How to Choose a
Multivitamin
Vitamins and minerals help your body to work properly. They are found in food. Follow Eating Well with Canada’s
Food Guide. Multivitamins are not recommended to prevent chronic diseases. A multivitamin is any supplement,
often in pill form, that has more than one vitamin or mineral.
Supplements may be important for:
Safet y and R isk s
• People with medical issues
With multivitamins, if a little is good more is not always
better. Even though multivitamins are sold over the
counter, always follow the directions listed on the bottle
and the advice of your health care professional.
• Women who are pregnant, may become pregnant,
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or are breastfeeding
Older adults – Men and women over 50
People who restrict certain foods from their diet
Children and adolescents
People who are unable to follow Canada’s Food Guide
Multivitamins & Healthy Eating
Eat well and include food from all four food groups
from Canada's Food Guide every day. Multivitamins
only help to supplement vitamins and minerals. They
do not provide energy, protein, or fibre that you get
from food. Multivitamins should not be used to
replace healthy eating.
W HAT S HOULD I L OO K FOR ?
Multivitamins can add nutrients that may be missing
from your diet. Brand is not important.
When taking a multivitamin always keep in mind the
dosage and follow the directions listed on the label.
Some multivitamins target specific groups of people,
for example, pregnant women or men or women over
50 years. Finding the multivitamin that more closely
matches who you are is a good place to start.
Take your multivitamin with food and drink a glass of
water. Avoid taking multivitamins with other
medications.
Look for multivitamins with a NPN or DIN number on the
label. Those with a NPN or DIN number on the label have
been assessed by Health Canada. They are considered safe,
of high quality, and do what they claim.
Non-medicinal ingredients that are used to bind and keep
the product stable are also safe in products with a NPN or
DIN number.
Und erstand ing Units
Many different units like milligram
(mg), microgram (abbreviated mcg or
μg) and international units (IU), can be
found on multivitamin labels. Units
are used to show the quantity of a
vitamin or mineral. Amounts of
vitamin A, D, and E are usually written
as IUs, while mg and mcg are used for
other vitamins and for minerals.
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