Are multivitamin supplements good for health?

I’ll generalize the answer to not just vitamins but supplements in general.
First off, the reason why there is a general guarded disdain among the informed public towards supplements today is because of the plethora of supplements thrust on you out there — do a google search on vitamins and you know what i’m talking about. Many exclaim they are the best and most optimal, and the street snake oil vendors are back and are touting their miracle pills — supported by research they say, recommended by a doctor too, they say. And many advertisers — as advertisers do in general — are counting on people not doing a thorough research followup themselves and so they can sell based on half baked information that sounds like it makes sense.
Not all of them are bad, and there is truth (whole or partial) in many of their claims. But you and I need to take the time to get educated and get our knowledge from the right and trusted sources. Not worth the time? It’s your health, your call.

Here is my 2 cents. But please verify and explore more yourself. In general, it’s good to check with your physician before getting on any supplement program. Physicians are supposed know this stuff, but unfortunately, the speed at which research in this field happens (thanks to the craze for supplementation), many doctors find it hard to keep up to date with the latest finds. Some even choose to ignore everything till it gets mainstream. Remember, they are in the ‘sickness industry’ not the ‘wellness industry’. But at least they can tell if anything can cause adverse interactions based on your medical conditions and drugs you may be on.

In today’s modern world, we are hardly lacking in macro-nutrients — carbohydrates, protein and fat. They are ALL essentials in the right proportions and quantities.

But our fast and sedentary lifestyle, poor health choices and stress have caused most people to be deficient in micro-nutrients — Vitamins, Minerals and also Phytonutrients — which are plant compounds really beneficial to our overall health. A lot of research is coming to light on how Phytonutrients can benefit us and keep us in good health.

Which is also why eating plants and fruits and vegetables are good for us — not just for the vitamins, minerals (and fiber) in them but also the phytonutrients. And which is why we should eat all different colors of these — because each fruit/vegetable of a different color contains different types of phytonutrients.

Our body only makes a few of these by itself. The rest we need through food — and Bottom Line is for most people, we dont get enough.

Unless you spend time, effort and money in making sure you take the right foods with the right amounts of vitamins, minerals and enough servings of fruits and vegetables of different colors; and block out most of the bad stuff; and ensure they are taken in right intervals so the body absorbs them according to it’s needs, then you dont need to supplement.
Don’t depend on recommended dosage recommended by FDA (in in USA) alone — many of these are outdated. Like FDA recommended dose of Vit D was 200 IU. Only now they are increasing it to 1000 IU (because most people in most countries are now found to be deficient in D — I recommend doing a vitamin D level check while doing your next physical).

Apart from these micro nutrients, there are some highly beneficial macro-nutrients which many people are deficient in — like Omega-3 fatty acids. This essential fat which has too many health benefits to mention can be obtained if you eat at least three servings of fish rich in them every week! Imagine the stench!
Lack of all these micro nutrients, phyto nutrients, omega-3 and others along with lack of excericse and too much processed food has been leading to so much obesity and lifestyle diseases rampant today.

So is it possible for you to get all these from diet alone. Absolutely. Possible. But is it practical? May not be. Not for me for sure.

So the solution is to supplement these with your diet. Get as much as possible from your diet from natural sources (preferably organic), and supplement the rest. Hence the name supplement — this is a not a replacement for healthy eating. And it’s not a free pass to eat whatever junk you since you are taking vitamins!

Whenever industry gets whiff of something in super high demand — everybody and their mama gets onto the manufacturing and supply of it. Problem is, many of these folks dont care about your health, they just want to capitalize on your health based concerns. So most of them go for the cheapest way to produce vitamins and sell them to you at the optimal cost that will keep it selling and keeps them profitable. Many times they spend more money on market research and ads that appeal to your psychology to buy their shiny tablets than on research on vitamins itself.

95% of vitamins produced today are synthetic — made in a test tube (which is the cheapest way to make them). What’s wrong with that? Well, its better than nothing, but our bodies are not designed to absorb that optimally — so we excrete most of it! Does it make it a cheap vitamin or expensive poop?!

Many synthetic vitamins lack the transporters and co-factors associated with naturally-occurring vitamins because they have been “isolated.” The Organic Consumers Association emphasizes that isolated vitamins cannot be used or recognized by the body in the same way as the natural version.
And the FDA doesn’t regulate vitamins at this time, so there are so many cases of supplements being contaminated with toxic compounds like lead and arsenic, even the newspapers are bored of reporting it. B and C are the most common synthetic vitamins. As a rule, all ‘dl’ forms of vitamins are synthetic.

There are companies (look for established companies that partner with researchers and do a lot of nutritional research), that make natural vitamin supplements from plants, fruits and vegetables. Some companies label their product “natural” — but remember, even if they have only 10% of natural ingredients, it can be called a “natural product”.
Look for companies that produce vitamins completely from natural plants and preferably organic sources. The natural form of vitamins come in packages with other vitamins, enzymes and minerals that control the way the body recognizes, metabolizes and uses them to make what it needs.
Also ensure that these products have all the phytonutrients from the plants packed.

This is the best alternative to getting them as a whole. It should be like eating the necessary plants, fruits and vegetables whole, without the water, sugar and fiber. So its best if the supplement company processes and packages the plants into powders and capsules as close to harvesting them as possible. And include the right quantities (rich in necessary vitamins and minerals) and varieties (and colors) of organically sourced plants, fruits and vegetables.

And if you dont each 3 servings of fish every week, get a high quality, purified, Omega-3 supplement. Prorganiq best multivitamin tablets in india . Many of the Omega-3s you get in the market have 30% Omega-3 and 70% other filler oils. To test this, freeze the capsule and you’ll see they will freeze into solid pretty easily, Omega-3 oil should not freeze easily (they have very low freezing points). A high quality supplement will not freeze in freezer. And purification ensures no mercury and other contaminants.

Of course, it wont be cheap to get such supplements. But it should cost you way less than a cup of Starbucks everyday. I picked Starbucks because most people identify with drinking a cup of joe there daily. Your health is worth more than a cup of Starbucks.

Finally, at the risk of sounding like a card carrying member of the Vitamin lobby, there are two books I’d recommend for further reading -
“The Vitamin Prescription for Life” and “What your Doctor doesn’t know about nutritional medicine may be killing you”.