Vitamins

A varied diet that features lots of whole, fresh foods can give you the nutrition you need, but should you be using a supplement as well? Read on for recommendations from top nutritionists and dietitians to see if supplements are right for you.

Don't make supplements a substitute: Before you reach for a supplement, evaluate your diet to see how you can improve it. "Whole foods contain dozens and dozens of nutrients, including not just vitamins and minerals, but also antioxidants and phytochemicals, which would be impossible to fully replace with supplements," says Cynthia Sass, registered dietitian and author of S.A.S.S. Yourself Slim. Focus on eliminating processed foods and increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat in order to get the most out of your food. "Eat the rainbow" with these colorful, antioxidant-rich recipes.

Multivitamins can work: "Even the healthiest eater can struggle to get in every vitamin and mineral needed each and every day," says registered dietitian Erin Palinski. She recommends a multivitamin to help ensure you are filling in holes in your diet. If you take a multivitamin, however, make sure you choose a "high-quality, whole-food-based multivitamin/multimineral," says Kimberly Snyder, nutritionist and author of The Beauty Detox Solution.

Get specific: Besides a multivitamin, certain supplements can target specific holes in your diet to suit you better. Supplements like probiotics, for example, can be useful to "help ensure you are absorbing your nutrients most effectively," Kimberly says. Nutritionist and Karma Chow founder Melissa Costello recommends supplements containing B complex, iron, and vitamin D3 because those may still be missing in your food or your body may not be able to absorb all nutrients. "Most of us have poor digestion so we cannot fully absorb all the nutrients from our foods and our soils have been so depleted that the nutrients are not as present in foods today," she explains.

Do you take supplements? Which ones do you recommend?

How much calcium should you get? What about vitamin B12? Are you getting enough? If you're curious to know how much you need each day of your basic vitamins and minerals, this chart is for you! It tells you the recommended daily intake (RDI) of each nutrient and what you need to eat to obtain it.

Keep reading to find out if you're meeting your RDI of the other vitamins and minerals.

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Shape here on POPSUGAR Fitness.

Popping a multivitamin in the morning is like recycling a plastic bottle: no matter how small the task, it's a conscious-clearing baby step in the right direction — or so say some doctors.

It's been long believed that a daily multivitamin helps fill in gaps in your diet (whatever you're not getting in your food, you can get in this pill) and protect you from diseases. That's why 42 percent of American adults take multivitamins on a regular basis, according to the Council For Responsible Nutrition.

Problem is, just like with recycling, you don't see any immediate benefits, so it's hard to know if it's really working. And it may not be in the following four ways.

Learn how your multivitamin may be failing you after the break!

Think vitamins and minerals are only good for your health? Think again — making sure you're getting enough iron or zinc in your diet can actually be beneficial to your beauty regimen. Skin, hair, and nails are all affected by what we put into our body. Read on to learn about some of the beauty benefits of these common vitamins and minerals. And as always, check with your doctor first to uncover the best regimen for your needs.

• A new study says vitamins aren't as magic as we thought — Fitness Magazine
• A frosty pumpkin shake — it's where Summer meets Fall — Healthy Happy Life
• Need help hitting the hay? The best foods for a deep sleep — Shape
• A detox diet that won't leave you starved — Self
• The bubonic plague is back; everything you need to know to protect yourself — Blisstree
• Summer may be ending, but don't ditch these healthy habits — HuffPost Healthy Living
• Six vegetarian recipes that meat eaters will love — Real Simple

Nutritional supplements are made to do just that — supplement the body with nutrients that are missing from your diet. But your best bet when it comes to supplements like vitamin D, calcium, and omega-3s, according to recent studies, may be to stick to what's in your food.

One finding from a US Preventive Services Task Force panel found that postmenopausal women who took low doses of calcium and vitamin D (lower than 400 IU of vitamin D and 1,000 mg of calcium) to prevent bone fractures saw no benefit and had an increased risk of developing kidney stones. The panel also stated that since not enough research is available for higher doses, they weren't able to make a recommendation when it comes to taking more than those lower doses.

Another review of three studies found that taking omega-3 supplements did little to help mental or cognitive skills in older adults who took a supplement for up to 3.5 years. The researchers did say, however, that long-term benefits could be possible — and not just with your smarts, since omega-3s help prevent heart disease and reduce joint pain as well.

In any case, getting your 600 IU of vitamin D and 1,000 mg of calcium naturally through what you eat is a foolproof way of reaping the benefits from these nutrients. Check out our list of foods high in Vitamin D and nondairy calcium sources, as well as how to prevent omega-3 deficiency, here.

Do you take supplements?

DrSugar is in the house! And she's answering your health-related questions.

Dear DrSugar,
Just wondering if there is an ideal time of day, absorption-wise, to take multivitamins and supplements. Specifically, upon rising, before retiring, or somewhere in between. Thanks!
— Vitamin Curious

Thanks for a wonderful question. As I’ve mentioned before, multivitamins can be a very important addition to your everyday life, as they can ensure you're getting all the nutrients you need to be healthy. However, as the Mayo Clinic states, if you are already eating a well-balanced diet, you may not even need a multivitamin and if you do take one as a "safety net," you should know that you may exceed what your body needs or can use. The very same article also discussed how the more you spend on vitamins does not necessarily mean that the vitamins are any better! So, today, we’re going to expand on the multivitamin topic. To learn the optimal time to pop your multi keep on reading.

When it comes to taking a multivitamin on a daily basis, 56 percent of FitSugar readers are believers, while some take them occasionally to help supplement their diet or as a health insurance against colds and other viruses. For those that believe in the power of the vitamin, it is recommended that one should split it in half and take one portion in the morning and the rest in the evening. Doing this, Dr. Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic says, will maximize the benefits:

"You urinate out soluble vitamins in 12 to 16 hours, so this will keep the level in your body steady."

Seems like a pretty logical argument, but it makes me wonder why there's not a product on the market called, "Two-a-Day" so we can avoid that whole messy cutting bit. Will you give this tip a try?