Things to Consider Before Choosing a Multivitamin

Do you know how to choose a multivitamin? We rely on supplements to give us what our diets don’t, so choosing the right multivitamin is far more important than just an afterthought.

Grocery store shelves are overflowing with generic vitamins that offer little nutritional value, so it’s important to do your own research when choosing the best multivitamins for your unique needs!

When you pick the best vitamins, you can be sure you’re getting the right supplements for your good health. But what makes a great vitamin and separates it from the pack? 

What’s in Your Multivitamin?

Learning how to choose the right vitamins involves taking a close look at the ingredients, but how do you know what to look for? A glance at the ingredients list looks like a chemistry textbook, but we can clarify Many vitamins have different chemical formulations that vary in their usefulness as supplements. 

Supermarket multivitamins typically are stuffed with fillers and cheap, synthetic ingredients that are poorly absorbed by the body. Many of these fillers are at best lacking in nutritional value and at worst harmful to your health! 

Picking a multivitamin at a pharmacy or big-box store won’t deliver the kind of multivitamin you need. Big-box store vitamins are filled with cheap ingredients that are artificial and in many cases fail to deliver the benefits you need. 

Cheap vs. Quality Multivitamins

Vitamins are complex chemical compounds and minerals that come in different formulations. High-quality vitamins include micronutrients that are easy to absorb and effective in promoting good health, but how do you tell the best from the so-so?

Let us help you with that! We can show you exactly how to cut through the mess and get right to what’s good--and what’s not so good--in your search for the perfect multivitamin.

Vitamin B12 

Benefits: Vitamin B12 boasts many benefits, including:

• Necessary for the production of red blood cells

• Required for the healthy development of the nervous system in a fetus

• Required for the production of serotonin, the neurochemical responsible for mood and concentration

• Responsible for lowering levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that can lead to heart problems

• Required for healthy skin, hair and nails

• Essential for the body’s methylation processes, which are required for the proper growth and regeneration of cells and tissues

• Essential for the growth, development and maintenance of all nerves and nervous tissue

• Vital for cellular reproduction

• The healthy methylation of B vitamins helps the mitochondria of each cell produce energy. Poor methylation of B vitamins is a factor in persistent fatigue.

• Able to significantly reduce pain in cases of peripheral neuropathy.

What to avoid: Cyanocobalamin. Cyanocobalamin is a synthetic form of B12. It’s cheap, poorly absorbed and is found in most mass-marketed multis. 

What to look for: Methylcobalamin. This form is much easier for your body to absorb. (Note: While this applies to everyone, this is especially important for you if you have an MTHFR gene mutation.)

Vitamin E

Benefits: Vitamin E is found in most multivitamins and for good reason. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that:

• Can be stored by the body and used as needed

• Prevents premature cell death

• Reduces wear-and-tear on cells and tissues

• Reduces oxidative stress on tissues

• Helps remove the byproducts of cellular metabolism--free radicals--that damage cells 

• Has 8 different forms, which vary in effectiveness and absorbability

• Is most effective in a multivitamin in gamma and delta tocotrienol form (1) 

What to avoid: Vitamin E as dl-alpha-tocopherol is synthetic and less absorbable. Because it’s cheap to make, you’ll find it in many store brands.  

What to look for: Tocotrienols give the most health benefits of any vitamin E compound and the best multivitamins include it. (2)

Vitamin A

Benefits: Vitamin A is something you don’t want to be deficient in! It...

• Is essential for the formation of white blood cells, which fight infection

• Helps fight respiratory illnesses (3)

• Helps control inflammation and promotes the health of the entire immune system (4)

What to avoid: Preformed versions (such as retinyl acetate). Preformed vitamin A compounds are known to have toxicity problems, something you definitely don’t want in your multi! 

What to look for: Mixed carotenoids or beta-carotene. These are vitamin A precursors, which are easier for your body to use. 

Folate (Vitamin B9)

Benefits: Folate is an essential substance that’s vital for the health of brain cells, as well as dozens of other processes that keep us healthy. The health benefits of methyl folate in your multivitamin include:

• The production of the brain’s neurotransmitters including norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine. These chemicals regulate a person’s mood and memory, as well as the ability to concentrate.

• The regulation and elimination of homocysteine, an amino acid that results from consuming meat. It contributes to heart disease if not removed from the body.

• The healthy production of red blood cells. A lack of methyl folate can lead to anemia, especially in women. The best multivitamins include folate.

You’ve heard of folic acid and folate, but are they the same? Not even close! (5) 

What to avoid: Folic acid. Folic acid has low bioavailability and requires a specific enzyme to be useful, but tens of millions of people have a mutation (MTHFR) that prevents this enzyme from working. For these people, folic acid accumulates in the body and at very high levels, interferes with the processes that need methylfolate.

What to look for: Methylfolate (5-methyltetrahydrofolate). Methylfolate is completely absorbed by the body (even for those with MTHFR gene mutations) and the best vitamins always include it.

Iron: Why It Shouldn’t Be in Your Multivitamin

Benefits: Iron is essential for red blood cells. It allows them to efficiently carry oxygen to your tissues, but iron builds up in the body rapidly. 

What to avoid: Even though we often see vitamins touting included iron, it’s not a good idea to take a multi with iron. Unlike many vitamins and supplements, excess iron gets stored so rapidly in the body that it’s easy to get too much. Excess iron gets stored in the tissues of major organs like the heart and can cause toxicity. (6)

What to look for: If you have iron deficiency that was noted in a test (like our Thyroid+ lab package), if you have a chronic iron deficiency, or are pregnant, I recommend a highly absorbable form like Ortho Iron.

Magnesium

Benefits: Magnesium is a vital mineral responsible for hundreds of chemical reactions in the body. An adequate supply of magnesium has been shown to reduce hot flashes in menopausal women. (7) Magnesium is also important for heart-healthy benefits, like lowering blood pressure, as well as being essential for a normal heart rhythm, muscle contraction and energy production throughout the body. 

What to avoid: Many multivitamins include a little magnesium, but it’s bulky and adding it to a multivitamin in the correct dosage would make the supplement too large, so if you rely on your multi for all your magnesium, you will very likely be deficient. 

What to look for: Since a multi can’t give you all your magnesium, you need a separate magnesium supplement that contains a chelated form for best absorption.

Our chelated magnesium is:

• Rapidly bioabsorbable

• Immediately effective for relief of cramps and headaches

• supplements.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Benefits: Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats that come from cold-water fish, like mackerel, cod, and salmon. They are essential for the regulation of inflammation throughout the body. Omega-3 fatty acids also:

• Increase the effectiveness of the immune system

• Reduce the incidence of heart attacks. (8) 

• Lower serum triglycerides

• May reduce pain, stiffness, and swelling in rheumatoid arthritis

• May improve the symptoms of depression

What to avoid: Omega-3 fatty acids should be taken separately from a multivitamin. Many cheap brands of fish oil products may contain heavy metals and other pesticides, so don’t take just any omega-3 supplement you find.

What to look for: Capsules allow omega-3s to be rapidly and thoroughly absorbed. High-quality omega-3s come from responsible sourcing and don’t contain all the junk that some cheap products will give you. Make sure you take a high-quality omega-3 supplement in addition to your daily multivitamin!

Check Out Our Foundations!

Thanks to the lowered nutrition of modern foods, stress, and pollution, it’s become essential to take supplements.

I’ve been working with private clients for over 20 years, and I’m always surprised at the gaps I’ve found in what people are taking, such as:

• Low-quality supplements from big box stores

• ‘Specialty’ supplements but not the basic essentials

• No essential fatty acids

• No magnesium

Our Foundations Collection is practitioner-grade thus very high-quality and absorbable. It has all the essential things you need every day for:

• Hormone production

• Immune support

• Metabolic energy

• Inflammation management

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Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP, is an acupuncturist turned functional health coach and has worked with thousands of clients since 2004.

She is the founder of FunctionalDetoxProducts.com and the author of The Ultimate Guide to Toxic Mold Recovery: Take Back Your Home Health & Life, available in audiobook, Kindle and paperback on Amazon.

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