Experts Say These Vitamins for Women Can Help You Build a Healthier Diet
Experts Say These Vitamins for Women Can Help You Build a Healthier Diet
We updated this article in December 2022 to add more information about each featured product, based on extensive research done by our team.
Research shows that the average American diet just isn’t cutting it. Why? Many processed foods—which often lack nutrients but are rich in lab-made fats, added sugars, and salts—are prioritized in the United States, says Maya Feller, M.S., R.D., C.D.N, a registered dietitian in New York. “The majority of Americans are not meeting the recommended daily intake for fruits, vegetables, and whole grains,” says Feller. “Only 11% of Americans meet the USDA guidelines for fruit and vegetable consumption. Couple that with 31% of Americans being at risk for a nutrient deficiency.”
Many women lack potassium, dietary fiber, choline, magnesium, calcium, iron, and vitamins A, D, E and C in their diets, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To fix this, you can eat a more plant-based diet or switch out white rice for quinoa to get in those unprocessed grains. Even still, it’s easy to fall short without professional guidance—especially when nutrient needs change with each stage of life (e.g. pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, postpartum, post-menopause).
That’s where the best vitamins for women may come in—and it might seem easy to run down to the drugstore and pluck one off the shelf, but not all multivitamins are created equal. Vitamins are not regulated by the FDA, so it can be difficult to figure out which companies are providing a quality product. It’s also important to find a multivitamin that fits your specific needs. For example, some multivitamins use folic acid, which is a synthetic version of folate—an important nutrient used for cell growth and metabolism. Not every person can absorb folic acid efficiently. “Those with a MTHFR gene mutation have trouble utilizing folic acid,” says prenatal and pediatric nutrition specialist Aubrey Phelps, M.S., R.D.N., L.D.N.
Meet the Experts: Maya Feller, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., a registered dietitian in New York; Amy K. Fischer, M.S., R.D.N., C.D.N., a registered dietitian at the Good Housekeeping Institute; Aubrey Phelps, M.S., R.D.N., L.D.N., a prenatal and pediatric nutrition specialist; Roxanne Pero, M.D., a gynecologist at Women’s Health Specialists of Dallas.
To get you started, here are the best vitamins for women that Feller, Phelps, Fischer, and Pero recommend talking with your doctor about:
The industry is crowded with vitamin brands saying they’re the best, so we asked doctors and dietitians who can speak to the truth about the best vitamins for women.
