Multivitamin Multiple Choice
By Kimberly Lord Stewart
Fall 2007
From sugar-coated cereals to bottled water, vitamin-enhanced foods are everywhere. In fact, these supercharged foods are saturated with the very same vitamins and minerals packed into multivitamin pills.
Which is better for you, a vitamin-enhanced sugary cereal or a vitamin pill and a glass of tap water? Hands down, physicians recommend the latter. So should you start your day with an obligatory one-a-day pill to stay healthy?
Most physicians advise that if your daily meals are well balanced (see sidebar) – and you get plenty of exercise – then you can skip the multivitamin. But if you consistently fall short of the recommended diet, eat too much fast food, skip meals or seldom exercise, then the American Medical Association suggests adding a multivitamin to your daily regimen.
The advice is the same for children. “If adults eat poorly, the likelihood is that the children also will eat poorly,” says Michael F. Roizen, M.D., co-author of Good Kids, Bad Habits and You: The Owner’s Manual (HarperCollins, 2007 and 2005, respectively). “A pill is no substitute for nutritious food. At the same time, getting a balanced diet into kids week-in week-out can be challenging, especially with picky eaters,” says Roizen.
Which type of vitamin should you choose: natural or synthetic, tablet or gel, Flintstones or Barney chewable? Experts say there are no major chemical differences. Natural vitamins cost more because they closely resemble food sources and thus can contain beneficial added nutrients (synthetic vitamins provide only single nutrients), according to James Balch, M.D., and Phyllis Balch, C.N.C., authors of Prescription for Nutritional Healing (Aery Publishing, 2007). They advise you to find a multivitamin free from fillers, sugars, artificial colors, preservatives and heart-damaging hydrogenated fats.
Among 21 multivitamin brands tested in a 2007 study by Consumer Labs (www.consumerlabs.com), only 10 made the grade for claims and quality. The best bet is to follow the lead of United Pharmacopeia (USP) and NSF International (NSF), third-party agencies that oversee vitamin production. If you see either of these acronyms on the bottle, rest assured that the label accurately describes the contents of the vitamin and that the pill will dissolve within 30 minutes of taking it (neither group makes claims about efficacy).
Roizen warns that too much isn’t better, especially for vitamin A, iron and vitamin E. Excessive vitamin A can lead to serious health problems. Avoid iron in supplements (unless your doctor advises otherwise), since it can accumulate in the liver and increase the risk of liver cancer. If you take statins for cholesterol reduction, do not take more than 100 IU of Vitamin E per day, since this can reduce the drug’s efficacy by 40 percent, Roizen says.
For men, excessive multivitamin intake (more than seven pills per week) may exacerbate cancerous tumors of the prostate, suggests a recent study from the National Cancer Institute. Instead, ask your doctor about selenium, lycopene and saw palmetto (with beta-sisterol) to reduce prostate cancer risk.
Before you rush out the door with a multivitamin and a morning cup of coffee to wash it down, remember that foods ultimately work best in syncopated harmony, meaning that some vitamins need a bit of food for optimal absorption. So consider taking the time to eat a bowl of healthy whole-grain cereal with your daily multivitamin.
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Kimberly Lord Stewart is the wife a retired naval officer and author of “Eating Between the Lines,” a supermarket shopper’s guide to the truth behind food labels (
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How Healthy Is Your Diet?
Before you dismiss the idea of taking a multivitamin, exactly what does a healthy diet look like?
9 Fistfuls of Fruits and Vegetables
Why: Every day, we need 31 g of flavanoids, the antioxidants that fight cancers and inflammatory diseases like heart disease.
How: 1 med. apple,1 cup broccoli, 5 oz. grape juice or red wine, 1 sm. onion, 1 cup oats, 1 cup strawberries, 1 sm. tomato, 1 cup tomato juice or tea = 32 g.
3 Servings of Calcium-rich Foods
Why: Bones store excess calcium until our early 30s, then depletion begins. So extra calcium is important – men and women need 1200 mg; 1600 mg is optimal for women age 60 and up. All ages need 400 mg magnesium and vitamin D for calcium absorption.
How: 1 cup milk, 1 cup yogurt or soy milk, 1 cup fortified orange, 1 oz. almonds, 1 cup beans, 1 cup broccoli, 1 cup collard greens = 1200 mg.
3 Helpings of Whole Grains
Why: Eating 48 g of whole grains per day can reduce stroke, heart disease and diabetes by up to 30% for each ailment.
How: 1/2 cup cooked oatmeal, 1 slice whole grain bread, 1/3 cup brown rice = 48 g.
3g Quota of Healthy Fats
Why: Omega-3 fatty acids can help reduce the risk of heart disease and calm inflammatory diseases like arthritis.
How: 13 oz. fish per week, 2 tbsp. ground flaxseed per day, or 2 tbsp. walnuts and 1 tbsp. canola oil per day.
If your diet doesn’t resemble this example on most days, consider taking a multivitamin along with 1200 mg calcium (divide the doses in 600 mg twice daily) and 3g fish oil. Look for a multivitamin that contains 100% of the daily recommended allowance for vitamins and minerals.