As we go about our lives and have multiple responsibilities, it is also essential to fulfil our body’s need for proper nutrition. It is even more key for women to maintain adequate nutrition levels. But, all too commonly, this balance of different nutrients gets disturbed. Women often find nutrients like Calcium, vitamin D, Iron, vitamin B12, etc. lacking in their diet. Even though one might take measures like increasing the intake of specific foods in their diet, multivitamins are an excellent way to ensure you get the nutrients you need to keep your health in check.
A combination of a balanced diet and multivitamins is the best way to get all the nutrients your body requires. The benefits of multivitamins have made them a popular supplement, along with a healthy diet, for people. However, to get the best benefits of multivitamins, one should know the correct way to take them. That includes learning about the most suited multivitamins for your nutritional needs, the best time to take multivitamins, the right combinations to make and to avoid, etc. Questions about the best time to take multivitamins are the most common queries.
There is a belief that one needs to start taking multivitamins at a certain age. But, experts today advise that there is no specific age for one to start taking multivitamins. The best time for multivitamins is not age-based but rather requirement-based. If your diet is not fulfilling your nutritional needs, accommodating multivitamins as per the nutrients lacking is the solution experts recommend. According to experts, there is no set best time for multivitamins. People need different multivitamins during different stages of their life. There are many best multivitamins for women for their individual needs and situations. For example, a woman normally needs Iron, especially during menstruating years, while pregnant women need folic acid and Iron. As people grow older, they require Calcium, and most vegetarians lack vitamin B12. So, incorporate multivitamins for health requirements as and when you need them.
When adding multivitamins for health requirements, it is necessary to consider a few fundamental things. Modern lifestyle and cooking techniques often deplete some nutrients from food, making adding multivitamins for health highly necessary. Experts advise that your multivitamins should include all B-complex vitamins to boost the effects of multivitamins on your health. Minerals like Zinc, Iron, Selenium, Calcium, and vitamins like A, B12, D, D3 and E are also recommended by experts, to include in your multivitamins. These nutrients provide a healthy effect of multivitamins, with a healthy diet.
The multivitamins you include in your diet as per your nutritional needs are of two types, namely, fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins. This difference is the key to understanding the optimal timings in the day for multivitamin consumption. For example, vitamin C is best taken after breakfast, and Omega-3, after lunch. Iron should be taken on an empty stomach, as per experts, while Calcium is best when taken with food. However, if you experience uneasiness in your stomach after consuming Iron, then, you should take it after eating something. Since B-complex can cause insomnia for some people if taken later in the day, experts always advise people to take it in the first half of the day. Magnesium helps improve sleep quality, so the experts always recommend taking it roughly fifteen to twenty minutes before you sleep.
Some multivitamins should be taken in pairs, while some you should avoid. The pairing of Iron and vitamin C is beneficial, and the combination of Calcium, vitamin D and K2 is known to work wonders for bone health. But, on the other hand, experts advise to avoid taking Zinc and copper together, instead taking them during different parts of the day. If you take Zinc in the morning, you should take copper in the afternoon or evening. Similarly, the pairing of Iron and Calcium is another pairing to steer clear of, as Calcium is known to interfere with the proper absorption of Iron.
While taking multivitamins with a healthy diet is helpful for everyone, women should carefully create a multivitamins and minerals regime that balances their various nutritional needs, like immunity boosting, reproductive health, hormone regulation, etc. To properly fulfil these different needs, there are multivitamins for women.
Some of the best multivitamins for women
- Vitamin A: It is beneficial for eyesight, bone strength, reproductive health and immunity boosting.
- Vitamin B6: This form of vitamin B helps improve heart health, immunity and haemoglobin levels and is also beneficial for the brain and eyes.
- Vitamin B12: A most important form of vitamin, it is beneficial for reproductive health. It is also responsible for the central nervous system, DNA synthesis and production of healthy red blood cells.
- Folate: Also a form of vitamin B, folate is essential for women of reproductive age. It is critically important for pregnant women because this form of vitamin B helps prevent major birth-time defects like spina bifida, anencephaly, etc. It also boosts the production of red blood cells, helping keep your blood healthy.
- Vitamin C: A famous source of antioxidants, it not only keeps impurities away but also aids in wound healing, collagen production and improving immunity.
- Vitamin D: It is beneficial for immunity, bone health and heart health. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, and neuroprotective properties, which help improve brain health.
- Vitamin E: It helps improve vision, reproductive health and bone health.
- Vitamin K: This vitamin helps improve bone health and also helps with blood clotting.
- Magnesium: This is a multitasker part of women’s multivitamins. It helps prevent disease, improves bone health and helps facilitate heart, nerve and muscle function and protein synthesis.
- Iron: In charge of essential body functions like muscle metabolism, producing healthy connective tissue, cellular functioning, neurological development and more. It is especially important for pregnant women, to help keep their pregnancies healthy.
- Calcium: Everyone knows it helps improve bone health. But it is also responsible for muscles, nerves and heart functions.
- Zinc: It helps boost immunity and wound-healing properties. Zinc is beneficial for reproductive health and also helps reduce inflammation.