Is this multivitamin OK?
People post questions about this multivitamin or that multivitamin a lot, asking if it’s OK, if it meets our needs, and how many they would need to take a day. I thought I would just post what I look for when I look at a multi to see if it’s a good choice.
I look for vitamins A – E, which are usually listed in alphabetical order on the label. There should be a bunch of B vitamins in there, which might be listed as B1, B2, etc or might be listed by other names like thiamine and riboflavin. Unless you’re looking at a gummy vitamin (which I promise won’t have everything we need), they should all be in there. You don’t have to learn all the hard-to-pronounce names of the B vitamins unless you want to. It should have vitamin K, too.
Look for copper, zinc and selenium. If you want a multi with iron, look for that too. However, you can take a multi without iron and take iron at another time. I think that’s easiest anyway, because then you can take your calcium and multi at the same time if you want, which means fewer times a day that you have to take vitamins.
Next to each ingredient it will show you how much of that ingredient is in the multi. You don’t need to know how much vitamin A, how much vitamin E, etc we need in there. Next to the amount, it will have a percentage (it’s the percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance that is in there). It will look like this: vitamin D 400 IU 100%. Just go down the list and see if most of them are 100% or at least close to that.
If most of the ingredients say 100%, you need to take two a day. You need a total of 200% of most things. So if you have a vitamin that only has 50% of most things, you’d need four a day.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
You can follow my journey at mandaschange.blogspot.com
Look at the top of your screen where it has your name. Then it says bookmarks, then my account, etc. Click on bookmarks.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
If you want, you can tell your boyfriend that the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery says we do not need chewables as long as we tolerate pills OK.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
