The Harvard School of Public Health describes vitamin supplements as a nutritional insurance policy, filling the gaps when you don't get enough essential nutrients through daily diet alone. Read supplement labels carefully before choosing a multivitamin to ensure the product gives you no more than 100 percent of your Daily Value for all essential vitamins and minerals.
Dietary Supplements
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, classifies multivitamins as dietary supplements -- tablets, gel caps, powders and liquids -- designed to supplement your daily nutrition. Dietary supplements may also be sold in other forms, such as bars, as long as the product does not hold itself out as a meal replacement. Dietary supplements don't go through the same pre-market approval process as do prescription and nonprescription drugs, and as a class, offer no assurance of efficacy, safety or quality. The FDA has established "Current Good Manufacturing Practice" regulations that hold vitamin manufacturers responsible for assessing the overall integrity of their product before putting it on the market.
Product Information
By law, every vitamin supplement label must include specific information about the product, including informing the consumer that it is a dietary supplement, as well as the manufacturer's name, place of business, packer or distributor, product contents and list of ingredients in their entirety. Vitamins must also contain a "supplement facts" panel similar to the nutrition facts panels found on food products that lists the product's dietary ingredients, as well as the Daily Value, or DV, derived from each dosage.
Vitamin Needs
FDA spokesperson Barbara Schneeman, Ph.D. states that vitamin supplements should never be used as a food replacement. However, despite meeting daily caloric requirements, many Americans don't consume even the minimum recommended daily essential nutrients. Vitamins can also benefit specific populations who are more likely to need them. MayoClinic.com indicates that multivitamins may be helpful to people who get fewer than 1,600 calories a day, vegans or vegetarians who eat a limited diet, pregnant or nursing women and those with medical conditions that affect how the body absorbs and processes nutrients. However, the best way to obtain your daily nutrients is not via a supplement, but by eating a well-rounded diet.
Cautions
MayoClinic.com stresses the importance of avoiding dietary supplements that give you megadoses of certain vitamins and minerals. Too much vitamin A can result in side effects such as vomiting, blurry vision, headache and even birth defects. Taking niacin, or vitamin B3, in excess can cause flushing and redness of the skin. And getting too much folic acid can mask signs of vitamin B12 deficiency in older adults. When choosing a vitamin supplement, look for a product that gives you close to 100 percent of your DV per essential nutrient. MayoClinic.com notes that multivitamins don't give you 100 percent of you DV for calcium, as this would make the supplement too large to swallow.
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