Multivitamin

Multivitamins
Multivitamins contain multiple micro-nutrients, such as vitamins and dietary minerals.

A multivitamin is a preparation intended to serve as a dietary supplement with vitamins, dietary minerals, and other nutritional elements. Such preparations are available in the form of tablets, capsules, pastilles, powders, liquids, or injectable formulations. Other than injectable formulations, which are only available and administered under medical supervision, multivitamins are recognized by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (the United Nations' authority on food standards) as a category of food.[1]

In healthy people, most scientific evidence indicates that multivitamin supplements do not prevent cancer, heart disease, or other ailments, and regular supplementation is not necessary.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] However, specific groups of people may benefit from multivitamin supplements, for example, people with poor nutrition or those at high risk of macular degeneration.[3][9]

There is no standardized scientific definition for multivitamin.[10] In the United States, a multivitamin/mineral supplement is defined as a supplement containing three or more vitamins and minerals that does not include herbs, hormones, or drugs, where each vitamin and mineral is included at a dose below the tolerable upper intake level as determined by the Food and Drug Board, and does not present a risk of adverse health effects.[11]

  1. ^ "Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements" (PDF). 2005. CAC/GL 55 - 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  2. ^ Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Gluud LL, Simonetti RG, Gluud C (March 2012). "Antioxidant supplements for prevention of mortality in healthy participants and patients with various diseases". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2012 (3): CD007176. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007176.pub2. hdl:10138/136201. PMC 8407395. PMID 22419320.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ods was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Litman RS (June 5, 2018). "New study on supplemental vitamins proves they're useless and a waste of money". Philly.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  5. ^ Jenkins DJ, Spence JD, Giovannucci EL, Kim YI, Josse R, Vieth R, et al. (June 2018). "Supplemental Vitamins and Minerals for CVD Prevention and Treatment". Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 71 (22): 2570–2584. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2018.04.020. PMID 29852980.
  6. ^ Angelo G, Drake VJ, Frei B (18 June 2014). "Efficacy of Multivitamin/mineral Supplementation to Reduce Chronic Disease Risk: A Critical Review of the Evidence from Observational Studies and Randomized Controlled Trials". Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 55 (14): 1968–91. doi:10.1080/10408398.2014.912199. PMID 24941429. S2CID 19463847.
  7. ^ Khan SU, Khan MU, Riaz H, Valavoor S, Zhao D, Vaughan L, et al. (July 2019). "Effects of Nutritional Supplements and Dietary Interventions on Cardiovascular Outcomes: An Umbrella Review and Evidence Map". Annals of Internal Medicine. 171 (3): 190–198. doi:10.7326/M19-0341. PMC 7261374. PMID 31284304.
  8. ^ "An Untold Truth of Vitamins". Healthyfiy. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference HHS2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Yetley, Elizabeth A (2007). "Multivitamin and multimineral dietary supplements: definitions, characterization, bioavailability, and drug interactions". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 85 (1): 269S–276S. doi:10.1093/ajcn/85.1.269S. ISSN 0002-9165. PMID 17209208.
  11. ^ National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Panel. National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference Statement: multivitamin/mineral supplements and chronic disease prevention" Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:257S-64S