Practically everyone knows what a multivitamin is now.
After all, with all those advertisements coming out in all sorts of media, who wouldn’t know about them? And you may be one of those who are popping these multivitamin pills every day. And why not? This combination of vitamins and minerals is often touted as the next best thing to sliced bread and a simple way to keep yourself healthy.
However, the fact of the matter is that only people with specific nutrient deficiencies need multivitamins. Taking them when not needed could even backfire on you.
Ideally, multivitamins should contain 100% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of the nutrients that our bodies require to stay healthy.
However, some of these minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, and iron are too large to fit into one small capsule along with other vitamins and minerals. This is why iron supplements, for example, are sold separately for those who have an iron deficiency.
Then there are the so-called experimental multivitamins. While they also contain 100% of the RDA for essential vitamins, they also come packed with other ingredients for other claimed benefits. These include phytonutrients, antioxidants, or some form of ginseng for added energy. Unfortunately, there is only scant evidence that these additional ingredients give you the advertised benefits.
In fact, some clinical studies hint that one could get cancer from taking in too much of these experimental multivitamins. The increased risk of cancer can be traced to vitamin E because this otherwise healthy vitamin shouldn’t be taken in doses above 400 IU.
Because of the cancer risk, you should always think twice when choosing which multivitamin to buy. This is because some manufacturers disregard the recommended daily values and come up with their own dosage. Other studies also suggest that some vitamins and minerals when taken together interact with each other in a negative way.
But don’t we need these multivitamins because of how nutrient-deficient some of the foods are nowadays? In short, no. You must check the ingredients very carefully first and while going through the label may be time-consuming, it’s definitely worth the lowered risk of you inadvertently damaging your health.
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