If you’re here, then you probably Google’d: vitamin you should take daily.
1. Vitamin D
Living in wintery locations with little sunlight, working an office 9 to 5 life, and applying sunscreen (which blocks vitamin D synthesis) makes getting vitamin D hard. This vitamin is also hard to come by in food, which is why Taub-Dix says to look for this ingredient in your multi. Older adults should get 800 IU.
What Vitamins Should You Take Daily?
“People might take supplements if they know they’re missing a certain food group,” says Patton. “Others might take supplements for the antioxidant benefits or because they know they don’t eat fruits and vegetables. They can help you decide which products to take, or if you need to take any at all.
Your doctor and pharmacist can also tell you if a supplement would interact badly with any medications you are taking, which may cause health problems. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamins and minerals is the average daily intake a person needs to avoid deficiencies and stay healthy. There are different ways to measure the RDA.
Vitamins and minerals that are needed in larger doses are measured in milligrams and those that the body needs less of are measured in micrograms.
Do You Need A Supplement?
Most healthy people don’t need one. But some folks may need extra help, says Jerlyn Jones, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Care for a young child. Eat a restricted or limited diet. Are older than 50.
Your body starts to absorb less of vitamins D and B12 as you get older. After you reach middle age, you may need to take extra steps to get enough. Have certain genetic or health conditions.
What The Numbers Mean
Many of the terms you see on labels or supplement web sites can help you understand how much of the vitamin or mineral you should take. They’re tailored to women, men, and specific age groups. The UL (Tolerable Upper Intake Level) is the maximum amount of daily vitamins and minerals that you can safely take without risk of an overdose or serious side effects.
For certain nutrients, the higher you go above the UL, the greater the chance you’ll have problems. Separate from the RDA and the UL, the Food and Drug Administration uses a different measure for the nutrients you need: The DV (Daily Value) is the only measurement you’ll find on food and supplement labels. That’s because space is limited, and there’s a need for one single reference number.
That number is the amount of a vitamin or nutrient that you should get for top health from a diet of 2,000 calories a day. The DV is sometimes the same as the RDA. Although the details may be different, remember that the RDA and DV are both set up to help you get the nutrients you need to prevent disease and avoid problems caused by lack of nutritio.