Multivitamins - To Buy Or Not To Buy?

Introduction

Although most people would benefit, both short term and long term, by taking a good multivitamin, there are some people who need it more than others. Everyone is different and everyone has different nutritional requirements depending on personal circumstances and lifestage. Young children and pregnant, breastfeeding women, for example, have higher nutritional needs at that stage of their lives. If you are immobile, housebound or elderly, it is more important to ensure you have a nutritional balance in your diet. For Vegans and some vegetarians, it is not straightforward to receive the vitamins and minerals needed to maintain a healthy immune system through food.

If you're a smoker, you also need to ensure you consume plenty of vitamins and minerals because they act as antioxidants. Studies have shown that every cigarette smoked destroys some vitamin C and as a result smokers require double the amount of vitamin C as non smokers. It is therefore essential that you get plenty of vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and zinc into your diet which may not always be possible to achieve through foodstuffs.

If you're chronically ill or have an immune deficiency, it is also important that you have the nutrients to heal quickly. If you're trying to lose weight, more often than not you will be on a restrictive diet which can again lead to a risk of nutrition deficiency, especially if you're looking to take drastic steps to get slimmer.

Benefits of multivitamins

If you do physical exercise (which I'm sure most of you reading this will do), you will need to ensure you are consuming plenty of vitamins because physical exercise can compromise your immune system and leave you more susceptible to illness or injury. You may have noticed if you've been to the gym 3-4 days in a row that by the 4^th day you're feeling weak and suffering from the continued intensity of your workouts. Multivitamins will help you maintain a peak level to avoid becoming rundown and fatigued.

If you are looking to lose weight, adding a good multivitamin supplement to your diet won't help you achieve this alone but it can help you maintain a good nutritional balance. If could even help you shift a few lbs as you'll benefit from an improved metabolism.

Powerful antioxidants in multivitamins such as Grape Seed Extract, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Citrus Bioflavonoids and Beta Carotene work to remove toxins and free radicals produced from exercise and a busy lifestyle whilst other properties found in multivitamins promote a healthy circulatory system, cell growth and can also enhance energy levels.

Are there any side effects when taking multivitamins?

In the last section describing the benefits of multivitamins, I've touched upon a few of the positive side effects such as the potential to increase energy levels. Generally, there are no known negative side effects. The high quality multivitamins, such as Troo Health Care's 'Troo Vit Supreme', contain foods selected for their vitamin content to create an organic multivitamin in food form. This is as safe as it gets in terms of side effect risk. Being food form means it is absorbed better than manufactured synthetic vitamins because our bodies have evolved to absorb nutrients from plants, vegetables and animals/meats. Our body recognises these and so retains more of the nutrients than it would from chemically manufactured supplements.

If you're not getting enough nutrition in your diet, I would expect you to have more energy after using multivitamins but this is not always easy to quantify as it will differ from person to person. However, for whatever reason, most of us don't get the nutrition we need in our daily diets and as a result we should be taking multivitamins both as a more cost effective measure to stocking up on individual tubs of vitamins but also to ensure we receive the nutrients needed to maintain a healthy immune system which has benefits for both our physical and mental wellbeing.

Taking multivitamins will ensure you're ill less often and, when you are ill, they will help you to recover faster. Nutrition is especially important in the winter months when you're more susceptible of getting ill whilst studies have also shown that a highly nutritious diet will help prevent chronic illness such as hearing problems and cancer.

Which multivitamins should I buy?

You can buy multivitamins from many supermarkets and health stores but they vary in degrees of quality. I have come across two multivitamin products which I can highly recommend on a personal level and, to treat you, the reader, I can provide a voucher code for each (although be quick because they do have an expiry date!)
 

Troo Health Care 'Troo Vit Supreme' (£15.97)

I have obtained a voucher code from Troo Healthcare which gets you 20% off when ordering 2 or more bottles of Troo Vit Supreme, valid until November 29^th 2019. You can find the voucher code on our Troo Health Care voucher code page.

As aforementioned, Troo Vit Supreme is a specially developed food form multivitamin which has ben prepared to be as similar as real food. This means your body can absorb and utilise the nutrients easier because your body is used to this form of consumption.

Troo Vit Supreme is 100% organic with all natural ingredients and a combination of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, oils and trace elements. So this means you'll get all the vitamins and minerals that you'd find in a standard multi vitamin but in a true 'food state'. Organic ingredients mean there are no added toxic chemicals whilst taking this supplement will help support your metabolism, replenish vitamin and mineral imbalances and supply your body with organic nutrients to help you stay healthy for longer.

Myprotein Alpha Men (£10.69 for 120 caps or £19.39 for 240 caps)

Alpha Men multivitamin sells well across the world and, exclusive to you, until December 4^th 2011, you can get 10% off a tub of 240 capsules with an exclusive voucher code which you can find on our Myprotein voucher code page.

Myprotein Alpha Men contains a vitamin and mineral blend which conforms to 100% recommended daily allowance for each vitamin and mineral and contains potent premium sourced vitamins and minerals to help you boost your metabolism with one of the best selling products on the market.   

Ingredients which make up Alpha Men include magnesium oxide, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A, zinc oxide, vitamin D3, riboflavin (for improved cell growth), vitamin B12 premix, folic acid (for a healthy circulatory system), Korean Ginseng (for increased energy production) and powerful antioxidants such as Grape Seed Extract and Beta Carotene.

This product is specifically for men but if you're a woman and after a multivitamin supplement, Myprotein also sell MP MAX Elle Active Woman at £13.99 for 120 capsules (out of stock at the time of writing but due to be back in stock in 2-3 weeks).