Is Your Diet Missing Essential Nutrients?

You try to eat healthily every day. You snack on fruits and veggies and stay away from junk food. Sure, you may have a cheat day every once in a while, but overall, you think you’re getting your daily supply of vitamins and minerals. 

Would it surprise you to learn most adults aren’t getting a full daily dose of essential nutrients? An effective way to ensure you’re not missing out on vital nutrients is taking a multivitamin for adults. 

However, choosing the right multivitamin isn’t always easy. A little more goes into the process than just grabbing a random bottle off the shelves. So, before you invest in adult multivitamins, here’s what you should consider.

Your Age and Gender

A key factor in choosing a multivitamin is your age and gender. You need different nutrients at various stages in your life. Men and women often have different nutritional requirements.

Women under the age of 50 typically need a multivitamin with a higher dosage of iron. However, this changes after menopause. Instead of iron, post-menopausal women generally need more calcium, B6, and vitamin D. On the other hand, adult men often want to look for a multivitamin that’s high in vitamin D3 and B12 to help support their immune systems.

Before choosing a multivitamin, talk to your primary care provider. They can help you determine which essential nutrients are missing from your diet.

Daily Value

The daily value of the nutrients in the supplements you’re taking is another crucial consideration. You want to go with an adult multivitamin that lists a 100% daily value for the majority of its ingredients. 

Don’t be surprised if not all ingredients aren’t at 100% of your daily value. Calcium is an example. Multivitamin manufacturers can’t include 100% of your daily calcium value in a multivitamin for a simple reason. The pill or capsule will be too large to easily swallow.

Potassium and magnesium are other examples. Multivitamin manufacturers keep these levels low to help avoid possible interactions with other types of medications. These nutrients can also cause an interaction with other vitamins when consumed in large doses. To help ensure you’re receiving your daily value of these nutrients, you may want to plan your diet with help from a nutritionist.

Some foods you may want to consider adding to your diet include nuts, avocados, whole grains, and fatty fish. These foods are rich in magnesium and potassium.

Are The Multivitamins Verified

Finding verified multivitamins isn’t tough. Just look for the USP-verified label on the packaging. Don’t presume the vitamins are USP-verified. Some may have the USP marking but not the verification check mark. Without the check mark, the multivitamins aren’t USP verified.

Who verifies the quality of multivitamins? This falls to the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention. The independent, non-profit organization checks the purity of the multivitamin’s ingredients and if the percentage matches what’s listed on the label.

Does the Multivitamin Contain Essential Micronutrients

Most adults are missing some micronutrients from their diet. You’re probably getting the recommended daily percentage of vitamins like D and C. Even your daily percentage of iron, potassium, and magnesium is probably at optimal levels. However, what about essential nutrients like niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin?

As you’re reading over the multivitamin’s list of ingredients, pay attention to the micronutrients. These are just as essential for your overall health as the more well-known vitamins and minerals.

A quick tip: if you notice ingredients like nickel, tin, and/or boron in the multivitamin you can probably skip purchasing that one. These are micronutrients with zero nutritional value. Instead, some manufacturers include these ingredients as fillers. Their addition can also raise the price and there’s no reason to pay more than necessary for your adult multivitamins.

When Is The Best Time to Take Adult Multivitamins?

There really isn’t a recommended best time to take multivitamins. Advertising typically shows adults taking their multivitamins first thing in the morning. For some adults, this works. The schedule is easy to keep up with. Others prefer taking their vitamins with lunch or even before bedtime.

Even though there isn’t a right or wrong time to take adult multivitamins, you may want to take them with a meal. Some people experience stomach discomfort from multivitamins. Taking supplements with food can help prevent this issue. 

If you’re also taking a calcium supplement, along with a multivitamin, it’s usually best to wait a few hours between doses. Taking your multivitamin first and the calcium supplement a few hours later can prevent any gastrointestinal discomfort.

Now that you know what to look for in adult multivitamins, it’s time to find the right one to help support your overall health.