Maintaining optimum health includes supplying your body with the proper amounts of vitamins and nutrients. While it’s ideal to get as many of these as possible through a well-balanced diet, many people turn to multivitamins for a daily boost. When shopping for these supplements at a pharmacy, it’s easy to make a wise choice if you follow a few simple rules.

How to Find the Right Multivitamins at the Pharmacy

1. Keep Calcium & Iron Supplements Separate

If you need both supplemental iron and calcium, choose a multivitamin containing iron and take a calcium supplement separately, keeping the doses at least one or two hours apart. Taking calcium and iron supplements at the same time defeats the purpose of giving your body what it needs because calcium can interfere with the body’s ability to absorb iron passing through the stomach and intestines.

2. Look for 100% Daily Value

Generally, it’s smart to choose a multivitamin containing close to 100% Daily Value (DV) for most of its ingredients. Consuming more than 100% DV is not beneficial unless your medical professional advises otherwise. In fact, taking in large amounts of fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K can create toxicity because the body doesn’t eliminate excess amounts well.

3.  Choose Natural Folate

Read the label on the multivitamin to make sure it contains natural folate, 5-MTHF, or folacin—not folic acid. Folate is the nutrient in its activated form, but folic acid is a synthetic form, which some bodies have difficulty processing.

Sources of natural folate include green vegetables, such as romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, and avocado. Citrus fruits and legumes also contain this essential nutrient. If you need help with selecting the right multivitamin supplement, ask the pharmacist.

To learn more about the interaction of vitamins in the body, consult the staff at Professional Pharmacy of Dalton, GA. This locally owned establishment offers customers individualized guidance and compounding services close to home. Whether you need tailor-made prescriptions or help in choosing the right over-the-counter supplements, depend on their more than 50 years of experience as a pharmacy, medication counseling center, and gift shop. Visit the website for their full range of services. Call (706) 278-2490 to speak with a pharmacist today.