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Do you feel like you’re living in a fast and furious frenzy, regardless of whether we’re in Minneapolis, Miami, Memphis, Mesa, Manhattan, or Milwaukee?
Are you tired of existing in a non-stop, multitasking world of work, family obligations, parenting, school, and social roles while also trying to juggle your overall mental, physical, and spiritual health?
In this rat race, we often tend to neglect our proper dietary and nutritional tune-ups to stay healthy, content, and sane. However, this article will be your repair shop today as we explain why multivitamins are important, how they benefit your mind, body, and soul, and offer a list of the best ingredients within a multivitamin for adult men and women. We’ll also include a quick buying guide to hack your health and happiness!
If you’re a movie fan, think of this article as your fast and furious cheat sheet to uncover the ultimate guide to multivitamins. Fasten your seat belts, obey the speed limits, and fuel up on this holistic road trip to keep your engine running smoothly with the mightiest multivitamins on the market!
Multivitamin Benefits
If you walk into any retail grocery chain or pharmacy today, you might be stumped about which multivitamin to choose since there are tons. First, let’s summarize what a multivitamin is. As its name suggests, it’s a one-dose supplement that gives your body multiple sources of vitamins, minerals, and other essentials to possibly prevent and address a number of issues and illnesses. Plus, they can potentially help your skin, fight colds and flus as an immunity builder, energize, maintain skin, hair, nail, and teeth health, as well as provide mental health perks.
What Are The Benefits of a Multivitamin?
Besides an affordable and proactive way to maintain health and wellness, let’s examine some of the main benefits of a multivitamin:
Dietary Doctor: Like “Dr. Feelgood,” Motley Crue’s blast from the past song, a multivitamin can help to replace what your diet is lacking. Since most American diets tend to fall short of the daily recommendations, Dickinson, MacKay, & Wong (2015) from Nutrition Journal suggest how the majority of U.S. adults use multivitamins and other dietary supplements as one “means of improving nutrient intakes” (https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-015-0053-9).
Schardt & Scarmos (2013) even label a multivitamin as “an insurance against a less-than-perfect diet” (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Multi+dilemma%3A+should+you+take+one%3F-a0369320121). Look honestly at your own dietary regimens and determine if a multivitamin can be your “dietary doctor!”
Mind the Gap: If you’ve ever visited London, you know this expression. Well, think of your multivitamin as a mindful way to fill in your nutritional gaps within your own food pyramid. Research praises a multivitamin for filling voids in our intakes of iron, vitamins B-12 and D, and folic acid, as well as vitamins D and B-12 that one may not be getting enough from one’s food” (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Multi+dilemma%3A+should+you+take+one%3F-a0369320121).
One Direction: No, not the Brit boy band. Multivitamins are beneficial since they allow people to regulate their health in the right “One Direction.” In fact, surveys find that users of dietary supplements and multivitamins tend to have better diets and adopt healthier habits in the form of increased exercise, more sleep, and improved mental health.
Dairy Dudes or Divas: While kids benefit from calcium directly from their cheesy (literally) diets, many adults often lack calcium. You don’t need to be a farmer in order to MOO with multivitamins!
You Are My Sunshine: Many adults fail to achieve the proper amounts of Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin. Scholars credit multivitamins for adults for fulfilling “nutrient needs when desirable intakes are not achieved through food alone” (https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-015-0053-9). Besides, Vitamin D is often associated with lowering the risks of cancers, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, memory loss, depression, and more (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Multi+dilemma%3A+should+you+take+one%3F-a0369320121). Of course we’d all love to erase our some past memories, but let’s settle on multivitamins for holistic health.
Go Green: For all the vegans and vegetarians who typically lack B-12 from not consuming dairy, eggs, seafood, poultry, or meats, a blast of B-12 from a multivitamin or fortified food is highly advantageous. Because plant foods have no B-12 (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Multi+dilemma%3A+should+you+take+one%3F-a0369320121), a vitamin B-12 deficiency can possibly lead to irreversible nerve damage and dementia. Think of a multivitamin as your best line of defense.
Bun in the Oven: Mahoney (2010) from Prevention specifies how multivitamins are so critical for pregnant women to deliver necessary nutrients like “vitamin C, folic acid and other B vitamins, and iron.” Ensure your lil one is on the fast and furious track to prenatal health and wellness!
Mo Money: Save on your upcoming summer vacation since multivitamins can result in fewer lost work and school hours from sicknesses, decreased dollars dished on remedies, treatments, and prescriptions.
What To Look For In a Multivitamin
While it may look like we’re reciting the alphabet, check out what to look for in a multivitamin:
Delight with D: Vitamin D keeps those bones buff and tough and also strengthens those chompers.
The Skin You’re In: Strive for sensationally clear, glowing, and youthful skin. Look for Vitamins A and E since they not only address dermatological health, but also eyes and hair. They also provide your body with a ton of antioxidants and energy.
Hair Up: Emulate the Trolls and their funky dos with biotin. Spradley (2016) cites how biotin can help with cellular health and hair growth (https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-4039049171/hair-today-gone-tomorrow). Feeling more bald than bold and beautiful lately? Let your hair down with biotin!
Buzz with Bs: No, not the ones from the hive! Boost your health with b vitamins: B1 is useful for immunity, heart support, and mental wellness; B2 improves energy, hair, skin, and eye health; B 3 regulates memory, mood, and heart; B5 may lower cholesterol and can nourish skin; B6 is great for mood, heart, and sleep. No more counting sheep, eh? B-12 helps to improve mood and energy.
Iron Man/Iron Woman: Channel your super powers with iron. Experts praise it for producing hemoglobin (Weil, 2016, p. 22). No need to don tights and a cape here!
See for Yourself: Vitamin C is critical for immunity and antioxidant aptitude. See for yourself in the multivitamin mirror!
Don’t be a Fool: Fool illnesses with folic acid since it’s linked to better cell maintenance and DNA protection. Look for it, so you don’t feel (and look) like a fool!
MOOve and Groove Calcium: Again, you don’t need to live on a farm to kick it with calcium for strong bones and teeth, nerve and muscle health, gastrointestinal support, and energy.
Life of PI: No, not the movie and book: PI as in Potassium and Iodine (PI). On one hand, get heart and digestive protection, pH balance, athletic endurance, muscular health, strong bones, and healthy joints from Potassium. On the other hand, Iodine assists with metabolic health and thyroid control.
Not Gomez: Selenium, not Selena Gomez, should be present in your multivitamin. Selenium is a powerful antioxidant that fights oxidative stress and defends from chronic diseases.
Think Zinc: Zinc doesn’t stink as far as its skin, immunity, heart, bones, eyes, digestive health functions. Think zinc, ya’ll!
M& M: The candies aren’t healthy, but this tag team of Magnesium (for mood, heart, sleep, bones, energy, digestion) and Manganese (for metabolism, blood sugar, decreased inflammation, and reduced premenstrual cramps) is a rock star!
BC: This one isn’t for history buffs. Instead, Beta Carotene (BC) represents a critical component for your multivitamin. Rife with antioxidants, it might be your fountain of youth!
Good Golly Miss Molly: The classic song is timeless, and so is this Moly: Molybdenum. Studies link it antioxidant activation (Ortiz & Herrera, 2012). Check for it, by golly!
OK with Vitamin K: Transform your health by merging with Vitamin K for blood clotting, bone metabolism, and cardiovascular benefits, as recommended from (2015) Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter (https://www.nof.org/2015/02/02/finding-new-health-benefits-for-vitamin-k/). Feel ok today!
Multivitamin Buying Guide
As mentioned, multivitamins deliver an effective, flexible, affordable way to supplement your diet and lifestyle to possibly prevent flus and colds and address vitamin deficiencies. You can choose among forms like gels, liquids, chewables, capsules, tablets, and powders. Gummies for adults are now all the rave! Want to feel like a kid again?
Before buying, here are a few pointers:
Watch the Fluff: Avoid “overstuffed” brands. Watch for fluffy words like “advantage,” “ultra,” and “mega” (Mahoney, 2010) since they can contain higher doses than you truly need.
Reading Rainbow: Carefully read the labels, so you never OD on your multivitamin. Avoid those with 100% or more of the daily value for vitamins A, E, K, folic acid-unless you’re pregnant.
Granola Guy or Gal: Ensure that the nutrients are properly listed on the bottle with the correct amounts to avoid unwanted flavors, sugar, colorings, etc. Go granola for purity!
Peruse the Pros: Many experts credit these “pros” as great bets based on contents as well as affordability and accessibility. Choose one based on your specific needs as far as gender, age, dietary objectives, lifestyles, etc.
Center With Centrum and CVS: Centrum Men Under 50 , Centrum Silver Adults 50+, Centrum Silver Men 50+, CVS Daily Multiple Tablets for Men, CVS Spectravite Adult 50+ Multivitamin
Equations for Health: Equate Complete Multivitamin Adults 50+ Equate Complete Multivitamin Men’s 50+ Equate Complete Multivitamin Women’s 50+ Equate One Daily Men’s Health
Mother Nature: Nature Made Multi for Her 50+ , Nature Made Multi for Him, Nature Made Multi for Him 50+ , Nature’s Bounty ABC Plus Senior, Nutrilite Daily Multivitamin Multimineral
One Day at a Time: One A Day Men’s 50+ Healthy Advantage , One A Day Men’s Health Formula, One A Day Women’s 50+ Healthy Advantage
Target Practice: Target Up & Up Adults’ Multivitamins,
Target Up & Up Women’s Daily Multivitamin
Wally World: Walgreens A thru Z Select Multivitamin,
Walgreens One Daily for Women
Here Comes the Sun: Sundown Advanced Formula SunVite, Sundown Naturals Complete Daily with Iron
References:
Dickinson, A., MacKay, D., & Wong, A. (2015). Consumer attitudes about the role of multivitamins and other dietary supplements: report of a survey. Nutrition Journal, 14, 1–5. Retrieved from https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-015-0053-9
Finding New Health Benefits for Vitamin K. (2015). Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, 32(12), 4–5. Retrieved from https://www.nof.org/2015/02/02/finding-new-health-benefits-for-vitamin-k/
MAHONEY, S. (2010). Should you KICK the MULTIVITAMIN HABIT? Prevention, 62(11), 52–59.
Ortiz, M., & Herrera, T. (2012). Molybdenum : Characteristics, Production, and Applications. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
SCHARDT, D., & SCARMO, S. (2013). MULTI DILEMMA. (Cover story). Nutrition Action Health Letter, 40(9), 1–5. Retrieved from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Multi+dilemma%3A+should+you+take+one%3F-a0369320121
Spradley, N. (2016). Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow. Essence, 47(1), 55–58. Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-4039049171/hair-today-gone-tomorrow
Weil, A. (2016). Do I still need iron supplements after menopause? Prevention, 68(9), 22–23.
