Why Should I Take A MultiVitamin?
Although you may be doing your best to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, and lean proteins, you’re probably not getting every recommended and beneficial nutrient on a daily basis. Multivitamins are designed to fill the gaps. Most daily multivitamins are filled with the most recommended nutrients (calcium, vitamin c, etc.). You can also choose from vitamins supplements that are more specifically designed to fill a specific need; for example, folic acid is included in vitamins supplements for pregnant women, antioxidant vitamin supplements are for people wanting to include more antioxidants in their diet, and their are different plant extracts that you probably don’t eat or drink regularly that are available in supplements.
Taking a multivitamin (getting all your nutrients)…
- may help prevent shingles in the elderly
- helps your body to make strong, healthy, shiny hair and nails
- may reduce the risk of other diseases that are more likely to occur if you have a weakened immune system, or a malnourished diet (if a particular organ or you body as a whole is missing essential nutrients and not functioning properly, you may be at an increased risk for disease).
Your body needs essential building blocks to build enzymes, anti-inflammatory agents, and other things like fatty acids. Supplying the building blocks to things like Dihomo-Gamma-Linoleic Acid (DGLA, an anti-inflammatory fatty acid derived from Gamma-Linoleic Acid, which is derived from Linoleic acid or available in supplements containing Evening Primrose Oil) is one step, but some people, either because of age or an illness, have trouble making the conversions, and certain vitamins supplements provide those complex life ingredients (like those containing Evening Primrose Oil/Gamma-Linoleic Acid), aiding your system.
Why Should I Take More Than One Vitamins Supplement?
Athough for many people an all purpose daily multivitamin is enough, many who are concerned about their kidneys, liver, reproductive system, or brain choose a vitamins supplement targeted with the minerals, vitamins, and building blocks that that part of the body is known to use in it’s proper functioning.
The best vitamins supplements are actually full of vitamins and minerals, rather than just part full and filled the rest of the way with a filler such as stearates. For a single vitamin to contain everything you need in a day, it would be much too big to swallow. For that reason, it’s important to consider what you want out of a vitamin and read ingredient labels and claims (is it stearate free?).
How Often Should I Take Vitamins?
How often you take your vitamin supplements depends on you, your doctor, and of course what you’re taking (how much is in it). Although many people prefer to take a single daily multivitamin, that may not actually be enough. Check the doses of vitamins and minerals in the supplement against what you ought to be consuming, and what sort of diet or health problems (like inflammatory bowel disease) may be interfering.
What Are the Best Vitamins Supplements Made Of?
The best vitamins supplements are all natural, from their shell to their ingredients. Some fillers that most supplement manufacturers use, such as stearates, are the antithesis of what health conscious people who seek vitamins supplements are looking for.
What Are Stearates?
Besides being valueless filler in many vitamins supplements, stearates are used as a lubricant for powders (keeping them from sticking) and as a water-proofing agent in many products. Stearates are derived from hydrogenated oils (trans fat) and a metal (different stearates come from different metals) which makes a salt. Stearates do not come from organic sources, and may come from crops heavily coated with pesticides.
Most stearates are “not generally regarded as hazardous…but may be harmful if ingested in large amountsâ€. Besides being icky to anyone concerned about eating naturally, some studies have found that they can slow how fast vitamin capsules dissolve, possibly delaying or interfering with nutrient absorption. Besides their use in some vitamins supplement manufacturing, they are used in soap (you see them as soap scum in your tub), deoderant, rubber, plastic, paint, paper, pencil, and crayon making.
Again, the best vitamins supplements do not contain stearates or any other additives or fillers.
