Multivitamin

CRN’s Andrea Wong, Ph.D., senior vice president, scientific & regulatory affairs made clear to consumers the value of multivitamins in a widely-quoted response to Monday's British Medical Journal study calling into question the real benefits of taking these products. Plus, get ready for CRN's new mobile app—coming in December.

A multivitamin-mineral can serve as an effective bridge between what Americans should eat and what they actually consume. Repeated studies have shown that Americans do not consume essential nutrients at recommended levels through diet alone. Low-income and older Americans are more likely than others to have insufficient and nutritionally inadequate diets. The best way to get all of the recommended daily nutrients is to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. But this is not always possible, especially for low-income populations.

It is well established that Americans are falling short of key nutrients, but new research shows that low-income Americans are at greater risk for essential nutrient shortfalls than Americans from higher-income households. Dietary supplements, like the multivitamin/mineral (MVM), provide shortfall nutrients and have been shown to help fill nutrient gaps.