Health Tips

Have it be an experienced athlete or an average Joe, everybody at some point wonders about taking a vitamin supplement. Do we really need them? Which one should I get? When should I take them? These questions come up countless times.

The first piece of vitamin advice is that if you live in today’s modern society you need at least a multi vitamin and mineral supplement each day. The past thought was that if you eat a well balanced diet you would get plenty of vitamins and minerals from the whole foods. That was correct in the past, but with all of the modern methods of food production vitamin and mineral content has increasingly been declining. Some studies suggest that the average vitamin and mineral loss in produce has dropped 22% in just 75 years. It is becoming more difficult to get the minimum RDA’s from food, which simply prevent deficiency. It is almost impossible and unrealistic to get optimal vitamin and mineral levels that promote health with food alone.

The second piece of vitamin advice would be never taking a single nutrient alone. Vitamins and minerals do not naturally exist in isolation. They also do not work in isolation in your body. So simple logic will tell you not to take them in isolation. For example, one study found that homocysteine (protein indicator correlated with many diseases) levels were reduced by 17% when folic acid was taken alone. Those levels dropped 19% on vitamin B12 alone. Those same levels dropped 57% when folic acid and B12 were taken together. There was a 60% drop when folic acid, B12, and B6 were taken together. Can you see the pattern?

The last bit of vitamin advice for now is to split up the doses. The more nutrients taken at once by the body, the smaller percentage will be absorbed. That means that if you need to take two pills to get the full dose, then take one in the morning and one at night. You can also cut the pill in half if the serving is just one pill.

Hopefully these three guidelines will help take some of the mystery out of vitamin and mineral supplements.