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What is a multivitamin?
A multivitamin is a mixture of vitamins, minerals and other nutritional elements intended to supplement your diet. This supplement is necessary when your body does not have recommended amounts of vitamins and other minerals sources. In children vitamin D deficiency is common worldwide, so it is recommended to take regular dosage of multivitamin to avoid any bone growth and development related problems. This happens when the child does not expose itself to the sunlight. Multivitamins are a tool to correct the dietary imbalances. A multivitamin is considered to be a category of food by Codex Alimentary commission, which is the United Nations highest authority of food standards.
What are the ingredients of a multivitamin?
The ingredients of a multivitamin vary among the consumer’s needs and choices. The multivitamin products are classified in to RDA centric multivitamins with iron and RDA centric without iron. The multivitamins are considered to be ‘high potency’ by the US FDA if two-thirds of the nutrient ingredients have at least 100 percent of the D.V. Some of the ingredients like biotin are lower than the RDA amounts due to the cost. Biotin is considered to be the most expensive vitamin component and it costs over $4000 per pound.
The basic ingredients of a multivitamin product are vitamin B, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9 or folic acid, B12, vitamin A, C, D3, K1, E, vitamin H or biotin, sulphate trioxide, monohydrate sulphate, potassium iodide, borax, zinc, calcium, chromium, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum and iron. Additional ingredients such as lutein, lycopene, higher RDA amounts of vitamins B, C or E, vitamin K2, citrus bioflauinoids and betaine hydrochloride are also used for the other formulas. These supplements are available in the form of tablets, capsules, liquid and powder.
What are the benefits of taking multivitamins?
Consuming multivitamins can fulfil the vitamin and mineral needs of our body when there is a dietary imbalance. In pregnant women and in very old adults, there is a different need of nutrients than the common persons. These can be fulfilled by supplementing with these multivitamins. When there is any deficiency for vitamins and minerals in children, limited dosage of multivitamins can be a valuable tool to recover. These also prevent from a number of vitamin deficiency diseases such as rickets. Studies have shown that the people who consume multivitamins with regular diets lead a healthy life and those who had more amounts of vitamin C in their blood lived longer than the normal people. These multivitamins when taken in large amounts can lead to toxicity in the body. So, consuming with limited amount of these supplements will help you to maintain good health.