Do Multivitamins actually do anything?

D3struction@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 223 points –

I’ve gone back and forth on taking a multivitamin since I know my diet isn’t all that great. Ideally I should be working to improve that diet but let’s say due to certain circumstances that’s a bit difficult at the moment.

Would it be worth taking a 1 a day multivitamin to at least correct some possible deficiency or is it very unlikely that it would have any effect?

Not asking for professional medical advice or anything, mostly looking to see if anyone else is taking a multivitamin and if so why?

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Also, never mix iron (not a vitamin btw) with dairy or tea. And take it with some vitamin C

Aside from it not being kosher (milk and meat) what's wrong with mixing the two?

Calcium and iron inhibit each others' uptake. You won't get the full dose of them if you take them together.

Unsure if this is OP's angle, but I have pretty chronically bad anemia/ferritin levels. In my layman's research, I found that both dairy (calcium) and tea (oxalates) inhibit the body's ability to absorb iron when consumed alongside one-another. My list also included peas, coffee, eggs, and just about every other damn thing I like to eat, so that was a fun discovery. 😅 Link to kickstart research for anyone curious.

Dairy and tea (though i don't know if herbal teas count) inhibit iron absorption, so it has nothing to do with human values, so to speak :-) If you want to increase absorption, combine it with vitamin C.