Which Multivitamins Are Best for Men? Here’s What to Look For & RD-Approved Picks

Who Should Take a Multivitamin?

If you suspect you are at risk of a deficiency in vitamins or minerals, you may benefit from adding a supplement to your routine. We recommend you work with a medical provider to identify potential vitamin or mineral deficiencies through laboratory testing, like blood work. This personalized approach would allow you to add a supplement that aligns with your specific needs. Realistically, this is not standard practice in our healthcare system, so if you think you might be deficient in one or several vitamins or minerals, you may have to advocate for yourself to be tested.

“Often, multivitamins alone aren’t enough to reverse a deficiency. That is why if someone suspects they are deficient in a vitamin or mineral, it’s crucial to meet with a qualified dietitian to develop a plan of action that works and is backed by science,” says Crystal Pace, MS, RD, IFNCP, RYT.

Men who may not be meeting their micronutrient requirements or who are at risk for a deficiency include:

• Those restricting energy intake for weight loss
• Those with reduced intake related to poor appetite or illness
• Those following strict dietary protocols, such as the ketogenic diet, vegan, low FODMAP, and carnivore diets
• Those with increased needs related to physical pursuits, such as athletes and those who work jobs requiring long and/or extreme bouts of manual labor
• Those with a gastrointestinal (GI) disease or who have undergone GI surgery, including bariatric surgery
• Those with very high alcohol intakes or who have alcohol use disorder
• Those on micronutrient-depleting medications

The following medications are considered micronutrient-depleting and may deplete the corresponding nutrients:

• Proton Pump Inhibitors: may deplete B12 and magnesium
• NSAIDs (Aspirin): may deplete vitamin C
• Anti-hypertensives (Diuretics): may deplete calcium
• Statins: may deplete coenzyme Q10
• Metformin: may deplete B12
• Corticosteroids: may deplete calcium, vitamin D, potassium
• Bronchodilators: may deplete calcium, vitamin D

Who Shouldn’t Take A Multivitamin?

The different vitamins and minerals found in a particular whole food (a fruit or vegetable, for example) work together in ways we are only beginning to understand. Because of this, there are numerous benefits to getting our nutrients from eating a wide variety of whole foods. Scientists are calling the complex relationship of all the various components that make up a whole food the food matrix. While some supplement companies try to pack in all of these nutrients in their multivitamins, we don’t know if this will ever be as effective as getting our nutrients from food as nature intended.

Given the lack of scientific evidence, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics does not recommend the routine use of multivitamins for preventing chronic diseases without first carefully weighing the risks and benefits.

Those who may not benefit from a men’s multivitamin include:

Those who eat a varied diet and don’t have health issues: If you are not vegetarian or vegan, eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods, and have no medical indication for extra vitamins and minerals, there is probably no need to add the expense of a multivitamin.

Those on certain medications: Multivitamins can influence the dosage and effectiveness of your medication. For example, vitamin K could reduce the effectiveness of your blood thinner as your body utilizes it to assist with blood clotting. Vitamin E, on the other hand, inhibits blood clotting and may increase your risk of bleeding if you are on a blood thinner. If you are taking any medications, check with a healthcare provider before starting a multivitamin.

How We Select Supplements

Our team works hard to be transparent about why we recommend certain supplements; you can read more about our dietary supplement methodology here. 

We support supplements that are evidence-based and rooted in science. We value certain product attributes that we find to be associated with the highest quality products. Additionally, we asked over 60 people for their feedback on their level of satisfaction with different aspects of multivitamins, including taste, texture, ingredient transparency, convenience, and value.

It’s important to note that the FDA does not review dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they go to market. Our team of experts has created a detailed, science-backed methodology to choose the supplements we recommend.

What to Look For in a Men’s Multivitamin

The bottom line is that multivitamins don’t account for our unique individual nutrient needs. Our nutrient needs vary based on factors such as age, genetics, health status, environment, and activity level. Therefore, most multivitamins are more of a “shotgun” approach to ensuring that you are covering the nutritional gaps from food alone.

We recommend working with a healthcare provider to determine if you need to supplement and, if so, with what nutrients. Multivitamins can vary in what vitamins and minerals they contain and what amount of each nutrient they provide. For example, some multivitamins for men contain iron, and some do not. Men eating a variety of foods, especially red meat, may not need iron in a multivitamin.

Third-Party Testing

While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established good manufacturing practices for dietary supplements to ensure products contain their listed ingredients in the amounts claimed and are free of contaminants, companies are responsible for meeting these requirements independently. Therefore, the FDA will only investigate a multivitamin if someone reports it has caused harm.

Supplements that are third-party tested are sent to a lab where they are tested for purity and potency to ensure they contain what they say and do not contain any potential contaminants. Trusted third-party certifications include ConsumerLab.com, NSF, USP, Clean Label Project, and Informed Choice, among others. However, these certifications can be difficult to obtain and expensive for manufacturers, so many companies choose not to get their products tested. If you are selecting a supplement that does not have third-party testing, we recommend choosing a trusted brand that does rigorous internal testing.

Form

The following are considerations for forms of multivitamins for men, from the form of the supplement to the form of nutrients.

• Physical forms: You can find men’s multivitamins in capsule, tablet, gummy, liquid, and even powder form. Capsules may be better than pills to ensure greater absorption because of their protective coating. Liquid forms may be preferable if you have difficulty swallowing pills or have trouble with digestion (from issues such as gastric surgery or reflux).
• Nutrient forms: Supplement companies will also use different forms of each vitamin and mineral found in the multivitamin. For example:
• Vitamin A: Some multivitamins will have vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene, the plant form found in plants that your body will turn into usable vitamin A. We recommend looking for the beta-carotene form of vitamin A in your supplements, as it has the least risk of toxicity.
• Vitamin B12: Some multivitamins will have a synthetic form of B12 known as cyanocobalamin, while others will have a naturally occurring form known as methylcobalamin. Research shows that your body may be able to utilize B12 as methylcobalamin better and that there is some concern with B12 as cyanocobalamin because it may lead to the build-up of cyanide, a potentially dangerous chemical.

Ingredients & Potential Interactions

It is essential to carefully read the ingredient list and nutrition facts panel of a supplement to know which ingredients and how much of each ingredient is included relative to its recommended daily value. Please bring the supplement label to a healthcare provider to review the different ingredients contained in the supplement and any potential interactions between these ingredients and other supplements and medications you are taking.

Many men’s multivitamins today contain additional ingredients like herbs, enzymes, and probiotics, with additional health claims that haven’t necessarily been validated through quality research. Some of those ingredients may interact with your medications and/or medical treatments, so reviewing supplements you are on or plan on taking with a medical provider is vital.

Many factors contribute to how easily our bodies can use the vitamins and minerals we consume from food or supplements. Some nutrients work together, so consuming them at the same time is beneficial. Other nutrients work against each other, so consuming them at different times is best. For example, calcium reduces your absorption of iron, whereas vitamin C can enhance it.

According to the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, people are not consuming enough choline, magnesium, calcium, and vitamins A, D, E, and C. The 2020–2025 guidelines list calcium, potassium, and vitamin D as nutrients of a public health concern due to the underconsumption of foods high in these nutrients. So, with that considered, these might be important nutrients to include in a multivitamin, depending on your diet.

How Much To Take

There is no standard dose for multivitamins, though most manufacturers use daily values (DVs), dietary reference intakes (DRIs), and adequate intakes (AIs) to determine the dosage of each vitamin or mineral included in a multivitamin.

Some manufacturers add more than the recommended amount of certain vitamins and minerals since emerging research suggests there may be additional benefits from higher doses. In addition, the nutrient bioavailability (the amount your body absorbs) from supplements varies by vitamin or mineral type and form, so higher amounts of certain nutrients may be included, assuming your body won’t absorb the entire dose.

It’s essential to ensure that no nutrients in your multivitamin exceed the upper limit established by the National Institute of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. 

Your body filters and eliminates excess water-soluble vitamins (the B vitamins and vitamin C), so it is difficult to over-consume these. However, fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D, and K) can be stored in fat tissue and are dangerous when consumed in excess. Minerals iron, calcium, iodine, magnesium, selenium, copper, molybdenum, and manganese also can be damaging if consumed in excess.

You can help ensure that you are not exceeding micronutrient upper limits by running your multivitamin pick by your healthcare provider before you start taking it, sticking to reputable multivitamins that do not have unnecessary additives, and getting annual blood work to make sure your micronutrient levels are within the normal range.

Our Experts

• Kyala Clegg, MS, RD, CSCS, CES is a Registered Dietitian and Strength and Conditioning Coach with a background in pediatrics, tactical performance, and sports performance nutrition, with over ten years of experience.
• Crystal Pace, MS, RD, IFNCP, RYT, is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) who specializes in helping people make peace with food and their bodies.
• Amy Fischer, MS, RD, CDN, is a Registered Dietitian specializing in covering nutrition- and health-related content and product testing. She has extensive knowledge of the supplement industry.

Why Trust Verywell Health

Peter Pace, MS, RD, CSCS, is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with a master of science in nutrition & exercise physiology from Columbia University. He is a certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS) and personal trainer, specializing in both athletic and general populations. He is also an experienced researcher, having worked in both nutrition & exercise physiology labs in the university setting. As a former athlete, he has an expertise and passion for the practical applications of the sciences of nutrition and exercise for optimal performance. Peter also co-founded Re-nourishing Roots, which provides nutrition and fitness services to help people improve their health and well-being through nutrition, movement, and sustainable living.