If the main benefits of fruits and vegetables come from the vitamins, minerals, and other essential micronutrients, then you might have a very reasonable question: what about multivitamins?
A multivitamin supplement is a supplement that contains a balance of different nutrients. You might typically see one that contains a combination of vitamin C, D, A, and B complex. Likewise, multimineral supplements might contain Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium, and Zinc for “healthy bones and hormone balance.”
Are these products just as good as the “real deal?”
Yes and no.
On the one hand, you can absorb and benefit from supplements. Some people will tell you that this isn’t true, but there are several good reasons to believe otherwise. For one, did you know that there actually exist several products that are designed to replace your entire diet? These include the likes of Soylent, which supposedly contains every single nutrient the body needs, all balanced perfectly.
Is it a good idea? Not at all! But the thing to focus on right now is that people who use this product survive… and they’re actually quite healthy! And with that in mind, we can therefore state for sure that multivitamins can also be absorbed.
But there’s a catch. The first of these catches is that a multivitamin is only going to be as good as the person who designed it. We saw with lutein and other fat- soluble vitamins for example. These need a source of fat in order to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Get them from natural food sources, and chances are that the source of fat will be included. Get them from a vitamin supplement and they might not.
Similar interactions also exist between many other vitamins and minerals, where one will help the other to be absorbed more easily. Likewise, different vitamins and minerals absorb at different rates, and so ideally shouldn’t be combined into a single product.
Then there are all the other things that fruits and vegetables contain that do us good – such as fiber, amino acids, and more. PLUS there’s the small fact that all fruits and vegetables contain substances that we don’t fully understand or perhaps aren’t even aware of.
We only just discovered the extraordinary benefits of lutein (that go beyond eye health). So eating real fruit and vegetables is ALWAYS preferable.
But with that said, if the choice comes down to using a supplement or not getting those beneficial nutrients at all… then the supplement is of course better. In fact, a supplement can be a very convenient and easy way to get what you need in your diet, or can be considered as a “back up.”
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