Supplements 101 W
Michael Dworkin, P.D., M.S. Erika Dworkin, Dip. C.N. (Pend.)
The All-Important Multi-Purpose Multivitamin
ould you like to supplement your not-always-optimal diet with vitamins, but don’t know
where to begin? Would you prefer not to take a lot of pills? If you’d rather not take separately each of the vitamins you may need, a high-quality multivitamin is prob- ably a good place to start.
The Traditional Perspective Two Harvard Medical School phy-
sicians reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, 2002) that “all adults” should take vita- min supplements because evidence has shown that insufficient vitamin intake is a risk factor for chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cancer. While vitamin supplementation is viewed as an inadequate substitute for a good diet [generally, low in saturated fat (in beef, pork, lamb, and duck), sugar, so- dium, and processed foods; high in lean protein (in fish, chicken, turkey, soy, eggs, and whey), mono- and polyunsaturated fats, vegetables, and fruits/berries], there is a general concern that most American adults maintain diets of insufficient nutri- tional value. Conventional medicine thus recognizes that “a large proportion of the population needs supplements of more than one vitamin.” Although most traditional physicians
do not prescribe vitamin regimens to re- solve health conditions, they often do rec- ommend that their patients at least take a daily multivitamin in accordance with the JAMA guideline. Those with limited back- grounds in nutrition often recommend multivitamins that provide the Recom- mended Daily Allowance (RDA), the level of intake of essential nutrients that the fed- erally chartered Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine deems to be adequate to prevent a nutrient deficiency. The optimal nutrient intake levels are actu- ally much higher than 100% of the RDA.
What Is A Multivitamin? All multivitamins are designed to pro-
vide a bit of convenient “health insurance,”
www.naturalnutmeg.com September 2010 37
but generally do not contain therapeutic doses that fully support specific health conditions. A large variety of convenient multivitamins are available to suit a wide range of needs. The most basic formulas, which come
in assorted potencies, contain water sol- uble vitamins (including the B-vitamins and Vitamin C, which readily leave the body), fat soluble vitamins (Vitamins A, D, E and K), and minerals, which support or form our body tissues, bones, nerves, and blood. More complex options may offer age-, gender-, or condition-specific herbs (e.g., saw palmetto, vitex, or dong quai) and nutriceuticals, and/or vegetable/ green foods (e.g., spirulina, chlorella, bar- ley grass, wheat grass) or high-antioxidant fruits (e.g., açai, mangosteen, blueberries, strawberries, pomegranates). They may address concerns such as those related to prostate, breast, urinary tract, or heart health. There are also options that contain
nutrients derived strictly from whole or raw foods, or are synthesized in a labora- tory (absorbed and utilized like food when taken with food). Finally, you can select from tablet or capsule formulations that can call for taking one, or up to as many as six, pills per day. The cost for a quality multivitamin can generally range from un- der $10 to approximately $35 per month, or roughly .33 cents to $1.16 per day. To determine the right multi for you,
consider whether you: (1) prefer capsules (generally considered easier to swallow and digest); (2) may lack certain dietary nutrients (deficiencies can be determined from tests); (3) would like extra support for a particular aspect of your health; (4) are willing to take more than one pill per day; and/or (5) expect to feel different from taking the supplement. Keep in mind that men and women require different vitamins, at different times in their lives, in different amounts. In our experience,
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