Healthy Food Choices: Multivitamins

Multivitamins are becoming popular dietary supplements for many people concerned with balancing vitamin and mineral intake. Try these tips for buying multivitamins in this healthy shopping video.

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Every vitamin you need
Should not exceed 100% RDA
Expensive does not mean better
Foods are the best source of nutrients

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Michelle Cooper has been a registered dietician for more than 10 years. She currently works for the state of North Carolina for the New Hanover County School District in the Child Nutrition Department as the supervising registered dietician on staff. She specializes in child nutrition, child fitness and overall child health. She enjoys her job because it allows her to be a pivotal piece of child development.

MICHELLE COOPER: Next, we are going to talk about multivitamins. With all the vitamins that are available today, it's no guess that people are confused about what they should take. My theory is KISS, keep it simple and smart. First of all, you do not want a multivitamin that exceeds 100% of the RDA. Some vitamins are stored in the fat and can build up to be toxic or can build up to toxic levels in your body. So you do not want to go over 100% of the RDA. Secondly, expensive does not mean better. You do not have to spend a fortune on a multivitamin. Expensive ones are not going to be absorbed any better than the store-brand ones. Thirdly, it is always better to eat your foods. But there are some days when we do not always eat right because we can't. We didn't have enough time or we skipped a meal. Multivitamins is like a security blanket for our bodies. It gives us what we need in another form. But we do not want to rely on that. We still want to eat a healthy diet along with the multivitamin that we choose. It is always good to take your vitamin in the morning with some sort of vitamin C, which will enhance the absorption of iron, which is an important mineral that you will find in your multivitamin or should be part of the multivitamin. So remember, number one, find something that does not exceed 100% of the RDA, which that information will be on the label. Number two, expensive does not mean better. You can find an economical vitamin that agrees with you and stick with that. And lastly, remember eat your food, eat your vitamins first. But if you can not always get what you need, taking a multivitamin is not a bad idea.

Healthy Food Choices: Multivitamins Video

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