Supplements are easy to add to the daily diet, and are often the first step consumers take toward greater nutritional awareness and the adoption of other healthy lifestyle choices. About half of American consumers now use supplements, according to recent surveys. The food and supplement pyramids are similar in form, but the parallels are not complete. But the food pyramid is topped with fats and oils, with the message to use such products sparingly, whereas the top of the dietary supplement pyramid encompasses a wide variety of products which are valuable to different population groups, depending on their particular needs and lifestyles. As the year progresses, CRN will be exploring other graphics that may more fully capture the role of dietary supplements.
Multivitamins are the most commonly used product in the dietary supplement category.
There are 13 recognized vitamins and products have all of them in addition to an assortment of minerals. It will also easily provide the 400 mcg of folic acid that women of childbearing age should get every day, for the sake of their unborn babies. Most pregnancies are unplanned, so being ready for the unexpected means taking that multivitamin every day. But multivitamins are not just for young women. Multivitamins with folic acid may also help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke in men and women of all ages.