Do you really need to take a multivitamin?

There are many food products sold to us by the diet industry, and most of them are really unnecessary. 

You might see influencers making smoothies with various green powders or taking magic vitamins to make their hair grow but these are simply not needed. If your diet is varied and balanced, then there is probably no need to supplement it with powders and pills. 

This blog post is going to look at some of the products sold and explain why they might not be as great as you think. 

Do you need a multivitamin?

It might seem like a good idea to take a multivitamin and mineral supplement everyday to cover all the bases. But it’s likely not needed if you eat a varied and balanced diet. 

The vitamins are split into water soluble and fat soluble. 

The water soluble vitamins are vitamin C and the B vitamins. Water soluble means they dissolve in water. It also means they don’t get stored in the body, so any excess vitamins will be disposed of. 

So, if you're taking a multivitamin with the B vitamins and vitamin C every day when you don’t need to, you won't be getting anything from the extra vitamins, they’ll be removed from the body via your wee.

The fat soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K and they dissolve in fat. This means that they do get stored in the body and can hang around for a long time. This means that if you're taking extra vitamins, especially in high doses, they can build up in the body and reach toxic levels which can cause problems like organ damage.

The only vitamin that we’re advised to take is vitamin D as there are not many food sources of vitamin D. We can also make vitamin D through our skin if exposed to sunlight, but I live in the UK so I can’t rely on that method. 

The government recommends that everyone in the UK should take 10ug (or 400IU) of vitamin D daily in the winter months.

Regarding minerals, a lot of minerals are absorbed via the same mechanism in the body. 

Imagine a car with only one seat, and each mineral wants a seat in the car. As the car only has one seat, only one mineral can get in at a time and be taken to where it needs to go.  Also some minerals have a better chance of getting a seat in the car and so being absorbed. This is a simplified version of how minerals are absorbed in the body but it's a good way to show the point.

The point being, if you take a multi-mineral tablet, you won't be able to absorb all the minerals at once.

Of course, if you’ve been advised by a healthcare professional to take a vitamin or mineral supplement then follow their advice as you likely have a nutrient deficiency. Or if you're pregnant, trying to conceive or follow a vegan diet then a supplement is appropriate.  

But the average Joe doesn’t need a multivitamin if they're eating a balanced diet.

Is a green powder worth the cost?

There's lots of 'superfood' powders that are sold to us, and I’m going to talk about superfoods in a future blog post. 

For now, I’m going to focus on green powders that are sold as the be all and end all for fighting disease and boosting energy. These powders can include things like spirulina, wheatgrass, and kale. 

While I’m not denying that these powders are a concentrated source of nutrients, the cost of them doesn’t justify their use. 

A 250g bag of MyProtein’s Green Superfood Blend is £29.99. (When I originally wrote this post in 2021 it was £17!). It's a source of vitamin C, vitamin D, and iodine but it's a very expensive way to supplement them.

Bulk’s Complete Green’s is £9.99 for 100g. (£8.99 when this post was written in 2021). With ten servings in a bag it comes out at a pound per serving. I'm not sure it's worth it for a couple extra grams of fibre and protein.

Some of these green products make claims that are not based in reality. Seeing words like ‘immune support’ ‘revitalising’ and ‘energy boosting’ do seem promising but there is no evidence that these specific powders can do these specific things. 

They're likely making these claims based on the vitamin and minerals the product contains. But these nutrients can be obtained from other foods for much cheaper. 

Eating a balanced diet is the best way to get ‘immune support’ and feel ‘revitalised’ without an extra cost. 

Do you need protein powder for the gains?

Protein seems to be the only nutrient that isn’t demonised by diet culture, and the only one that is pushed on us to eat more of.

Protein does increase satiety, which means it makes you feel fuller for longer and it helps us get stronger and build muscle. But there is plenty of protein within food and it is unlikely that you will need to supplement it. 

Some examples:

• 1 medium chicken breast has 31g protein
• 25g of peanuts (a small handful) has 6g of protein
• 2 slices of white bread has 7g of protein

The protein requirement for the average UK adult is 50g. And as you can see there is plenty of protein in foods, so if you eat a varied diet, you'll likely be getting enough protein.

Also, by eating protein within foods it means you get all the other nutrients in that food too. For example, if you eat meat then you’ll also get B vitamins, iron, and zinc from the meat. If you eat tofu, then you’ll be getting iron, calcium, and potassium too. These other nutrients won't be in protein powder.

I’ve got a whole blog post just about protein, find it here. 

This blog post is to provide information and allow you to make the best choices for your body and health. 

If you like adding green powder or protein powder to your smoothies and can afford to do so, then keep doing it! They do contain nutrients and can be convenient, but don’t believe that there will be lots of extra health benefits that come with it too.

Key points:

• You likely don't need a vitamin and mineral supplement unless you have a deficiency. The exception is that everyone should be taking vitamin D in the winter. Or if you're pregnant then you need extra nutrients.
• Green powders don't offer much apart from making your drink green in colour and being really expensive.
• There's plenty of protein within foods. Protein powder isn't an essential.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Bye for now! 👋

References:

Protein requirements: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743790/Dietary_Reference_Values_-_A_Guide__1991_.pdf