Are you consuming a “one a day” type supplement? For many people, the taking of a multivitamin/multimineral (MM) supplement is to “cover all the bases,” trying to make sure no significant vitamin or mineral deficiencies occur among the vitamins and minerals commonly considered to be the most important.
Are You Expecting Too Much From Your Doctor?
Sadly, many health care providers consider MM supplements, as well as supplementation in general, to be a complete waste of money, so don’t count on receiving clear-cut guidelines or support from your doctor or even from friends you may have in the health care industry.Are All Multivitamin/Multimineral Supplements the Same?
While the similarities might be substantial, virtually all MM preparations are unique in their own right, having some ingredients others do not have, and having significant dosing differences between identical ingredients. Furthermore, there are significant variations among the “same” ingredients, such as what anion is attached to the cation (like magnesium oxide versus magnesium glycinate).Three Nutrients to Avoid in Your Nutritional Supplement
The “big three” to avoid are calcium, iron, and copper. All three of these elements strongly contribute to increased oxidative stress in the body, unless you are clearly deficient in them.That said, no adult would ever be expected to be legitimately deficient in calcium in their non-bony tissues. A true copper deficiency is a virtual myth as well. Of the three, only iron would ever be expected to be deficient in an adult.
Allow Me to Make Myself Perfectly Clear
You really do not want any MM supplement that contains any of these three elements. Of note, very many of these supplements have large amounts of calcium—which should be a strong deterrent against even taking such an MM supplement at all.A regular large dose of calcium is going to negate much, if not most, of the benefits of an MM supplement in the long run.
What Should I Be Looking for in a Good “MM” Supplements?
A good MM supplement should contain vitamins A, C, D3, E, along with B vitamins, including thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, folate, and B12. Of these, it is especially important to be aware of the total vitamin D3 you are taking daily.While substantial variation in individual needs exist, most adults will not need to take more than 5,000 units of D3 daily to keep their blood level tests in the 50 to 80 ng/ml range—which is what I recommend.
Each capsule of the MM supplement mentioned above has 1,000 units of D3. If you are already a consumer of a wide variety of supplements, you will also find D3 to be a common component of many of them.
Have You Ever Tested Your Vitamin D Level in Your Blood?
This is all the more reason for making sure your blood levels end up in the recommended range. Too little vitamin D3 can literally be deadly, as can too much vitamin D3 over an extended period of time. Blood testing need not be frequent once you’ve been on a good dose for a year or more, as D3 levels do not fluctuate widely from one month to the next.Is There Anything Else I Should Know About My MM Supplement?
If your MM supplement does not contain calcium, iron, or copper, you are “ahead of the game” already. However, you should always look for amino acid chelate forms of the minerals you ingest, such as magnesium glycinate.Bolstering the Super Important Components
Even when you are avoiding severe deficiencies with a good MM supplement, don’t delude yourself into thinking that your bases are well-covered. Vitamin C needs to be dosed for most people at multi-gram amounts daily.Magnesium needs to be taken at multi-hundred milligram amounts. Vitamin D3 has to be taken properly to achieve the correct blood levels. Vitamin K needs to be taken in adequate amounts, and it should be noted that some MM supplements contain no vitamin K.