Daily Multivitamin

This may come as a shocker, but not all multi vitamins are created equal. In my opinion, the junk that you can purchase in most places like grocery stores, drug stores, and warehouse-type stores is not helpful for your health and may even be a little harmful. Most of those products are manufactured by mystery companies or pharmaceutical companies that - News Flash! - care more about profit margins than your health.

If the manufacturer of your multi vitamin actually cares, they will put nutrients in it that actually exist in nature and that you can actually absorb.

Consider the following list of benefits that you will find in a good multi vitamin-mineral supplement:

A broad-spectrum of free-radical quenching antioxidants (like vitamins A, C, E, selenium, and alpha lipoic acid)

By the way, the source of vitamin E is a good way to determine if you are taking a good multi. If the label says “d” alpha tocopherol or “mixed” tocopherols, it’s probably pretty good, at least for that nutrient. However, if the label says “dl” tocopherol, your manufacturer doesn’t care about you. That’s a cheap junky un-natural and poorly-absorbable form of vitamin E.

The All-Important Vitamin D

I order vitamin D blood tests on most of my new patients and it is surprising how many people are deficient. Most multi’s contain vitamin D but it is almost always at levels insufficient to meet all of the demands that vitamin D has in the human body. Most people know that it is important for calcium balance, but how about its effect on cardiovascular health, proper immune system function, colon health, and your musculoskeletal system. Just to name a few.

B Complex or Bust!

I’m not sure what I mean by that, but B vitamins are super important cofactors for a whole slew of physiological processes. Make sure to look for vitamin B sources in their bioactive forms, like instead of plain old vitamin B6, if your manufacturer cares about you, the label will say pyridoxal-5-phosphate, the bioactive form. I don’t mean to get all technical on you, but it can really make a difference. By the way, vitamin B6 in its active form is good for anti-inflammation, sleep, joint problems, PMS and hormone and neurotransmitter metabolism.

Vitamin B1 (thiamin) is good to replace before/after alcohol consumption and it is also helpful in digesting carbs. Vitamin B5, especially in its bioactive form, calcium-d-pantothenate, is vital for stressed out adrenal glands.

Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid - Proper Methylation (NERD ALERT!)

Sorry to get all technical on you again but these two B vitamins get their own section because they are extra special. Methylation is a massively important physiological process, like life-or-death kind of important. So, it is very essential that your body has enough methyl donors that come from ingesting (or your body producing) certain vitamins and other nutrients.

Vitamin B12 and folic are good for little things like heart function, brain function, energy, nerve function, mood regulation, and fetal development. And many, many, many more.

Minerals!

Let’s face it, minerals are just not as sexy as vitamins. I mean, who would want to be manganese when you can be methylfolate. Minerals definitely have an inferiority complex but they’re super important and in general, you don’t need a lot of them, tiny doses are all that’s necessary. But I’m going to sound like a broken record, if your manufacturer cares about you, the label will say the mineral followed citrate (like zinc citrate), or picolinate or glycinate or aspartate, and a few other good ones. But if you read oxide (like zinc oxide) or gluconate, your manufacturer does not care about you. Sorry.

The bottom line is that a good multi vitamin-mineral is a foundational nutritional supplement to a healthy diet and lifestyle. Quality is more important than quantity - isn’t that true of so many things - but if you can have them both together in an easily absorbed, hypoallergenic product, all the better.