Our bodies can do all sorts of fascinating things, and they work hard for us in ways that we don’t even think about. Consider all the ways that our cells, organs, veins, and everything else work together in invisible ways to help us live, move, and thrive.
Are you doing all that you can to help your body perform to the best of its ability? While exercise is vital to our health, our inside health is where it all starts. To have that outside health, we must first take care of our insides.
How often are you eating the correct amount of daily recommended vegetables? What about daily recommended fruits and vitamin C? Most of us do what we can to stay moderately healthy, but in the age of fast food and fast-paced lifestyles, it can be hard to put our health first.
Only one in ten Americans meet the daily recommendation for fruits and vegetables, let alone all the other vitamins and minerals that we need to keep our bodies going. Keep reading to see how taking a multivitamin could help solve the vitamin and mineral deficiency that many of us are facing.
The Most Frequently Asked Questions
The most frequently asked questions about multivitamins are questions like: do they work? Are they worth buying when you are getting vitamins and minerals in the foods that we eat? Why are there different multivitamins for different genders and age groups? What is all the fuss about? Let’s address these questions as we continue.
Do Multivitamins Actually Work?
Do multivitamins work when it comes to aiding in your overall health? There are arguments both for and against multivitamins, so how do we know who to believe? To begin, always consult your doctor before taking any new supplements. Our doctors have been through years of schooling and usually know what is best for our bodies.
So, do multivitamins work? Well, let's ask another question. Are you getting the recommended amount of fruits and veggies? What about vitamins B and K? How can we know about all the different vitamins our bodies need to survive? There are so many, and it’s not like we track how many milligrams of each vitamin and mineral we’re getting every time we eat. Because of that, it’s essential to take a multivitamin to make sure that we are getting all of the essentials.
Multivitamins do well in filling the gaps in our diets. By taking just a few pills a day, you could become the healthiest version of yourself yet! The most necessary vitamins that we need are vitamins A, C, D, E, K, and then the vitamins in the B family. The B vitamins are thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, B₆, B₁₂, and folate. All of these and more even are essential in helping our bodies function, and taking a multivitamin could be the solution you need if you aren’t getting enough of these essentials.
How Do Multivitamins Affect Different Ages and Genders?
Your Age
People of different ages are in various stages of body growth and development. For example, babies and children may need different vitamins to help their bodies grow and develop. In contrast, adults and the elderly need different vitamins to help maintain their bodies as they are.
Children
Children have smaller bodies that are not fully developed, and thus different amounts and types of vitamins are required. For example, because children are growing little by little every day, they need an adequate amount of calcium to help their bones grow and stay strong. Children also need vitamin A to help develop their eyesight and vitamin B-2 to help with growth. And even though children are often picky, multivitamins can be fun for kids as they typically come in fun shapes and flavors, making health a treat for kids!
Adults
As adults, we need a different set of vitamins and dosages than children. This is because we’re not growing and instead are trying to maintain our bodies as we grow older and frailer. Like children, adults need adequate amounts of vitamin A to keep their eyes healthy, but that’s not all. As we age, our muscles tend to break down, resulting in weakness of our bodies, including in our eyes. Calcium is also an important mineral as our bones need to stay strong to support our bodies, considering they’re what hold us up. Likewise, we need to be making sure that we are taking care of our hearts. Our hearts and brains are of the utmost importance in our bodies as they run all of the systems inside us.
Healthy Directions has a Heart Healthy Multivitamin that contains vitamins A, C, and E. These vitamins act as powerful antioxidants and fight foreign bacterias. It also contains numerous B vitamins that help with cell growth and regrowth and keep our blood flowing—all essential items in a heart-healthy multivitamin.
Seniors
Seniors, or adults of the age 65 and older, have similar needs to younger adults, but as they have frailer bodies, may require different dosages. Many seniors struggle with low bone density and therefore need a sufficient amount of calcium in their diets to help prevent injuries. In a similar area of interest, seniors need to be getting a good amount of vitamin K in their systems to help with the blood clotting process. Adults 65 and older also tend to develop high blood pressure, a problem that can be solved by eating less sodium, including finding low sodium options in foods or ingredients that you are buying.
Gender Multivitamin Preferences
What is the difference in multivitamins catered to men and women individually? It comes down to the idea that, while men’s and women's bodies are similar, they are made for different things. The main differences are our builds and women's abilities to carry children. In addition, women typically physically mature quicker than men, and men generally are 10 percent larger than women with a roughly 30 percent larger muscle mass than women. So how can we cater to each gender individually?
Multivitamins for Men
When it comes to multivitamins for men, they have a greater risk of blood sugar concerns and therefore need an adequate amount of chromium to help balance their blood sugars. In addition, when men are trying to develop more muscle and grow their bodies, they need a lot of vitamin B-2, or riboflavin, to help their bodies to grow.
Multivitamins for Women
Multivitamins for women have different dosages than men’s multivitamins. For example, women typically need more iron than men, because when women menstruate, they lose iron and therefore need a way to replace it. Folic acid or Folate is an essential nutrient in women who desire to have children. Folate helps build the babies’ brains and spinal cords. As women are usually smaller than men, women also tend to have lower bone density, so women need more calcium than men.
Vegans and Vegetarians
The two other groups that could greatly benefit from taking a multivitamin are vegans and vegetarians—a lot of the vitamins that we need come from meats. B-12, for example, is only found in animal meats and therefore is a lacking vitamin in most vegans and vegetarians. Omega-3 fatty acids are also lacking as these fatty acids are mainly found in fish. By taking a multivitamin, they can get the B-12 and Omega-3s that they need.
How To Find the Right Multivitamin
With all this information on men versus women, adults versus children, and the different needs that all these groups have, how can we find the right multivitamin? As mentioned earlier, talking to your doctor or your children’s doctor would be the first step. Your doctor knows what our bodies need and how to go about helping us treat them the right way.
Ask your doctor about what nutrients your body specifically might need. For example, maybe you are iron deficient and need more iron in your vitamins. Maybe you work in an office and do not get the recommended amount of vitamin D. Maybe your family has a history of heart problems and you want a multivitamin that can care for your heart by strengthening the muscle, preventing blood clots, and just overall keeping your body healthy. Research in different products would also be helpful. How are they produced? What vitamins and minerals are in the multivitamin? Use the wisdom of your doctor and do your own research to find what will work for you!
What To Look For in a Multivitamin
A great option for a multivitamin is Forward Plus Daily Regimen, an astonishing 47-in- one product. There are three complexes that help make this product so useful.
- Omega- 3 Essentials complex
This complex keeps most everything going in our bodies. Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, help keep your cardiovascular health in check, your blood pressure balanced, and your blood flowing throughout your body.
- PhytoNutrient Essentials complex
This complex is the one that gives you the essentials from all the fruits and veggies that you might be missing when it comes to your meals and snacks.
- Forward Multinutrient complex
This complex provides total body nutrition, plus the energy and stamina needed to go about your daily life. It also includes vitamin C that most multivitamins tragically lack enough of.
Another great option for a daily multivitamin is Daily Advantage.This is a daily supplement with four complexes to give you optimal health. It has all the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that you may lack in a traditional daily diet. It also includes an Advanced Phytonutrient Shield that acts as a powerful antioxidant.
Daily Advantage has Herbal Superfood Energy that includes ingredients like spirulina and freshwater algae, which you might not immediately think of as being beneficial for your health. In fact, algae and spirulina act as good bacteria that aid in gut health. Spirulina is known to benefit nasal health and help keep respiratory symptoms at bay. Another component, the LipidMarine Fish Oil complex, gives you all the benefits of eating fresh fish, but is easy to absorb and digest. This fish oil also does not give you the fishy taste that other fish oil capsules may give you.
For seniors, the best multivitamin option is Forward Gold Daily Regimen. This product is designed to help those older to age in the easiest way possible. It has large amounts of calcium for bone and muscle strength. It also has large amounts of Omega-3 essentials to promote cardiovascular and complete head-to-toe support.
Summary
So, should you be taking a multivitamin? The answer, we believe, is yes. Even if you are doing your best to eat your veggies and you try to get in all your vitamins and minerals through your diet, there may be some lacking, and you could be suffering for it. Ever wonder why your stomach gets upset after eating, even if you are cutting out different food groups? Maybe it is because your stomach is missing some of the bacteria that it needs to properly digest and break down your food. Small problems and inconveniences like this can be solved by taking a multivitamin.
By taking a multivitamin, you are giving your body all the things that it needs to thrive. You are supporting your heart and blood health, your eye health and bone health, your gut health and your brain health. That just scratches the surface of what a multivitamin can do for you. By taking a multivitamin, you are honoring and caring for your body by giving it what it desires. While yes, you can get these important vitamins and minerals from your foods, multivitamins can do a good job in filling the holes that you might be missing. All in all, multivitamins are worth including in your daily regimen. They provide essential vitamins that you do not normally think about. By taking a multivitamin, you are providing total body health, providing your body with all the correct ingredients to grow, heal, and keep on living.
