Choosing a multivitamin: women, men, vegan, and when it makes sense

A multivitamin is the most bought supplement and at the same time the least necessary. Anyone who eats a varied diet simply gets most vitamins and minerals. Still, there are situations in which a multi makes sense, and then the question is which one. Below you can read when a multivitamin adds something, how to read a label, what the difference is between a multi for women, men and vegans, and what to watch for during pregnancy.

When does a multivitamin make sense?

The Netherlands Nutrition Centre is down to earth about it: with a healthy and varied diet you get all the nutrients, so anyone who eats enough and varied does not need a supplement. The official recommendations are about single nutrients for specific groups: vitamin D for young children, older people, pregnant women and people with darker skin or little sun, folic acid around pregnancy, vitamin B12 for anyone who eats no animal products. The Nutrition Centre also names groups for whom a top-up can be desirable without an official recommendation: older people who eat little, people who eat one-sidedly and people on an extreme weight-loss diet.

A multi fits in there when you know your diet falls short for a while, through a busy period, illness, recovery or little appetite for instance, and you do not know exactly what you are missing. If you do know, a single supplement makes more sense: exactly the nutrient you need, in the dose that goes with it. A multi is a safety net, not a medicine and not a replacement for food.

How to read the label

Every label states per nutrient the amount and the percentage of the reference intake (RI). Three things to look for:

• Around 100 per cent is enough. A multi is meant to top up the diet, not replace it. Percentages of 500 or 1,000 per cent add nothing. For most B vitamins and vitamin C that is harmless, but vitamin B6 has an upper limit of 12 mg a day: high doses over a long period can cause nerve problems.
• Iron only with a reason. The Nutrition Centre advises not to take multivitamins with iron if there is no reason to, and otherwise at most 100 per cent of the recommended amount: 11 milligrams for men and women after the menopause, 16 milligrams for women of childbearing age. Why that is, is in iron deficiency: signals, and why vitamin C belongs with it.
• Vitamin A during pregnancy. Pregnant women do not take supplements with vitamin A as retinol. Beta-carotene, the plant-based precursor, is not a problem.

Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) accumulate. For vitamin D an upper level of 100 micrograms a day applies; most multis sit around 10 micrograms, and that is exactly the recommended amount. If you take separate vitamin D alongside a multi, add up the labels. More on that in too much vitamin D.

Multi for women, men or general: what really differs?

Less than the packaging suggests. The base is the same in all three: B vitamins, vitamin C, D, E and K, zinc, selenium, iodine, chromium. The difference is in three nutrients. A women’s multi contains more iron, because of blood loss during menstruation, and folic acid at 100 per cent. A men’s multi contains less iron and a little more zinc and B vitamins. A general multi sits in between, with iron below 50 per cent.

At Together, the brand we carry, that looks like this per capsule:

• Multi for women: 10 mg iron (71%), 200 µg folic acid (100%), 10 µg vitamin D3, 5 µg B12, 6 mg zinc
• Multi for men: 9.2 mg iron (66%), 230 µg folic acid, 10 µg vitamin D3, 6 µg B12, 7.9 mg zinc, 110 mg magnesium
• General multi: 6 mg iron (43%), 150 µg folic acid, 10 µg vitamin D3, 5 µg B12, 4.5 mg zinc

All three vegan, one capsule a day with a meal, with the vitamins and minerals from a plant extract blend. The figures come from the manufacturer’s label; the packaging is what counts. In practice: a woman after the menopause is better off with the general multi than with the women’s multi, because her iron requirement is then 11 milligrams. A man chooses the men’s multi or the general one; the difference is small.

Multivitamin for vegans

This is the group where a multi adds the most, because a plant-based diet falls short on a few fixed nutrients: vitamin B12 (found almost only in animal products), vitamin D, iodine, and to a lesser extent iron, zinc and calcium. The vegan multi by Together is built on that: two capsules provide 20 µg B12 (800%), 10 µg vitamin D3 from lichen, 120 µg iodine (80%), 9 mg iron, 7 mg zinc and 280 mg calcium from seaweed. Not a broad list of twenty nutrients, but exactly the six that matter when eating vegan. Anyone who only lacks B12 first reads vitamin B12 deficiency: signals and how much per day; a single B12 supplement is enough there.

Prefer chewing to swallowing: the vegan multivitamin gummies by Vegums contain B12, D3, B6, folic acid, iodine and selenium, in a pectin gummy. Gummies do contain sugar and usually fewer nutrients than a capsule; check the label for what is in and what is not.

Multivitamin during pregnancy

Around pregnancy separate recommendations apply: folic acid from four weeks before until eight weeks after conception, vitamin D throughout the pregnancy, and no vitamin A as retinol. An ordinary multi is not made for that; the folic acid dose is not always right and some contain retinol. Choose a pregnancy multi or single supplements, and consult your midwife. The multis above are not pregnancy supplements.

When and how do you take a multi?

With a meal, preferably breakfast. The fat-soluble vitamins D, E and K are absorbed better with some fat, and the B vitamins suit the morning better than the evening. One capsule a day; taking twice as much is pointless. If you also use single supplements, extra vitamin D or iron for instance, add up the labels and read which vitamins can you take together.

If you notice no difference after a few months, that is normal: the approved claims are about normal function, not about extra energy or resistance on top of normal. If there was no deficiency, little changes. If complaints persist, have your GP measure what you are really missing.

Frequently asked questions about multivitamins