By Thomas Wong
MEAL IN A PILL
Wouldn’t it be great to get all the nutrition and hardiness of a full meal in just one small pill? That was just the idea scientists had when they first designed multivitamin tablets. These pills contain high concentrations of essential vitamins, dietary minerals, calcium, and magnesium, and other nutritional elements. When we ingest them, the nutrients are absorbed through our intestines just like regular food. So why don’t we just eat multivitamins instead of ordinary food? Why isn’t everyone taking these pills?
THE CON
The main problem with multivitamins is the difficulty our bodies have in absorbing nutrients from them. Getting your nutrients from natural sources like grain, fruit and vegetables is always best. This is because these natural foods have nutrient cofactors, which help your body absorb primary nutrients much more effectively. For example, a multivitamin may contain lots of vitamin C, but if it does not also contain its cofactors, like bioflavonoids, it will not be absorbed by the small intestines very effectively. On the other hand, natural sources of vitamin C, like oranges and strawberries, contain high concentrations of vitamin C cofactors, allowing our digestive tracts to take in vitamin C more efficiently. This is why taking multivitamins during your regular meals helps your body absorb more of the tablet’s nutrients. The cofactors found in natural food sources help facilitate uptake of the multivitamin’s nutrients through your small intestine and into your blood.
It is also important to realize that we have not yet reached the stage in which multivitamin tablets can completely replace regular meals. Therefore, multivitamins are best used as a complement to your everyday meals or to supplement for specific nutrients you may be unable to get due to food sensitivity or allergies. For example, if you are lactose intolerant, your doctor might recommend that you take a few multivitamin tablets a day to make sure that you are getting enough calcium and vitamin D in your diet. However, for the rest of us, these pills can still be very helpful in making sure we are getting all the vital nutrients we need to make sure we can continue to grow and fight off diseases.
TIPS ON TAKING MULTIVITAMINS:
– Multivitamin brands that are ISO or NSF certified are the best quality.
– Take your tablets during regular meals for maximum absorption.
– Do not take more tablets than is recommended per day.
– Always consult your doctor before using multivitamins.