How Many Vitamins and Supplements Should You Intake?
The human body is meant to carry forward numerous daily activities per age and gender. With this variation comes the need to specify the vitamins and supplements one must intake to ensure effective and efficient life-sustaining biological processes. You can find men’s and women’s super-multivitamins, collagen supplements, and other vitamin and mineral supplements from online and offline pharmacies. These pharmacies play a critical role in helping people find and get the right supplements as one’s body requires.
The number of vitamins and mineral intake for an individual is determined by numerical factors, like Daily Value (DV) which applies to most healthy people. Before taking any supplements, it is always recommended to check these values and precisely understand the amount required for your body. This is to avoid any side effects and risks that might sometimes occur due to overdose.
Before consuming vitamins and minerals, here are all the details you need to know:
What are the set numbers?
Most packets of supplements already specify the amount of intake required for different individuals. Here are some standard guidelines as set by the Medicine institutes:
- Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) and Adequate Intake (AI): They specify the number of minerals and vitamins required for an individual to stay nourished and healthy. They are based on various factors, including gender and age groups.
- Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL): It is the maximum daily amount of minerals and vitamins that one can intake safely without any risks or side effects due to overdose.
- Daily Value (DV): This label is commonly found in almost all vitamins and supplements. That is because of the specificity it offers while mentioning the details, i.e., the number of nutrients or vitamins one should get from a diet of 2,000 calories per day. Sometimes it might also be the same as the RDA.
Some common deficiencies for which they are needed
Some vitamin and nutrient deficiencies are prevalent, including:
- Calcium
- Folate
- Iron
- Magnesium
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B6, B12
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E
People must get these vitamins and minerals from a balanced diet. However, they may sometimes get these deficiencies for several reasons, so they must take the supplements to complete those nutrients in their diet.
Here are a few reasons which may lead to these deficiencies:
- Age
- Medications
- Pregnancy
- Breastfeeding
- Insufficient diet
In such scenarios, it is advised to take vitamins, minerals and supplements that match the DV of some nutrients.
Consuming multivitamins
Multivitamins are supplements with a combination of several minerals and vitamins. People often take these to cover their bases. But many contain higher nutrient levels which might exceed the amount of consumption some people already have.
For example, people who are pure vegetarians might have a risk of developing deficiencies in iodine, zinc, iron, and vitamin B12. In such cases, they must consume supplements and multivitamins to meet the required demand for nutrients in their body.
A person must speak with a doctor before intaking any vitamin or mineral supplements. The doctor can request a quick blood test to look for any inadequacies.
There could be severe adverse effects from taking too many dietary supplements or eating a specific vitamin or mineral in large quantities. People who are worried about taking too many supplements should consult a healthcare provider for advice.
Conclusion
A person is recommended to see a doctor if they believe their vitamin or mineral intake is too high or too low.
A quick blood or urine test for vitamins and nutrition determines which micronutrients a person is deficient in. Then, a doctor can advise the patient on which supplements are safe for them. To help them with their diet, the doctor could also recommend a dietician.
