If you are a long-time reader of Health Zingers or if you are familiar with my writings, you know that I am very critical of the misleading advertising that surrounds the selling of, especially, multivitamins. A common theme found in my writings is encouragement for you to take charge of what direction you should travel on your road to better health. I am regularly called too “anti-medical doctor” or “anti-pharmaceutical” because I urge you to be critical of every recommendation given to you by any of your doctors. This includes any of my recommendations, also. But, my call for criticism has never been limited to medicine and, as such, I am urging you to question the taking of a daily multivitamin.

Most of us take it for granted that a daily multi imparts some benefit upon our future health. The analogy to a health insurance policy is typically associated with the use of a daily multivitamin. I want you to question this logic and to realize that you may be wasting your money or you may even be hurting your future health by taking a store-bought multivitamin.

I constantly hear people say that their husband, wife, father, mother, good friend (who knows a lot about nutrition), clinical nutritionist, or doctor believe that you should buy the cheapest multivitamin you can since they are all the same. I was at a neighborhood party one time when the topic of multivitamins came up. I sat there quietly, at first, just listening to the conversation. The father of the hostess proclaimed, with authority, that he knew a lot about supplements and that you should always buy the cheapest, generic multivitamin. I glanced at my wife who was sitting across the room. She was giving me the “please shut up” look.

I smiled at her and then began to ask the self-proclaimed expert some questions. To be fair, I gave him my credentials and told him that I strongly disagreed with what he had said. He was not dissuaded one bit and told me again that he had done a lot of reading on the subject. So, I asked him some basic questions that any “expert” should be able to easily answer. I asked him if he preferred methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin or cyanocobalamin. I asked him what he felt the differences were between calcium carbonate and calcium citrate. I asked him what chelator was his favorite when looking at mineral supplementation. I asked him to explain the RDA and how it was related to optimal intake of nutrients. He sat there completely quiet. I then asked him, “Do you even know what I am referring to when I mentioned methycobalamin, adenosylcobalamin or cyanocobalamin?” He sat there dead quiet. I told him that it was apparent that he needed to do a bit more reading.

The real problem was that this guy spoke with authority when it was apparent that he was no expert on the subject! The reason why this is a problem is that people tend to believe anyone who speaks on a topic with authority and confidence. Thus, when your husband, wife, father, mother, good friend (who knows a lot about nutrition), clinical nutritionist, or doctor tell you to buy the cheapest brand of mutli, are they speaking from a position of knowledge or are they just parroting what they heard from someone who spoke with confidence and authority? I am willing to bet a lot that Polly wants a cracker!

I have recorded The Vitamin Answer Book in order to answer the question of whether there is a difference in multivitamins. I talk about the true cost of taking “the cheapest” form, about the quality differences, about how minerals are supplied and I discuss the RDA/DV (Recommended Daily Allowance/Daily Value) at length. I encourage you to listen to the CD or to download the iPod/MP3 file for FREE.

If you are one of those who claims that taking a store-bought multi is the best option, you really need to listen to The Vitamin Answer Book. You are going to find out that you are quite mistaken.

In closing, I wanted to address the two claims I made in the introduction to this article before I leave you to listen to The Vitamin Answer Book. The first was that you may be wasting your money by taking a multivitamin. The second was that you may actually be hurting your future health instead of improving it by taking a multivitamin.

Wasting Your Money

You are most likely taking a multivitamin in order to fill in the gaps of any vitamin and mineral deficiencies you may be experiencing in your life. The first thing to consider is how much of each vitamin and mineral should you take? The answer most commonly given is to never take more than the RDA/DV (Recommended Daily Allowance/Daily Value). Let me quickly illustrate how this makes little to no sense at all.

Would you expect a six year old to have the same nutrient need as a 60 year old? Would a female of teen age years have the same need as a male of the same age? Would a teenager have the same need as a 50 year old? Would someone who never exercises have the same need as someone who exercises regularly? Would someone under a lot of stress have the same need as someone living under little stress? Would someone who eats a lot of fruits and vegetables have the same need as someone who eats predominately fast food? The answer to all of these is, “Of course, NO!”

But, the RDA/DV are the SAME for all of these scenarios! The RDA/DV tell you the MINIMUM amount you should take in order to escape developing a disease of vitamin deficiency like scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, Ricketts, etc. The RDA/DV are not a measure of optimal intake or of the safe intake for vitamins or minerals, as so many believe. Following the RDA/DV would be like bringing one golf ball to an 18 hole course. It is the minimum needed to play, but not the optimum. (I would get to play one or two holes, at most!)

The other main problem with buying cheap, store-bought multivitamins is that most are hard as a rock. Take one out and pound it on the table. You will be lucky to dent it. Unfortunately, most of us do not have a rigorous and healthy digestive tract. Because of this, these tablets may not dissolve, which means that you did not take a multivitamin at all. Talk about a waste of money!

So, you are wasting your money because you are more than likely not fulfilling your main goal for taking a multivitamin. You are not filling in the nutritional gaps and you are not even coming close to supplementing with an optimal amount of nutrients for your unique situation. By falling short of these goals you are doing little to nothing to improve your future health. Again, listen to The Vitamin Answer Book where I give you many more reasons why you are wasting your money by taking a store-bought multivitamin. After listening to this information I think you will be hard pressed to ever tell someone that taking the cheapest, store-bought multivitamin is good advice.

Potentially Hurting Your Future Health

One thing that NEVER gets any attention is that many people do not fully digest the rock-hard multivitamin tablets supplied by store-bought products. There are two potential health issues that arise due to this lack of proper digestion. First, vitamins and minerals are absorbed in your small intestines. If the tablets do not dissolve in your stomach, the amount of these nutrients you get into your system will be reduced. Thus, any health promoting benefits of getting these nutrients into your body are lost.

More importantly, though, is that vitamins and minerals are not meant to make it to your large intestine or colon. When the hard tablet you take dissolves past the point of optimal absorption, the vitamins and mineral eventually make it to the colon in concentrations that can become problematic. Why? Because you may be promoting the growth of bacteria and yeast within the colon that will feast upon these nutrients and multiply. Over a long period of time, you may change the environment of your colon and then small intestines to one that is less than healthy. Do you think that this is a situation that will be good for your future health? I think it is not hard see that this can be a potential problem for your future health.

Taking a store-bought multivitamin is not a good idea. I would rather that you stop taking a multivitamin all together. You are not really helping yourself and you may create an environment within your gut that will not promote future health.

What Should You Do?

The first thing to decide is whether you really need a multivitamin in the first place. If you eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables, have great digestion, if you are not overly stressed and if you get regular exercise; you probably have little need to take a multivitamin. That probably only includes 1 out of every 100 people I know! For the rest of you, you need to determine how to supplement your lifestyle in a MEANINGFUL manner. What do I mean by meaningful? I mean that you should evaluate your level of health and then decide how much of a HIGH QUALITY multivitamin you should take. High quality multivitamins are formulated to be taken at more than one-a-day. If you are highly stressed and have a poor diet you will need to take more than someone without these challenges.

What Multivitamin Do You Suggest?

I like Alpha Base by OrthoMolecular Products, but there are many others. Other good quality multivitamins include Multigenics by Metagenics and Basic Nutrients by Thorne.