Multivitamins and multiminerals are supplements that contain more than one vitamin or mineral that is necessary for bodily function.
It is recommended that an individual take a multivitamin on a daily basis to ensure the body receives the adequate supply of nutrients each and every day.
The truth, however, is that it is ideal for us to receive proper nutrients from the food that we eat.
But if you want to delve further into the truth, we have to look at the fact that we don’t receive the nutrients that we need through our food alone. Some of us don’t eat as healthy as we should and some of us are just too busy to eat the servings that we need of fruits, vegetables, and grains each and every day.
So what a multivitamin does is more or less fill in that gap between the vitamins you are supposed to have each and every day and what it is you actually consume.
That way you can have a perfectly balanced diet. But it is important to note that multivitamins and multiminerals do not take the place of eating the right foods.
You can’t eat junk all day and hope that your multivitamin will carry you nutritionally because the truth is that your multivitamins and the minerals within them are not 100% of what you need each day. Sure, it may say 140% of your daily value, but that does not mean you’re getting the full 200% that you’re supposed to have.
Forms of multivitamins and multiminerals
When looking for the right kind of multivitamin and/or multiminerals, you will find that they come in several different forms.
They come in capsules, tablets, powders, liquids, pastilles, and in injectable forms. And, believe it or not, multivitamins are recognized under the Codex Alimentarius Commission as being a food category.
If you’re curious about the history of the multivitamin, the history is not very long. This isn’t something that they started making in the 1800s. As a matter of fact, before the mid 1930s, a person’s only source of vitamins and minerals was through the food that they ate. It was in 1934 that the Nutrilite Company made public the first multivitamin/multiminerals tablets.
Before that, also released in the mid 1930s were vitamins A and D being made available to people in grocery stores and pharmacies. As for the Nutrilite supplements, they were manufactured from compressed fruit and vegetable concentrates. These were fruits and vegetables that had been naturally dried.
Why did they resort to fruits and vegetables? That is because that is where we get most of our nutrients. It was in the 1940s that other brands came about and started manufacturing synthetic tablets, which is what we take today.
The multivitamin has come quite a long way since its inception in the 1930s.
Now you have different types, such as prenantal, vitamins for children, vitamins for women 50 and over and for men 50 and over, vitamins for stress, and special vitamins for the diabetic.
As far as their composition, it can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and also depends on what reason the multivitamin has been manufactured.
For instance, a prenatal vitamin is going to contain more folic acid than a regular multivitamin. This is because the baby needs more folic acid for neural tube development in the womb. The neural tube is what ultimately becomes the brain. When it comes to multivitamins for women over 50, one may find that the calcium and vitamin D amounts are increased.
This is to help ward off osteoporosis. So it is very important that you take an "age appropriate" or "condition specific" multivitamin. By doing this, you are able to receive the concentrations of a particular vitamin that you need for your particular situation.
Always seek medical advice
It is important that you seek medical advice before taking a multivitamin.
This is important because there are some health conditions where too much of a certain vitamin may cause more harm than good. For example, a pregnant woman need not have too much Vitamin A or too little of it because birth defects can be caused either way.
However, severe vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause more issues than an individual having too much of something deficiencies are more common anyway and are not healthy at all. An individual with vitamin and mineral deficiencies is an individual who needs medical attention. This is because a deficiency is very difficult to treat just by taking over the counter multivitamins. Something stronger may be needed to battle the deficiency.
It is also important to not take multivitamins in large amounts. Some vitamins that are consumed in large amounts can result in an overdose.
Iron, in particular, can be toxic to the system. Nevertheless, toxicity due to multivitamins is something that is very rare.
Iron, in particular, can be toxic to the system. Nevertheless, toxicity due to multivitamins is something that is very rare.
So check with your doctor to see which multivitamins are the best for you. Your doctor can even do tests to determine if there are any deficiencies that need any special attention.
If not, your doctor may tell you that a regular multivitamin is fine or that you may need something special, such as a multivitamin for men or women over the age of 50 to help ward off certain conditions.
Then again, you may be diabetic and in need of a certain multivitamin. At least there are many different types to help your particular situation.
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