Multivitamins have become a staple of the health community for many reasons. Not only do they fill in nutritional gaps in your diet that may form as a result of unbalanced meals or poor food quality, but they do so with ease and convenience. Your goal should always be to consume the nutrients your body needs directly through your diet, but juggling meal plans on top of all your other responsibilities can sometimes be impossible. Multivitamins are a great all-in-one solution that gives you some extra peace of mind knowing that your body always has a ready supply of vitamins and minerals.

But how often do you need to take a multivitamin? And how much should you be taking on a regular basis? Read on to explore the answers to these questions and find out how a liquid multivitamin for adults or for the whole family can begin boosting your nutrition and overall health. Keep in mind that your unique needs may vary based on circumstances like pre-existing health conditions, so you should always discuss any new supplements you plan to take with your physician before officially adding them to your regimen. 

Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)

While traversing the wide world of supplements, you have probably encountered the term RDA, or recommended dietary allowance. RDA refers to the amount of any certain nutrient that your body needs to consume on a daily basis in order to stay healthy. The RDA of specific vitamins and minerals varies, but the amount will typically be largely similar across age groups and genders. Let’s take a look at vitamin B12, for example. Below is the RDA chart for vitamin B12, according to the National Institutes of Health (1):

• Birth to 6 months: 0.4 mcg
• 7 to 12 months: 0.5 mcg
• 1 to 3 years: 0.9 mcg
• 4 to 8 years: 1.2 mcg
• 9 to 13 years: 1.8 mcg
• 14 to 18 years: 2.4 mcg
• 19+ years: 2.4 mcg

As you can see, there is not a huge amount of variation in the recommended amount of vitamin B12, especially as you reach adulthood. However, it is important to ensure that your body regularly receives enough of all the essential nutrients without getting too much. Overdosing on vitamins and minerals is uncommon, as you would need to take an extremely excessive amount of them to do so, but remember that it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Keeping track of the RDA’s for every single nutrient that your body needs may seem exhausting, because it is. This is where multivitamins come in handy. A good multivitamin should contain about the RDA of most essential nutrients without straying too far above or below. The dosage for each individual supplement may vary, especially between different forms. On average, you can probably expect to take about an ounce of your liquid multivitamin every day. However, remember to follow the instructions on the label or from your physician in order to make sure you are not consuming too much or too little.

When to Take Your Multivitamin

Figuring out when to take your multivitamin may depend on your purpose for taking it as well as what specific nutrients it contains. As we mentioned, most multivitamins will contain a mix of the essential vitamins and a few minerals. The vitamins will fall into two categories: water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. The main differences between water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins is in the ways they are stored and absorbed. Water-soluble vitamins are not stored within the body at all and, since they dissolve in water, are easily absorbed with food or without it. Fat-soluble vitamins, on the other hand, are stored in the body’s fatty tissues over time and are best absorbed when consumed alongside foods containing fat. Since your multivitamin will typically have nutrients from both categories of vitamins, it may be best to take it with a meal, especially one in which you eat foods containing fat, such as meat, eggs, or dairy products (2).

Another factor to consider when deciding when to take your supplement is energy. Some nutrients in your multivitamin may be able to provide you with a burst of energy. For example, the B complex vitamins, vitamin B12 specifically, help support your metabolism, often leading to an energy boost comparable to that of a cup of coffee. While this can be great in the mornings or during your midday lull, you might not welcome such bursts right before bedtime, as it can disrupt your sleep patterns. In order to avoid being kept up by your supplements, it may be best to take them no later than dinnertime.

Resources

1. “Vitamin B12 Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.” National Institutes of Health, 6 April 2021, https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB12-HealthProfessional.
2. “The Best Time to Take Vitamins.” Cleveland Clinic, 26 April 2021, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-best-time-to-take-vitamins.