Multivitamins...the best thing since sliced bread

BY: MADAM DLBG


Sing along with me now:

"We're the Flintstones Kids
Ten million strong, and growing.
We're the Flintstones Kids
Ten million stronggggggggggg......and growing."

Now, I know my fellow 80's babies (and their parents) remember this commercial. In fact, Flintstones Vitamins have been on the shelf since 1968 (and just for the nerds out there like me, The Bayer company, yes the aspirin and One-a-Day people, are the creators).

As far as vitamins are concerned, Flintstones are the most recognizable brand and they are for children. These vitamins were early advertised using the fact that kids eat very little or can be very picky eaters. Because of these and other reasons, children often miss out on eating the important foods that aid them in growth and provide them with the necessary minerals their body needs to function. So in this perspective, vitamins for kids makes perfect sense, correct? I thought you'd agree with me :-).

Now that I know you agree with me, I would like for you to think about this; If it is necessary for children to have a vitamin intake, what makes adults any different? My answer to that is absolutely nothing. Picky children grow into picky adults. Compound that fact with that they also do not eat enough of the right foods and go without eating for long periods of times and you have an overwhelming case for the need of vitamins being a necessity in an adults daily diet.

What Flintstones Vitamins have done is set a precedent at a young age. By teaching us that it is important as children for us to have vitamins, it also teaches us this as a fundamental factor throughout our lives. So what's the problem? Why do so many people not take vitamins?

My theory is that Flintstones Vitamins made it easy for us. As kids, our needs were pretty cut and dry. We absorbed nutrients more easily so the vitamins and minerals provided were sufficient. We also only had Flintstones Vitamins, so our choice, or better yet, the choice for parents was very simple. If you don't believe me, name another children's multivitamin you heard about or took yourself growing up? I didn't think you could. I had the benefit of a grandmother who believed in stuffing Cod Liver Oil down my throat with a spoon... even though they made the caplets :^|*straight face* .

The bottom line is that these days, we are constantly having vitamins, minerals and supplement creations thrown at us left and right, confusing us and even deterring us from having a necessary element of our diet. Even though this happens, adding multivitamins to one's diet should be a goal. Choose your multivitamin wisely, but do not let the stress or the many different types of multivitamin packs out there confuse and deter you. Below, I have included an excerpt from an article I found extremely helpful when I chose my multivitamin. Happy Hunting!

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Excerpt: From the Earth or Bottle? A Guide to Vitamin Supplementation
By Bob Seebohar

Here is an overview of the different vitamins, their functions and food sources (the foods listed are not the only ones where the vitamin is present, rather the more popular ones. If I listed all of the foods, the lists would be never ending!):

• Vitamin A (retinol) - Necessary for healthy eyes, skin and linings of the digestive and urinary tracts and the nose. Food sources include milk, dried apricots, squash, carrots, spinach and fortified products.
• Vitamin B₁ (thiamin) - Helps transform carbohydrates into energy. Food sources include potatoes, fish, bananas, ham, chicken, bread, cereal and enriched rice.
• Vitamin B₂ (riboflavin) - Necessary for energy release and for healthy skin, mucous membranes and nervous system. Food sources include spinach, steak, cottage cheese, milk, oranges, apples, enriched bread and enriched cereal.
• Vitamin B₃ (niacin) - Helps transform food into energy (metabolism), necessary for growth and for production of hormones. Food sources include tuna, potatoes, halibut, peas, cereal, corn, mushrooms, peanut butter, ground beef and enriched bread.
• Vitamin B₆ - Necessary for synthesis and breakdown of amino acids and aids in metabolism of carbohydrates. Food sources include peanut butter, chick peas, chicken, spinach, cereal, potatoes, bananas and lima beans.
• Folic Acid - Necessary for production of blood cells and a healthy nervous system. Food sources include spinach, broccoli, green beans, peas, lentils, asparagus, mushrooms, lima beans and oranges.
• Biotin - Needed for metabolism of carbohydrates, protein and fat. Food sources include nuts, split peas, eggs, cauliflower and mushrooms.
• Pantothenic Acid - Needed for metabolism of carbohydrates, protein and fat. Food sources include eggs, peanuts, mixed vegetables, steak, fish, wheat germ and broccoli.
• Vitamin B_{12 -} Needed for synthesis of red and white blood cells and for the metabolism of food. Food sources include chicken, meat, eggs, milk and yogurt.
• Vitamin C - Necessary for healthy connective tissue, bones, teeth and cartilage, enhances immune system. Food sources include bell peppers, broccoli, strawberries, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes and kiwi.
• Vitamin D - Needed for calcium and phosphorus metabolism and for healthy bones and teeth. Food sources include milk and fortified milk, fortified cereal and sunlight.
• Vitamin E - Necessary for nourishing and strengthening cells, antioxidant. Food sources include sunflower oil, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, almonds and whole wheat grain.
• Vitamin K - Necessary for blood clotting. Food sources include cabbage, spinach, broccoli and kale.

Choosing a Multivitamin

Multivitamins do have their place in a well-balanced eating plan, but remember they will not compensate for an unhealthy, unbalanced diet.

• Choose a multivitamin with the vitamins and minerals ranging from 100-200% of the Daily Value (DV). Don’t expect to find 100% of the DV for calcium and magnesium listed on a label in most cases, because these minerals are too bulky to include into one pill.
• Don’t purchase multivitamins that contain excessive doses of vitamins and minerals, especially minerals. High doses of one mineral can offset the benefits of another. For example, too much zinc can interfere with the absorption of copper.
• Choose a multivitamin with beta-carotene, not vitamin A. Beta-carotene is the precursor to vitamin A and acts as an antioxidant.
• Buy a supplement before its expiration date and store it in a cool, dry place.
• Ignore claims about “natural” vitamins. These usually tend to be a mixture of natural and synthetic vitamins and offer no additional benefits. The one exception is vitamin E, which is more potent in its natural form.
• Chelated supplements offer no advantages, nor do those made without sugar or starch.
• Just because the price tag is high does not mean the multivitamin is better. A well-known brand name costs more than generic but often times has the same amounts of vitamins and minerals in it. Buyer beware!
• Take a vitamin with a label that states it has passed the 45-minute dissolution test. A supplement is of little value unless it can be absorbed by the body.
• To optimize absorption, take a multivitamin with or after a meal.