MuscleMag

The only bodybuilding pill you’ll ever need

January 2007

Don’t trust cheap imitations.

Dietary supplements have never been more popular. Advertising, our increased awareness of the importance of health, and improved manufacturing processes have moved supplements to the forefront of any training- specific diet. And while protein powders, creatine and various other anabolic aids are all the rage, perhaps we are forgetting about the most important supplement of all – the multivitamin.

There was a time not so long ago when health and nutrition experts only recommended a multivitamin for the elderly and the sick. But the experts have changed their tune, largely as a result of the growing body of research indicating that taking a multivitamin regularly may be protective against a variety of chronic illnesses. And for those of you who train hard, a good quality multivitamin may give you improved energy, strength and mass.

Why Take a Multivitamin?

Even if you are eating a mass-building diet made up of thousands of calories from predominantly whole foods, getting all the nutrients your body needs can be a real challenge. There is increasing evidence that our food supply contains fewer nutrients than in years gone by. Excessive fertilization, pesticide use, early harvesting, transporting, prolonged storage, processing, refining, pasteurization, freezing and cooking are all taking a toll on our foods nutritional value. Not only is our diet becoming increasingly deficient, our exposure to environmental toxins is greater than ever. Air pollution, pesticide exposure and contaminants like mercury and PCBs in our food supply increase our requirement for nutrients to help fight off the devastating effects that these toxins can produce.

Any serious training program also places the body under a great deal of stress. A daily multivitamin can help ensure that you supply your muscles and other cells with the nutrients they need to recover properly.  And one should never forget that the current daily recommendations for vitamin and mineral intake from food are really just minimum requirements. They are not optimal levels for preventing degenerative diseases, slowing the biological processes of aging and maximizing our well-being and longevity. These levels are surely not sufficient for the serious bodybuilder.

But this as it may, you must also remember that a dietary supplement is just that: a supplement to a healthy diet, not a substitute. A multivitamin should be considered a nutritional insurance policy, not a magic bullet. No supplement is going to make up for a lousy diet.

Choosing the Best Multi

Now you are convinced that a daily multivitamin should be part of your supplement arsenal the question remains: How do I choose one that doesn’t suck? This is where things get tricky. With so many different vitamins and minerals, knowing what to look for can leave you wishing you paid more attention in chemistry class. The key is to find one that has an adequate amount of a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, and to find a company that operates with good quality control.

Antioxidant Power: A high-quality multiple vitamin and mineral product should be enriched with antioxidants such as Vitamin C (250-1,000 mg), Vitamin E (100-400 IU, from a natural source) and beta-carotene (5,000-7,500 IU or 3 to 5 mg). Some preparations will have other added useful antioxidants including lycopene and lutein, but for the most part the amounts added are much less than what science shows to be beneficial. Antioxidants are essential in helping the body fight off foreign invaders known as free radicals. These free radicals contribute not only to disease but also to poor exercise recovery and therefore, poor muscular growth.

It is important to avoid excessive intake of Vitamin A which is found in supplements as retinol (often called Vitamin A acetate or palmitate) as very high intakes can increase the risk of bone fractures and liver problems. Beta-carotene, which is converted to Vitamin A in the body does not pose these same concerns. Aim to consume no more than 5,000IU of Vitamin A from a multivitamin.

B Vitamins: A well-designed multivitamin should also provide a full complement of the B-vitamins. B-vitamins are needed to help release the energy we need from the foods we eat. Check to see if all eight B vitamins are present (folic acid, thiamin [B1], riboflavin [B2], niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, biotin and pantothenic acid). Your multivitamin should contain between 25 and 50 mg of each of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6 and pantothenic acid, and at least 25 mcg of B12. Biotin is the B vitamin that is most often left out or is included at a very small percentage of the recommended daily intake (the RDA of biotin is 300 mcg in the US). It is expensive and many vitamin manufacturers reduce it or leave it out to save themselves production costs.
 

Bone Support Nutrients: Central to the preservation of a strong skeletal system is the adequate daily intake of calcium, Vitamin D, magnesium, copper and zinc. Thus, a well-designed multivitamin should contain 350 to 500 mg of calcium, 400 IU of Vitamin D, 10 to15 mg of zinc, 150 to 250 mg of magnesium and 1 to 2 mg of copper.

In addition to having a wide spectrum of nutrients in adequate amounts, a good multivitamin will posses other characteristics that will make it stand above the rest. One such quality is the indication that it follows Good Manufacturing Practices (look for the GMP on the label). GMP is a quality-control system that regulates the methods, equipment, facilities and controls required for producing products that are safe, pure and effective. The GMP mark on the label is an indication of good quality because clean facilities and unspoiled ingredients are used. This designation also helps ensure the product is free of contaminants such as lead.

Cheap drugstore brands are notorious for adding artificial colors, preservatives, and sugars that seriously degrade the value of the product. Look for a brand that is free of this useless garbage. And always remember that a good pill will not be too cheap.  Quality multivitamins are more expensive because the manufacture must incur the cost of buying the highest quality ingredients, purchasing and maintaining state-of-the-art manufacturing and quality-control equipment, and paying the salaries of expert chemists, nutritionists and other scientists. This ensures public safety and satisfaction. You wouldn’t want to try a personal leg-press record on a cheap and potentially faulty leg press machine, so why would you trust a cheap multivitamin?

Iron Free

Unless you are specifically instructed by a health professional to supplement with iron because of a deficiency demonstrated by a blood test, you should use a product that contains very little iron, or better yet, none. Never assume that more iron will give you more energy for that bench press. Iron is best supplemented on its own if required.

Iron can act adversely with other substances in a multivitamin, and high levels of iron in the blood can increase the risk of heart disease and cancer. There is a strong connection between high iron levels and insulin resistance. Of particular concern is that a segment of the population has a condition called hemochromotosis that results in excessive iron storage. Approximately 1 in 400 people of European descent have this condition, and most don’t know they have it until problems like heart malfunction have already developed .

How Best to Take a Multivitamin

Multivitamins are best taken in divided doses throughout the day. “One-a-day” vitamins typically are too low in nutrients to supply the body what it needs in just one pill. Even if you were to find a pill with high enough nutrient levels in a single serving, this is not a good idea. Nutrients like calcium are better absorbed in smaller amounts, making 300mg of calcium twice a day and better decision than 600mg of calcium once a day. Your body uses supplements as it needs them and in most cases it excretes what it doesn’t use within a matter of hours. You must replenish essential nutrients throughout the day to achieve maximum benefits. If you can only take your multivitamin once a day, then night is the best time since most of the body’s recovery processes occur during sleep. But ideally, taking your pills at two or three different times during the day is best.

In addition, you should always take your multivitamin with a meal or snack to increase absorption. Digestive enzymes and stomach acid are released upon the consumption of food. This increases the breakdown and assimilation of nutrients. A fat containing meal will also increase the absorption of the fat-soluble Vitamins A, D and E. Don’t drink coffee or tea at the same time as taking a multi, as the tannins in the tea and the polyphenols in the coffee can decrease mineral absorption.