Do you need a multivitamin? A blunt answer, and how to read the label if you buy one
For most people with a varied diet, a multivitamin is expensive insurance against a risk they do not have.
The multivitamin is the default supplement purchase: broadly harmless, mildly reassuring, and for most people with a reasonably varied diet, not doing much. The honest summary of the evidence on general use is unexciting - little effect on major outcomes in well-nourished populations.
That is a statement about averages, and averages contain people for whom it matters a great deal.
Who actually benefits
- People with a diagnosed deficiency - though a targeted single nutrient at the right dose is usually the better tool.
- Pregnancy and pre-conception, where folic acid, iron and other specifics are recommended on medical advice.
- Vegans and long-term vegetarians, chiefly for B12 and sometimes iron, vitamin D and omega-3.
- Older adults with reduced appetite or absorption.
- People after bariatric surgery or with malabsorption conditions, under supervision.
- People on very restricted diets - medically restricted, aggressively dieting, or simply eating very little variety.
If you are not on that list, the money is usually better spent on food that actually contains the nutrients - and, in Indian diets specifically, on more pulses, vegetables, nuts and dairy.
Reading the label
Indian supplement labels declare amounts and a percentage of the recommended dietary allowance. Under the 2016 FSSAI nutraceuticals regulations, such products are foods, must state that they are not for medicinal use, and may not claim to treat, cure or prevent disease.
| What you see | How to read it |
|---|---|
| 100 per cent RDA across most nutrients | A sensible general formulation |
| 500 to 1000 per cent of RDA on B vitamins | Common, mostly harmless, mostly excreted; not better |
| A long list at trace amounts | Label decoration - each present, none meaningful |
| Fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K well above RDA | Worth care - these accumulate |
| Herbal extracts alongside vitamins | Check each one; interactions with medicines are real |
Two specific cautions. High-dose vitamin A is teratogenic - dangerous in pregnancy - so a pregnancy multivitamin is a different product from a general one. And iron should not be taken by people who do not need it: iron overload is harmful, and men and post-menopausal women rarely need supplemental iron without a diagnosed reason.
What Indian diets more often actually lack
If the goal is fixing likely gaps rather than buying reassurance, the shortlist is short and specific.
- Vitamin B12, especially in long-term vegetarians.
- Vitamin D, given how widespread low status is here.
- Iron, particularly in women of reproductive age - NFHS-5 found anaemia in around 57 per cent of women aged 15 to 49.
- Calcium, where dairy intake is low.
- Omega-3 EPA and DHA, in diets with no fish.
- Fibre and potassium, which no supplement fixes as well as vegetables and pulses do.
If you do buy one
- Check for an FSSAI licence number and a named manufacturer.
- Prefer a formulation near 100 per cent RDA rather than a megadose.
- Check for duplication with anything else you take - two products both containing vitamin A can add up.
- Tell your doctor what you take. Several supplements interact with prescription medicines, and vitamin K matters a great deal to anyone on warfarin.
- Take it with food, which improves absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins and reduces nausea.
A multivitamin is a reasonable low-cost hedge for someone with a genuinely patchy diet. It is not a correction for a diet nobody is otherwise fixing, and it is not a substitute for finding out what - if anything - is actually low.
Every score on Filtizy is shown working
The factors, weights and thresholds behind a product's number are published in full - including the ones we consider weak.
Comments
Loading comments…