Should you supplement with a multivitamin or not?
Dietary supplements are a multibillion-dollar industry. Many people are reaching out for multivitamins hoping for better health, preventing diseases or prolonging life. However, pretty little is known about them.
One study, published in the December ‘17 issue of the journal ‘Annals of Internal Medicine’, found that multivitamin supplements did not work any better than placebo pills. In addition, taking multivitamins did not prevent mortality in any way or form.
On the other hand multivitamins may seem to even be counterproductive. In fact, there are a number of vitamin and mineral interactions that can cause problems. For example, Vitamin C can inhibit copper absorption, while copper can lead to vitamin C deficiency when taken in high doses. Zinc inhibits both copper and iron; magnesium, copper, iron and calcium all compete for absorption.
Our advice would therefore be to get your blood work done through your doctor to determine whether you are deficient in some important vitamin or mineral. Your doctor will then prescribe you the right dosage of the ones you need to supplement e.g. zinc and/or magnesium as separate standalone supplements.
When consuming multivitamins you can easily exceed the required levels for certain micronutrients. For example, vitamins A and D may be toxic in high doses which come as a result of ill supplementation.
Bottomline is that if you are not deficient there is no need for taking a multivitamin particularly when you are following a balanced healthy diet and lifestyle.
For a more detailed review of the aforementioned study refer to below link:
To fitness with love,
Martina
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