Multivitamin Review

It has always been a practice by children or adults to take in multivitamins daily. â€Å"Prevention is better than cure† as what most adults usually say. Multivitamins are essential to your body since it provides the necessary vitamins and minerals to support you metabolic processes and helps in preventing chronic diseases. Vitamins are organic compounds needed in the diet in small amounts to promote and regulate the chemical reactions and processes needed for growth, reproduction, and the maintenance of health (_______ p.236). While minerals are elements needed by the body in small amounts for structure and to regulate chemical reactions and other body processes (______ p.280). Daily intake of multivitamins gives short-term benefits like boosting your energy and helps you combat physical stress to maintain an active lifestyle. It also provides better vision and better memory. While some of the long-term benefits include reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis. Using tables 8.2 and 8.3 in Ch. 8 (pp.239-240, 262), and Tables 9.1 and 9.6 in Ch.9 (pp.288, 301-08), over-the-counter multivitamins could only meet the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for Adults if these are taken in combination to a healthy and well-balanced diet as suggested by the Food Pyramid Guide. The amount of a vitamin in a food depends on the amount naturally found in that food as well as how the food is cooked, stored, and processed. The vitamins naturally found in foods can be washed away during preparation, destroyed by cooking, or damaged by exposure to light or oxygen (____ p.237). This is why it is recommended and is important to take in multivitamins everyday to maintain good health. It compensates for the lost nutrients in many of the foods we eat. Does taking a multivitamin everyday raise your intake of a particular vitamin or mineral to near-toxic levels? Vitamins are divided into two types: water-soluble and fat-soluble. Most vitamins purchased over the counters are water-soluble. Anything taken in excess of the RDI is excreted off in the urine. Also, vitamin and mineral contents in 1 dosage of a multivitamin contains less than 100% of the RDI and the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL). So generally, it is safe to take multivitamins everyday. However, since multivitamins make good nutritional sense, it should not be abused. Some people who experience mild illnesses attempt to cure themselves by taking in more than the recommended dosage of their multivitamins thinking that it will speed up their recovery. This should not be the case since some health conditions require special medical attention. Too much vitamins and minerals in your body can be toxic. Some of the consequences of toxicity are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, hair changes, kidney damage, bone abnormalities, high/low blood pressure, anemia, brain damage, rashes, tingling extremities, sweating, etc. As always, too much of anything is bad. References Karani, R. (2006, March). The truth about multivitamins: can taking a multivitamin every day really help you stay healthy? Focus on Healthy Aging. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ZRQ/is_3_9/ai_n17213371 *Note: There are blank spaces after the quotations. I don’t know the title and the author of the reading sources that you gave me. Kindly just fill it out and include it in the references. Also this response is more than the required number of words but it’s hard to answer all the questions, do citations and make a point with just a limited 300-word response. Sorry I know this is very late already. But I tried.