Select the Best Multivitamin for Your Health Needs

If you take a multivitamin, it’s probably because you want to do everything you can to protect your health. But there is still limited evidence that a daily cocktail of essential vitamins and minerals actually delivers what you expect. Most studies find no benefit from multivitamins in protecting the brain or heart. But there are potential benefits and no risks from a one daily standard multivitamin.

So, is it worth considering a multivitamin as part of a healthy lifestyle? Start with asking yourself why you would consider taking a multivitamin. If you suspect your diet is nutritionally lax, focus your efforts there

The vitamins

There are 13 essential vitamins your body needs for normal, healthy functioning.

These are nutrients that your body cannot make itself (or cannot make enough of). It must get most of them through diet. Nutrients are substances used by living things to survive and grow.

Vitamins are usually only needed in small amounts. Too much of some can cause symptoms or toxicity.

What do vitamins Do

Vitamins play important roles in the many chemical reactions that are taking place in your cells all the time. Most vitamins take part in many different reactions, so one vitamin can have many functions:

They can act as regulators of cell and tissue growth (vitamin A).
Some are enzymes—biological catalysts that help certain chemical reactions to happen (B-complex vitamins).
Some have a hormone-like function (vitamin D).
Others can function as antioxidants, neutralizing harmful free radicals. Examples include vitamins C and E.
(Free radicals are highly reactive atoms that can damage cells and cause disease and aging)

If you enjoy a nutritious and varied diet, have no vitamin or mineral deficiencies, and are otherwise healthy and well, you can get all the nutrients you need from food. Then taking multivitamins is not necessary.

Research published in the journal BMJ Open looked at more than 21,000 multivitamin users and non-users in the United States. Thirty per cent of the multivitamin users reported better health than the non-users. But when health was clinically assessed, they scored no higher than non-users.

Make feel better

That could be true. The study published in the BMJ( British Medical Journal Open suggests many of the perceived health benefits of taking multivitamins.

You could possibly feel the same benefits as taking multivitamins by feeling confident that your healthy diet is providing you with good health.

As with prescription medicines, multivitamins, minerals, and other supplements can have adverse effects and cause harms if used incorrectly or if doses are too high. This can occur when someone takes a supplement, not realizing they are getting more of a particular vitamin or mineral from another source, such as another supplement or from food.

Vitamins and minerals that can be harmful in excess include:

A (retinol)
B₃ (niacin/nicotinic acid)
B₆ (pyridoxine)
C (ascorbic acid)
D (cholecalciferol)
E (alpha-tocopherol)
calcium
magnesium
zinc
Selenium.

For example, taking too much vitamin A (retinol) can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and blurry vision. This can happen even with a large single dose (over 200,000 mcg)

Taking too much long term (over 10,000 mcg per day) can also have adverse effects or cause harms including:

bone thinning
liver damage
joint and bone pain
Birth defects.

The symptoms may differ, but too much of other vitamins listed above can also have adverse effects or cause harms. If you’re unsure how much is safe, ask your doctor or pharmacist. If you’re pregnant, you should check with your doctor before taking vitamins or supplements.

Gradyn plus tablet

Is a multivitamin product used to treat or prevent vitamin deficiency due to poor diet, certain illnesses, or during pregnancy? Vitamins are important building blocks of the body and help keep you in good health.

Vitamin D

Helps your body absorb calcium, a mineral that’s responsible for the normal development and maintenance of healthy teeth and bones. This vitamin also helps maintain proper blood levels of calcium and phosphorus. Vitamin D is often called the sunshine vitamin because your skin produces it after being exposed to ultraviolet rays from the sun.

Vitamin E

Is an antioxidant that protects red blood cells and may play a role in immune function, DNA repair and other metabolic functions.

Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid)

Vitamin C is an antioxidant that maintains healthy tissue and helps the body absorb iron. It also plays a role in wound healing.

Vitamin B-3,

Commonly known as niacin, is one of the eight B complex vitamins that help your body convert food to energy. Niacin also helps improve blood circulation and cholesterol levels.

Vitamin B-9,

Also called folate, is important in red blood cell formation and for healthy cell growth and function. It’s also important for the developing fetus during pregnancy. Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate.