Multi Vitamins – How do you select one?

Does my multivitamin meet my needs?

Few people eat as nutritiously as they should for lasting wellness. Nutritionists recommend eating five to nine servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day to support health, but relatively few people meet this goal. Also, modern agricultural practices have reduced the nutritional value of many forms of produce from their nutritional content of only a few decades ago.

Do you know where your minerals come from? Some minerals are derived from rocks, others are taken from salts, the best are plant-sourced, making it easy for your body to absorb them.

New research suggests that natural, plant-sourced minerals may be absorbed better by your body-so it makes sense to get them from natural forms, like plants.

So ask yourself: Am I giving my body the natural nutrition it needs? Probably not.

These are some of the things to look for:

Appearance:

• Is the product labelled as food form/food matrix
• is it of uniform colour – probably coated – not good in many cases – bright colours also signify synthetic
• if the vitamin tablet you are looking at is small and of the one a day variety it is more likely that it contains synthetics
• any worthwhile multi vitamin/mineral tablet is likely to be on the large side and you may even have to take upto 4 a day

Content from the label:

• Vitamin A- derived from mixed carotenoids- to support bones and vision.
• Vitamin C- derived from tropical acerola cherries, with 30 times more vitamin C per gram than an orange-to provide enhanced immune support.
• Is the Vitamin D₃ or cholecalciferol present – the amounts should be 500IU or more
• there should be at least 10 additional essential vitamins- including a complete B-vitamin complex (the best comes from from natural yeast sources- to provide a great source of energy)
• How many of the additional vitamins are plant sourced – if the label doesn’t say it is from a plant then it will be synthetic – any your body doesn’t like synthesised vitamins
• are the ingredients standardised – if no then the quality can and will vary from batch to batch
• To ensure the vitamins and minerals work well together standardized phytonutrients – derived from foods such as broccoli, aloe vera, cranberry juice and grape extract are helpful.

Broccoli – Saviour of The World?

The superfood is rich in a chemical that boosts a natural defence mechanism that protects arteries from disease.

Scientists say they are closer than ever to understanding just why the vegetable, already thought to protect against cancer, is so good for us.

And they believe that broccoli and other brassicas, such as cabbage and Brussels sprouts, could actually slow the progression of existing disease. The research at Imperial College London, funded by the British Heart Foundation, discovered the effect of sulforaphane, which is also present in kale, cauliflower, bok choy and rocket.

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