Just curious if there is any better answer than “it might help.” Thanks!
I prescribe a lot of supplements to my patients, but it’s pretty rare that I suggest a multi. Most of them have inferior forms of B vitamins (e.g. folic acid, cyanocobalamin, choline bitartrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride), maybe some alpha-tocopherol (an incomplete/unbalanced form of Vitamin E that’s thought to be unhealthy in the absence of gamma tocopherol) and only tiny amounts of more useful things to supplement like magnesium and Vitamin D that people are commonly deficient in. I’ve never heard of any studies that have ever shown them to do much of anything useful. About the most I can say for some of them is that sometimes they do contain a few useful trace minerals (iodine, zinc, etc.) but even there you’d probably be better off taking a dedicated “multi-mineral” supplement rather than a multivitamin if for some reason you don’t have a reasonably diverse diet.
To add to akohhh’s comment, if you have a decent diet, the insane levels of water-soluble vitamins in some multis won’t do much, even if they don’t harm you. You will literally be pissing away your money.
Thinking Nutrition is a pretty good blog and podcast from an Australian scientist. I think the general consensus from what I’ve heard him talk about is that they’re a waste of money if you’ve got a decent diet, and that a few things can accumulate to toxic levels if you’re supplementing unnecessarily.
Consensus is eat real food.
Women of childbearing age may need folate; pregnant women, iron; breastfed infants and elderly, vitD; elderly and vegans, vitB12.
Save for these specific cases, or any diagnosed inadequacy or deficiency in general, eat real food.
Same for children. Somehow humanity survived well before modern science, and it wasn’t all rickets, scurvy, beriberi, and neural tube defects either. It doesn’t take much to get enough.
I speak in laymans terms so basically, you get most of your daily vitamins from your food, better to use supplements to actually ‘supplement’ your diet, break down whats in your foods and if there’s something you aren’t getting enough of in your diet, consider finding a reputable supplement to get your intake.
Taking a multivitamin isnt going to do you any harm they just arent really needed if you have a varied balanced diet. Save your money for something you dont already eat.
AFAIK there’s no general consensus. However, there are many studies that have shown positive effects of D3 supplements on various viral infections.
There are also some positive studies related to Vitamin C and cancer/infection prevention/reduction of mortality but it’s all very disputed.
So what I’m doing for my personal diet is 500mg of Vitamin C (on the might help / can’t hurt basis) and 2000IU of D3 (I honestly believe this helps with viral infections).
You should also take into consideration your dietary habits. For example, if you are a vegan, taking B12 daily is also a good idea, as many vegans and some vegetarians suffer from B12 deficiency + it’s very well tolerated and relatively cheap.
Short answer : for most people, eating healthy food is enough for your needs, and you just urinate what your body don’t need. As an example, a single orange got enough vitamin c for a week ! I won’t take any multivitamin supplementation without a real deficiency, due to the fact that you are on a very specific diet.As I said : for most people. Just my two cents based on facts :D
Plant based minerals are most imperative, in my opinion and also in the opinion of this naturopath who has done extensive work surrounding it
https://doctorsresearch.com/features/886/the-truth-about-minerals-in-nutritional-supplements/