Does Taking a Daily Multivitamin Improve the Health of Men?

By Arthur Kavanaugh


Hey men, what's your opinion on men's multi-vitamin supplements? Good, bad or pointless? Many males are examining their daily practice of supplementing with a men's multi-vitamin thanks to the study that appeared in "Journal of the North American Medical Association".

Called "Physicians' Health Study II", male participants were given either a multivitamin or placebo and monitored from 1997-2011. Analysts found that men that received multivitamins were as subject to heart disease as the group who took placebos.

The object of the trial study was to collect proof on whether a men's multi-vitamin decreased the risk of "site-specific cancer incidence or mortality". The doctors who took part in the study 1) ate nutritious diets 2) body mass indexes were low 3) exercised regularly 4) took baby aspirin daily.

Or, as Duffy MacKay VP Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Council for Responsible Nutrition summed it up, "The indisputable fact that the individuals were already engaging in these healthy behaviours would have made it extra hard for a multi-vitamin to meaningfully contribute toward reducing any additional risk of coronary disease. "

However , the investigators reported an 8% reduced risk on all cancer types for study individuals who took a men's multi-vitamin. The study centered solely on linking men's multi-vitamins with reducing risks of cancer. Although findings show vitamins don't "meaningfully" contribute to reducing hazards of coronary disease, it didn't address the crucial reason for supplementing with multiple vitamins.

Essentially, vitamins take up the slack resulting from diet deficiencies. Are you aware that a lack in one vitamin can endanger your total body?

It is possible you eat the "right" foods as a part of a well balanced diet. If that is so it's possible you get all the vitamins you need. Maybe but not probable, as the majority of people eat out often, eat ready-made foods and snack on junk foods. Very few people have the time or incentive to monitor every morsel they eat!

How about Enriched Foods?

Do you know what enrichment of foods actually means? It suggests some nutrients are put back into the foods that were removed through processing! However not especially well. Take white flour for example. Of 22 natural nutriments that were removed because of heat, storage, etc. "enrichment" replaces them with vitamin D, three of the B vitamins, calcium and iron salts. You do the maths!

Any Tips for the Best Multivitamins for Men?

To avoid vitamin toxicity, don't supplement with more than 100% of daily suggested requirements of any single vitamin. Your multi should not contain iron. Men only require about 8 mg iron and generally get enough from eating meat.

If you're employed in an office, you may not get enough daylight; ensure you get 1,000 IU vitamin D each day. For a healthy heart, men need 400 mcg (micrograms) of folate daily. For brain health, the advocated amount of B12 is 2.4 mcg. For vision and to support your immune system, 3,000 IU of Vitamin A is advised. Men need 90 mg of the antioxidant , Vitamin C daily.

These are bare bones of contents in the best multivitamins for men. The final word is: regardless of studies, most males will benefit from a men's multi-vitamin.




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