Not All Multi Vitamins Are Created Equal

As it turns out, most people do not supplement daily with a multi vitamin/mineral compound.  Also as it turns out, the vast majority of people do not have a well balanced diet mixed with protein, fibrous carbs, grains, and unsaturated fats.  Most people tend to be to busy to think about what they eat or drink and thus eat about 2 to 3 meals.  These meals are typically loaded with saturated fats and carbs that spike their metabolisms and leave their energy crashing within hours.  With this unstable diet, essential vitamins and minerals are severely lacking.  With the lack of these components, diseases can set in, immune systems do not function properly, and vital organs of the body lack essential nourishment.



Vitamins are very essential in that they are excellent antioxidants.  Antioxidants are obviously oxidizers.  When the body is stressed, exposed to environmental obstructions (such as smoke and smog), and exertion through sports and exercise the body creates free radicals which are free roaming unstable oxygen molecules.  These free radicals wreak havoc on a persons immune system and can cause a wide range of cancers. 



A person can walk into any supermarket and find a wide range of Multi Vitamins supplements that range from a few bucks to upwards of 50 dollars.  In most cases, "you get what you pay for" is true; granted using a cheaper supplement is better than nothing at all but without correcting diet and severely revamping your lifestyle then those cheaper versions will not help much in the long-run.  The key ingredients are not always the most important.

When choosing a multi vitamin supplement, a very important factor that most people do not realize is the  other ingredients listed along side or beneath the Nutrition Facts box.  Why, is this so important?  Those ingredients are the binding or filling ingredients and the majority of multi vitamins contain a calcium product.  So, why is that so bad?  It is not that it is bad, but if you want the most out of your vitamin supplementation then that added calcium in a hindrance to the body's absorption of all the other vitamins. 

Calcium is essential and is in every multi vitamin/mineral supplement on the market.  But our bodies absorb vitamins and minerals differently and each vitamin and mineral has its own absorption rate.  Calcium, on the other hand is the mineral that is the very first to be absorbed.  So, if your supplement includes calcium as a binding ingredient then your supplement cannot properly absorb all the other ingredients before it passes through the digestive system. 

In summary, choose a multi vitamin/mineral supplement that does not include calcium as an "other ingredient".  For example,  Advocare's:  CorePlex is excellent choice for those needing a great multi vitamin/mineral supplement.  Be Sure to check those other ingredients to be sure that you are get the most of you supplementation.