Multivitamins: Good idea or bad?>

This is an area of much debate among the vitamin companies and so-called "nutritionists." There is no debate in this area among high-level athletes, endocrinologists, and independent researchers. The logic is very simple: hot processing destroys nutrients.

When you see "ascorbic acid" rather than "vitamin C" on a label, you are seeing a hot-processed chemical devoid of the nutrients that allow your body to use vitamin C. Cold-processed rose hips, for example, contain all the phytochemicals, enzymes, and complementary nutrients (other than B vitamins) that give natural vitamin C sources their cancer-fighting and regenerative powers. Ascorbic acid does not.

Cold-processed supplements cost more. But, their absorption is far higher and so your cost per unit used is far less than for hot-processed. To get the same nutritional results, you would spend far more on hot-processed supplements.

You need the B vitamins to process vitamin C. You need calcium, magnesium and phosphorous in the correct ratio for you to use the calcium. If your multivitamin supplement is cold-processed, it will very likely have the right nutrients in the right proportions, because cold processing is a higher quality process than hot and it is unlikely cold-processors will leave out nutrients that naturally go together. Still, make sure you read the label, especially for the B-C and C-M-P profiles. These should roughly meet the same proportion of RDA. If you take individual supplements, you will very much need to address this issue when you take each supplement. Never take C without a B-complex, and never take calcium without phosphorous and magnesium.

Keep in mind that vitamin and mineral supplementation is just that. It doesn’t ensure you get the fiber, protein, essential fatty acids (EFAs), and other substances you need. It does make up for just one class of nutritional deficiency. You can buy EFAs and other supplements here at a great cost-savings over normal retail.

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for most vitamins and minerals is low. The RDA for vitamin C, for example, is 60 mg. You need at least four times that amount. The RDA for the B vitamins, E, selenium, calcium, zinc, and magnesium are also low. But, don’t worry. If your diet is reasonably healthy (you don’t eat highly processed foods and you do eat plenty of greens), it will most likely make up for the difference. So, a good way to address the RDA issue is to supplement to the RDA levels and let your diet do the rest.

Not sure what the RDAs are? Most supplements express their quantities as a percentage of the RDA. You can find absolute quantities (the number of IUs you should get) in various references, too. But the % RDA is the more useful value.

If you go with very many individual supplements, you will need a refrigerator door bay or shelf in which to store them. If you buy cold-processed, remember these are essentially compressed food—these need to be kept refrigerated. Yes, they can tolerate days of non-refrigeration, but they lose potency if left sitting out. If you travel, a multivitamin plus 2 or 3 selected nutrients (for example, a B complex and C) will save space while providing you with good vitamin and mineral insurance. You may need to "bone up" on calcium, etc., when you get back.

Doctors keep saying nutritional requirements don’t vary with activity level. Doctors have almost no training in nutrition, so they don’t know. They are simply parroting the party line. And it’s a stupid thing to say. Your body needs a slew of nutrients for cell repair. Intense exercise breaks down cells. The conclusion here is obvious.

Sometimes, you will need more nutritional supplementation than at other times. These times include everything from emotional stress to physical exertion. Listen to your body. If you are feeling run down, increase supplementation for a few days. If you are on a multivitamin, you will increase across the whole spectrum. And this means you will be getting more than you need of some nutrients. A woman would need to supplement iron during menstruation. Doing that with a multivitamin is just not practical and probably not safe. So, think about what nutrients you will most need to "up the dose on" and keep a small supply of those on hand. To cope with physical stress, extra B, C, and E do the trick. If you have an illness, you need extra zinc.

If you eat bread, take a look at the label. If you see "hydrogenated oil" or "partially hydrogenated oil," just replace that text with "bowel cancer" or "prostate cancer" and make your purchase decision accordingly. You can buy bread that doesn’t have these poisons in it. If you do decide to buy these items, then consider that you will need to supplement with extra B, C, and E. You should also eat plenty of blueberries—the most potent anti-oxidant food known to man.

If you drink soft-drinks, you place extra stress on your body. Soft drinks are essentially osteoporosis in a can. You should begin taking 25% extra of the RDA of calcium/
magnesium/phosphorus for each glass of any soft-drink you take in each day. For more information, see http://www.supplecity.com/articles/softdrinksunsafe.htm.

You must take complementary nutrients together. A multivitamin, of course, makes this happen. However, that’s not the only timing issue.

A cold-processed multivitamin is low-potency per pill. That means you need to take more than one each day to get your RDA. Don’t take them at the same time. Take one with breakfast, and one with a later meal. This spreads out the dosage and increases absorption dramatically.

Some people have developed complex regimens where they separate all the nutrients out into doses over the day. This strategy is very hard to keep up. Yes, you may increase absorption. But, a multivitamin gets results that are probably as good for a lot less effort.

You need to decide how much supplementation you need. Then, you can determine if you need just a multivitamin/multimineral supplement, a whole range of individual vitamin and mineral supplements, or a strategy that combines both in some way. Here are some things to consider:

• How likely are you to take many pills, vs. one or two a day?
• Do you have unusual stress levels or activities that require supplementation of a specific nutrient?
• Do you have a good diet? Over 95% of people do not. That is, if you define a good diet as one that is essentially devoid of processed carbohydrates and resembles the food pyramid with the "grains" turned to "greens." The worse your diet is, the more supplementation you need.
• Are you getting enough unsaturated and mono-saturated fats in your diet? Most people do not. You may need an EFA supplement in addition to the others—a multivitamin reduces the amount of work involved.

For most people, taking a multivitamin is preferable to taking individual vitamins. The main reason is simplicity. Taking any supplement without understanding the RDA and how much you are getting can cause sickness you won’t recover from.

There really is no one "best" answer. Using the information provided here, you can find the answer that is best for you. Be sure to re-evaluate your strategy as things change in your life.

Now, check out these vitamin products.