, and will usually only have around 3–10mg per serving, compared to the recommended 250–500mg.
Hearth Health
A more popular aspect as of late, Coenzyme Q-10 has begun to appear more and more in multi’s thanks to buzz being spread around it. I’ll save the difference between the types of CoQ10 for another day, but I would look for a minimum of 50mg in a multi to be an effective dosage. Paired with Alpha-Lipoic Acid, these two can be a good combo for cardiovascular health. With alpha-lipoic acid, there is no true set amount to take. Even if there are minor amounts in a multivitamin, we can still typically benefit from them.
Probiotics
Another popular buzzword, Probiotics. This is another that will typically not be seen in high amounts, the average multivitamin having between 250 million — 1 billion active bacteria, spread over about 2–4 strains. With that being said, small amounts can be more beneficial, as it does not overload the system with bacteria, causing you to eliminate them out. Be cautious, as pairing probiotics and digestive enzymes are common. Doing this means the enzymes will break down the bacteria before they can get to the small colon. Taking a separate enzyme an hour later can help prevent this.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and veggies will never be in high enough amounts to make a noticeable difference. I would be more careful when multi’s have fruit and veggie blends due to the small print of each food. If you have food allergies, always double-check what the label says. You want to know all of the ingredients. Fermenting these foods can help their micronutrient absorption rates, but it is negligible amounts.
Where to Find a Good Multivitamin
I always recommend going to a place that third-party tests their products. Brands like CVS, The Vitamin Shoppe, and Garden of Life all have great quality and reassurance on what is in their products. But always look around, check out websites like labdoor.com that are full of their own tests on products that they bought themselves. Not one brand is the best. Test a few till you notice a difference in energy levels and other indicators of health like alertness, cognitive function, and mobility. And never trust a product that does not tell you what it contains
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