If you’re wondering whether or not you actually need to take a daily multivitamin, the main thing to know is this: No matter how healthy you eat or what kind of diet you follow, it can be challenging for the body to get all the nutrients it needs from food, all the time. Every diet can have nutrient gaps—whether you’re vegan, paleo, keto, or eat everything. And there are also factors outside our diet that can play a role, like genetic variations, age, and current life stage.

Four factors have helped our scientific team better understand nutrient gaps in women and men: dietary intake, specific lifestyle and diet, genetic considerations, and intake vs. utilization. Yes, we just dropped some terms on you. Let’s dig in.

1. Dietary Intake: Our Bodies Need Essential Nutrients.*

To understand the common nutrient gaps in diets, our science team relies on NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey)—the world’s most comprehensive nutritional database—to look at a representative sampling of what Americans eat versus what they actually need.

There are a couple of ways to judge nutrient gaps. One is following the recommended daily values by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) that you always see on food and supplement labels. But to get the full picture, we also look at The Institute of Medicine’s Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) and Estimated Average Requirements (EARs)—scientists love their acronyms, right?

Through analyzing all of this data, we’ve been able to zero in on some of the common nutrients that are lacking in men and women’s diets—and how those needs fluctuate according to age, sex, and different life stages, like pregnancy and menopause.

But here’s an unsettling truth: Some multivitamins may include unnecessary extras, like synthetic colorants and fillers—not to mention some nutrients that we're getting enough of through our daily diets. Take vitamin C, for example: Just one medium orange, 1 grapefruit, or a cup of broccoli each contain the daily RDI of vitamin C. Another thing? Vitamin C actually works best when it's paired with polyphenols, naturally-occurring phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables. And since overdoing it on some nutrients can impact others, less really is more.*

2. Specific Lifestyle & Diet

Vegan? Vegetarian? Eat a little bit of everything? You may have different nutrient gaps. Because we know that averages can’t tell the whole story, we also look at data for people who follow diets like veganism, vegetarianism, and other groups that may have different dietary needs and intakes than the general population.

The truth is that some nutrients are found more abundantly in animal products—NHANES and other studies show that key nutrient intakes like Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, omega-3 DHA and Iron are commonly low in vegans. That said, we wouldn't expect you to give up the balanced diet you love—in fact, our founder and CEO is vegan. This is where a vegan-friendly multivitamin comes into play. Keeping those aforementioned nutrient gaps in mind is a start; details like formulating with vegan omega-3 DHA sourced from microalgae and a plant-based capsule take it to the next level.*

3. Support in Every Life Stage

Pregnant? Postmenopausal? 50+? You deserve a multivitamin designed for your age. Throughout our lives, our nutrient needs evolve—even if we continue to enjoy a consistently healthy diet. For pregnant women, certain nutrients like Folate and Choline become super important—but can be hard to get enough of through our diet without taking a multivitamin. And if you’re 50+? You might need some additional support for bone health—but probably don't need as much iron. The bottom line? A multivitamin should support you at any stage of life, in our opinion.*

4. Nutrigenetics Can Impact Nutrient Needs

What are nutrigenetics? It’s a very nuanced area of science that we’ll boil down to this: Genetics can affect how our bodies process certain nutrients. Nutrigenetics are super important because genetic variations can make certain nutrient forms difficult for some of us to efficiently utilize. And knowing whether you have one of these variations—also known as a polymorphism—isn’t always easy.

One example is a variation of the gene MTHFR, which up to 1/3 of men and women have. This genetic variation can make it difficult to efficiently utilize folic acid, the synthetic form of Folate. Folate is essential for all of us, which is why choosing a multivitamin with methylated Folate (and not Folic Acid, which is commonly used in multivitamins) can be important when it comes to supporting our nutrient needs.*

5. Intake vs. Utilization

We all may need a little help sometimes—and multivitamins are no exception. While your diet might technically meet your daily intake for some nutrients, it’s important to make sure that those nutrients are efficiently utilized. For one thing, some nutrients actually work better together.

One example: calcium. It gets a lot of credit for supporting bone health, but it actually works alongside other nutrients behind the scenes. Magnesium, vitamin D and vitamin K are three calcium-helper nutrients. Taking a multivitamin can help support adequate intake of these “helper” nutrients, to bolster the calcium you’re getting through your diet.*

TLDR: Multivitamins Exist to Help Fill Gaps in Our Diet*

In theory, our diet should always give us the nutrients we need—but in reality, that’s really tough.

Getting enough nutrients—and doing it continuously, every single day—is important for supporting our nutrient levels. We wish that could always happen without the help of a multivitamin, but that’s a tall order thanks to all the little things that make you…well, you.

Think of it this way: Taking a multivitamin is like a nutrient insurance plan. In the areas where your food falls short, getting support from a quality multivitamin helps fill nutrient gaps—no matter your dietary preferences, age, or current life stage.*