Nutrition is becoming paramount to many consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Personalized vitamins are an emerging category that can help consumers advance their vitamin routine beyond experimentation in the vitamin aisles. Haven’t heard of them? Read on to further understand this innovation in personalized nutrition.
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Your Personal Vitamin Bank
Individuals have very different health and lifestyle traits that distinguish our vitamin needs. No two people are exactly the same. The things that we take into our bodies, the way that we live our everyday lives, the things that we fail to take into our bodies all play a huge role in the stockpile of vitamins that we need in order to function properly. For example, assume you go to the doctor, and learn that you have heart health risk, should you be taking the same daily vitamin? Let’s say that you start a radically different diet tomorrow (e.g., paleo, keto,vegan), should you be taking the same daily vitamin? From immune health to energy and state of mind, our bodies depend on vitamins and minerals to stay healthy and vibrant. When we leave out important nutrients from our daily intake, we put ourselves at risk for vitamin deficiencies. Your vitamin bank only stores what you put into it, or in the case of some vitamins, like Vitamin D, your level of sun exposure and other lifestyle choices..
The Personalized Vitamin Routine
The first thing to do when you want to start a personalized vitamin supplement is to take a vitamin quiz to see what is recommended for your individual needs. Your age, the things that you eat, your activity level, your sleeping habits, and even your ethnicity can be factors that play a huge role in your nutritional needs. A thoughtful set of vitamin recommendations will be as critical about which vitamins to exclude as those to include. For instance, if you are like most Americans and keep a standard diet, you might not need a supplement with Vitamin A. Vitamin A is one of those vitamins that your body absorbs easily, and it can build up to dangerous levels and pose health risks over time if you are not careful around supplementation (such as increasing cancer risk and osteoporosis). Personalized vitamins are tailor-fitted from a snapshot of you as a whole.
Benefits of a Targeted Multivitamin
It is no longer sufficient to settle for a basic demographic multivitamin built for men, women, or seniors. You can get more targeted in your daily vitamin routine with a customized multivitamin adapted for your individual health and lifestyle needs. An off-the-shelf multivitamin will give you A to Z nutrition, with way too many ingredients that you do not need, while under-dosing you on the vitamins that you actually need. With personalized vitamins, you can get a formula that is reflective of your individual needs, both in terms of nutrient composition, or those vitamins that go into your mix.. Digital health tools make it easy to collect data and analyze that data to drive vitamin decisions. Why would you settle for a mass market multivitamins built for crude categories of consumers like men and women?
Are Personalized Vitamins Right for You?
If you prize your health, particularly during these times, consider upgrading your vitamin routine from a generic supplement to a personalized vitamin. Personalized vitamin supplements are gaining popularity quickly in the U.S. because they make intuitive sense. Are they for you? Your next step should be to take a personalized vitamin quiz, get your recommendations, and compare to an off-the-shelf vitamin to better understand the real differences on the label. And, you should be wary of companies that throw out expensive testing as the route to a better vitamin routine. Submitting your blood, genetics, hair, or stool is often limited in value, but drives up the costs of personalization. It is much better to get a comprehensive understanding of your health and lifestyle. You should also be cautious of personalized vitamin companies that use personalization to over-prescribe supplements. Most people do not like taking a handful of pills, and can you really stick with a vitamin routine with 10+ daily pills and the associated cost of all of those pills? It is optimal to find a personalized vitamin service that will use reliable data to simplify the daily vitamin routine, and craft innovative and tailored products that will limit the number of pills and powders that you need to consume daily and limit your costs in the category. Find a reputable company to help you with personalization, and unlock the potential of this advancement in nutrition.