The body is better equipped to absorb nutrients from food than from dietary supplements, experts say. Though it won’t hurt to take a daily multivitamin, eating a variety of healthy foods is a better strategy.
"Food is put on this earth so we can eat it and absorb the nutrients," Colleen Lammel-Harmon, a registered dietitian with the Illinois Dietetic Association. "The further you go from a food source the less you’re going to absorb."
Because of this, botanicals – supplements derived from plants – are sometimes more effective than chemically synthesized pills, she said. These include herbal tea, as well as oil from plants. The effectiveness of these products, however, depends on how they are manufactured and how old they are.
But as effective as some are, no supplement does it all. It’s important to eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods in order to get all the body needs, she said. The more "empty-calorie foods" you eat, the less likely you are to get the necessary amounts of vitamins and minerals. Dudzinski recommended simple changes in habit to get extra nutrients.
"A handful of nuts a day – lovely. A handful of berries a day – lovely," she said. Taking a few extra steps in preparing a meal could add a lot of nutrition, she added. Include tomato slices or carrot shavings on a sandwich rather than eating it plain. Or cook fresh tomato sauce for your pasta, because it has more antioxidants and lycopene than raw tomatoes.
A representative for Centrum, a vitamin company, agrees. "The first thing any consumer should do is try to get the nutrients and minerals that they need from food first," said a Centrum spokeswoman. "The premise of a multivitamin from our standpoint would be to help fill in the nutritional gaps." Certain groups need to take care that they get enough of specific vitamins and minerals, according to Lammel- Harmon: Vegetarians and people over 50 should be careful to get enough B12.
Adolescent female women, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, should make sure to get enough folic acid and iron. Young people and pregnant women need more calcium than most people: 1,200 mg compared to the average 1,000 mg. If you’re taking a calcium supplement, make sure that you’re also getting vitamin D, especially if you don’t get a lot of sun or have heavily pigmented skin.
Supplement companies have accounted for the needs different groups of people have by developing specialized formulas, but experts warn against overdoing fat soluble vitamins. Vitamins A, D, E and K stay in the body longer because they’re stored in fat rather than water.
Taking supplements and fortified food on top of foods that naturally have these vitamins can be toxic in large amounts, Lammel-Harmon said.
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