Best Multivitamins for Women 17 - 39
We all feel we could be healthier but who has the time? Everyone seems to be living busier lifestyles, women in particular. When life gets hectic, most of us don’t prioritize our health. This can have negative impacts down the road. One of the ways women can begin to prioritize their health is to start taking a daily multivitamin but does everyone have the same needs? In some cases, yes but there are important differences, particularly as women mature through life. In this article, we’re going to discuss the needs of women between the ages 17 and 39. I know this seems like a wide range but there is a reason. These are the childbearing years and one of the most crucial periods in life in-terms of nutritional needs.
Young or older, active, or not, sometimes we don’t always get everything we need from our diet alone. Whether it’s a busy life, food allergies, or that you just don’t like fruits or veggies, a supplement can help cover those nutrient gaps. Candidly, the multivitamin is the foundation of a good vitamin plan. However, we always recommend a couple of additional supplements that, if included in one multivitamin, would be too big to swallow. At the same time, we try to make it an easy vitamin plan, one that doesn’t include too many supplements, making the plan overwhelming, causing someone to quit. Below are recommendations for what the best multivitamin should contain for a women and a few other recommendations to ensure the unique nutrient needs form a women between the ages of 17 and 39 are met.
Multivitamin Must Haves:
Vitamin A
An important vitamin for our skin, eyes, and immune system. Recommended daily dose 1,000 - 3,000mcg
B Complex:
B vitamins support many important functions needed for optimal health. A good multivitamin should always include a range of eight B vitamins. These vitamins work synergistically with each other, therefore a full spectrum of B vitamins, rather than high doses of individual B vitamins work much better for most men. However, additional B vitamins can be added for specific needs. Below are the individual B vitamins with benefits typically found in a “B complex” and a range of essential daily recommendations.
- B1 – Thiamine: 14mg to 18mg
- B2 – Riboflavin: 14mg to 18mg
- B3 – Niacin: 14mg to 18mg
- B5 – Pantothenic Acid: 14mg to 18mg
- B6 – Pyridoxine: 14mg to 18mg
- B7 – Biotin: 1400mcg to 180mcg
- B9 - Folate: 200mcg to 250mcg *important for pregnant women
- Low folate levels in pregnant women have been linked to birth abnormalities, such as neural tube defects
- B12 – Cobalamin: 1400mcg to 1800mcg
Vitamin C
Pivotal to immune health and collagen production for our skin and joints. In addition to what you get in a multivitamin, it is recommended to supplement your daily dose with 500 to 1000mg to maximize the benefits of vitamin C.
Vitamin D
Recently found to have a positive impact on our immune systems, as well as in bone health. In addition to what you get in a multivitamin, recent clinical research suggests increasing your daily regimen between 600iu & 5,000iu.
Last (but not least), Minerals
Essential minerals are extremely important to our health, these minerals include Calcium, Chromium, Copper, Magnesium, Manganese, Potassium, Selenium and Zinc. Because that’s a lot to pack into a single tablet, the strength levels of the minerals are kept at minimum therapeutic levels. That’s why it’s always a good bet to take additional key minerals, such as Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc that are found to be more effective at higher doses.
Important minerals for women, particularly between the ages of 17 and 39 include:
- Iron - Womenof childbearing age are at higher risk for becoming anemic due to menstruation and an increased need for iron. Iron carries oxygen to all the cells in your body. Without it, you feel tired, have a hard time concentrating and may be more prone to illness. You need 18 milligrams of iron
- Calcium – The National Institute of Health recommends that women during child-bearing years take between 1,000 and 1,300mg of calcium per day
- D3 - The National Institute of Health recommends that women during child-bearing years take at least 600iu’s of D per day to aid in the utilization of calcium as well as support the immune system.
Multivitamins are foundational for any supplement program, but they can’t cover all our essential needs. Best to take a few additional pills to get the appropriate preventative potency of the supplements we mentioned above, Vitamin C and D. To achieve what we believe is an optimized foundational plan add Omega 3 Oil of approximately 1000 mg. This is an additional supplement we always recommend, as the science supporting the benefits is overwhelming.
The essentials we recommend above can be taken in 4, easy to swallow pills taken just once a day. Not a lot to ask for something that can dramatically improves your quality of life. Think of it as an insurance policy for you and your family.
Women’s Unique Needs
If we haven’t expressed this enough, women have their own nutritional needs. The key elements mentioned above will help with those needs. However, as we age and our lives become more complex, so does our health. It’s very common to have issues with stress, lack of energy, poor digestion, cardiovascular concerns, and so on. It’s sage advice to pay attention to that time tested adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” For women who want to further optimize their health, protect themselves from a future health issue, and/or address a current health challenge, we generally suggest any one of the following to be added to their daily regime in priority order.
- b12 in an optimal amount of 250ug: Best known to support energy, B-12 also supports a healthy brain and nervous system
- Probiotics: Nearly every day we hear more and more evidence supporting the use of probiotics in maintaining a healthy digestive system and overall health and wellness
- Calcium with Magnesium: Together these minerals are known to be vital to muscle contraction and maintaining the structure of bones and teeth. Magnesium goes one step further, supporting cardiovascular health as well as a natural calming agent
- Ashwagandha: This calming adaptogen (an herb that helps your body adapt to stress) helps the body manage its stress response system while enhancing mental clarity
- Zinc in an optimal amount of 30mg: Valued for its benefits for immunity, blood sugar control, and wound healing.
Whether you’re looking for a better women’s multivitamin, a vitamin plan that fits your personal needs, or if you have other concerns you’d like to address, Easy Vitamin Plan makes it “easy” to get state-of-the-art vitamins personalized for you. Take our free online quiz to get custom supplement recommendations based on your age, gender, and health goals. Get the vitamins your body truly needs—delivered to your door each month.