Merrell Readman is the Associate Food & Health Editor at mindbodygreen. Readman is a Fordham University graduate with a degree in journalism and a minor in film and television. She has covered beauty, health, and well-being throughout her editorial career.
Ashley Jordan Ferira, Ph.D., RDN is Vice President of Scientific Affairs at mindbodygreen. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biological Basis of Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania and Ph.D. in Foods and Nutrition from the University of Georgia.
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September 2, 2022
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Your body requires a wide range of nutrients each day in order to thrive. Those essential nutrients include an array of water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins, macrominerals, and trace minerals, too.
A balanced, colorful diet will offer you a portion of what you need, but research demonstrates that there are still many nutrient gaps you can’t fill with food alone. That’s where a high-quality, well-formulated multivitamin comes in—to provide your body sufficient amounts of important nutrients.
While men don’t necessarily require a different multivitamin than women, selecting a targeted supplement can take your wellness routine to the next level, supporting your unique needs to work towards your healthiest self. Not sure where to start? These are the best multivitamins for men—plus, why they’re worth integrating into your nutrition lifestyle
Is a multivitamin necessary?
So really, do you need to be taking a multivitamin to reach your healthiest self? Honestly, it’s a great idea. “Don’t underestimate multivitamins to be ‘gap fillers,'” our vice president of scientific affairs, Ferira, previously explained. “A new-school multi that considers the latest science is not just useful for addressing daily nutrient gaps from our diet, but it’s supporting various aspects of our health, from our bones and brain to immune function, vision, and healthy aging.”*
Not only can a comprehensive multivitamin help you achieve nutritional sufficiency for micronutrients (which many of us aren’t!), but they’re also an easy way to know you’re doing something good for your body. Of course you’ll still need to eat a balanced diet to reach your macro needs (carbs, protein, fat), stay hydrated, and infuse regular movement into your routine to feel your best—but a multi can help add those missing pieces to the larger puzzle. Think of it as a prudent, proactive investment for today and your future.
That being said, gendering your multivitamin is not necessarily essential, and while there are slight variations in the micronutrient needs between men and women, (except for the perinatal period of life, of course) these multis end up having minimal differences in the long run.
“Many gender-siloed multivitamin formulas do silly things that are actually a detriment to men’s nutritional health, and thus, whole-body health. Like reducing or entirely cutting out essential minerals like calcium, iron, and others,” Ferira shares. “In contrast, there are smart multivitamins that are inclusive in their formulas to fulfill the nutritional needs of men and women in one product.”
How we picked.
We vetted and curated multivitamin/mineral (aka “multi”) formulas that include high-quality versions of vitamins and minerals that are essential for men, as well as innovative and compelling additions like botanical extracts, longevity bioactives, and more.
While vegan capsules provide the most comprehensive and clean multivitamin formulas for men, we also provide diverse delivery format options for your personal preferences—from tablets and softgels, to packs, microbeads, and even a gummy.
More than half of our multi selections feature premium, recyclable glass packaging to not only care for the environment but the ingredients in your multivitamin supplement, too. Amber glass bottles, for example, protect nutrients from UV light degradation.
These products all prioritize brands who invest in advanced analytical testing (for purity, potency, and precision) via ISO-certified labs. This helps ensure you are consuming high-quality multivitamins made of top-notch raw materials that you can trust.
mbg’s picks for best men’s multivitamins of 2022:
Pros
High-potency vegan formula optimized for men & women 18+
Providing 33 premium ingredients including 14 essential vitamins, 13 minerals, and 6 botanical bioactives, just two capsules of this high-potency, vegan supplement gives your body a complete range of nutrients (outside of food and water!) that it needs to thrive each day. Housed in a UV-protective and eco-friendly amber glass jar and optimized for bioavailability, bioactivity, and gentleness, ultimate multivitamin+ supports all areas of your overall health while promoting nutritional sufficiency for a comprehensive suite of both vitamins and minerals. That means you’re actually receiving useful doses of diverse nutrients (not getting just a sprinkle).*
Pros
Array of chelated minerals
High-potency B complex & betaine
Cons
4 capsule serving
Missing iron, copper, potassium
Dietary considerations: Vegetarian, Non-GMO, Gluten-free, Soy-free, Dairy-free, Major food allergen-free
Delivery method: Capsule
Environmental impact: Sustainable packaging
This vegetarian multivitamin offers a wide range of nutrients (after all, it’s four capsules per serving) unique for a multivitamin, such as delta and gamma tocotrienols‚ (unique forms of vitamin E), betaine‚ and citrus fruit bioflavonoid hesperidin. You’ll also receive gentle, chelated minerals for optimal absorption within the body. Sold in tinted glass bottles to preserve the nutrient viability of your supplement, we applaud the sustainable packaging approach. Do be aware that this multi is lacking a few essential minerals (iron, copper, and potassium).*
Dietary considerations: Vegan, Vegetarian, Non-GMO, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Made with organic ingredients
Delivery method: Tablet
Environmental impact: Sustainable packaging
High-quality ingredients are vital to a well-formulated multivitamin, and this innovative supplement, cultured with nutritional yeast (aka Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and bits of organic fruits and vegetables, offers 13 essential vitamins and 7 core minerals to fuel the body in two tablets each day. Gentle on the stomach and featuring B vitamins and a range of other key nutrients to support cognition, healthy bones, metabolic balance, and more, this vegan supplement offers a unique matrix, or base, to deliver an array of vitamins and minerals (although iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium fail to make an appearance).*
Pros
Targeted for older men
Prostate health support*
Botanicals for cardiovascular, eye health, & energy support*
Cons
Missing vitamin K2, iron, copper, & molybdenum
3 capsule serving
Plastic bottle
Dietary considerations: Vegetarian, Non-GMO, Gluten-free, Soy-free, Dairy-free, Major food allergen-free
Delivery method: Capsule
Most of the time age is nothing but a number, but not necessarily when it comes to your supplement routine. For focused nutritional needs in older-adult years, Pure Encapsulations’ Men’s Nutrients is a great option. In three capsules, the supplement offers highly concentrated doses of many vitamins and minerals essential for men over the age of 40. This high-quality supplement supports healthy energy and endurance, and features an array of botanicals in modest doses, including saw palmetto to promote healthy prostate function as well. But for the plant-centric men, please make note that this formula provides no iron.*
In need of an energy boost? Good thing this multi from New Chapter is created to support cellular energy production while providing your body with 22 vitamins and minerals essential for daily function. Offering all 8 B vitamins to support full-body health, these B’s support the generation of ATP energy from the carbs, protein, and fat you eat every day. While the formula is lacking powerhouse minerals like calcium, iron, and magnesium, this supplement does help with a healthy stress response with a modest sprinkling of adaptogenic herbs like organic maca, rhodiola, and American ginseng. An energy boost and a bit of help to stress less? Yes, please.*
Best multi supplement pack: Metagenics Wellness Essentials
For portable supplement packs that are easy to take on-the-go and combine a multivitamin with several other supplements, Metagenics has created a blend of vitamins and minerals, plus botanical extracts, phytonutrients, and marine omega-3’s EPA and DHA to promote antioxidant capacity, cellular resilience, and DNA stability. Offering immune and neurological benefits, alongside heart health and mood support, this is an excellent multi to pack if you’re heading on a trip and don’t feel like packing multiple supplements yourself. Please do note the lack of iron, calcium, and potassium in this particular offering.*
Best personalized: Rootine Precision Daily Multivitamin
Missing vitamin A, thiamin (B1), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), biotin, vitamins K1 and K2, iodine, potassium, chromium, & molybdenum
Delivery method: Microbeads
Everyone wants to feel like their supplements are truly curated to their own unique needs, and Rootine purportedly delivers with a portfolio of personalized daily multivitamin options tailored to precisely what your body requires in order to feel its best. Including up to 19 essential nutrients (like vitamin B12 and zinc) in doses that are both safe and effective, you may also receive other bioactives like phytosterols, MSM, and CoQ10. Rootine also offers the option to add on a DNA, blood mineral, and vitamin test to receive more data on what nutrition might be useful for your biology. It’s important to point out that Rootine multis appear to be lacking quite a few essential vitamins (A, thiamin/B1, niacin/B3, pantothenic acid/B5, biotin/B7, K1, and K2) and minerals (iodine, potassium, chromium, and molybdenum), and their dietary considerations are not clearly stated.*
If a tablet form is more your speed, this option from MegaFood is doctor formulated with key vitamins and minerals to help support cellular energy, immune health, cognition, and more. Featuring a few food- and yeast-based additions, this multi delivers nutrition such as chelated minerals, bioactive B vitamins, choline, and more—you can rest assured that this is a high-quality supplement fit to fuel many of your micronutrient needs. For those seeking a full array of minerals, this formula is missing a few (calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium).*
Pros
Modest dose of omega-3s EPA + DHA
Features CoQ10 and lycopene (unique for a gummy)
Fish oil from sustainable fisheries
Cons
6 gummy serving
9 grams of carbs, including 6 grams of added sugars
Gummies are a more incomplete multi option Missing pantothenic acid (B5), calcium, iron, copper, magnesium, potassium, chromium, molybdenum, manganese
Gummies are the least complete form of a multivitamin (please note the list of missing nutrients). You’re also taking in calories, carbs, added sugars, and a list of additives. After all, it’s candy. With that said, if a gummy is the only way you’ll take your multi regularly, we’re here for it. That’s why we found the most complete gummy in the market. With organic plant sources for the sugars and colors, along with natural flavors, this multi from SmartyPants is specially formulated with premium active ingredients such as: omega-3s, CoQ10, inositol and choline, as well as 16 other essential vitamin and mineral micronutrients to support immune health, strong bones, energy levels, and more. Plus, this supplement delivers a useful dose of lycopene, which is great to support prostate health as well.*
Helping you to both meet recommended daily allowances of many micronutrients, both vitamins (including some methylated B vitamins like folate and B12) and minerals, this budget-friendly supplement will help support your daily nutrition, cellular energy, immune system, bone health, and more. Working to combat oxidative stress, with several antioxidant nutrients and modest doses of quercetin, lycopene, and zeaxanthin—this formula serves up an array of raw ingredients that your body needs from vitamin C to zinc.*
What to look for.
Knowing what to look for in a multivitamin is the first step towards achieving full-body health, so it can be useful to keep an eye on the nutrients that are particularly difficult to get within your typical diet. Board-certified endocrinologist Brittany Henderson, M.D., previously recommended looking out for multis that have a significant amount of vitamin D3, vitamin B12, vitamin C, folate, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, iodine, zinc, and selenium.
If you do follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, it may also be worth checking that your multi contains a complete B vitamin complex (i.e., all eight essential B vitamins) as these nutrients are notoriously difficult to get enough of through plant-based eating. The most premium multivitamin options will provide bioactive forms of B vitamins, including methylated folate and vitamin B12. Iron and iodine are also essential ingredients to keep an eye out for if you follow a plant-centric approach to eating.
As for dosage, you’ll want to look for multivitamins with high-potency formulas, because this ensures meaningful doses of the micronutrients are actually included. As a rule of thumb, in a complete multivitamin formula, a full array of vitamins and minerals will be included at or above 100% of the daily value.
Some bulkier macrominerals specifically, such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium, are so large that they will be included at lower doses to fit into the product, but they should still ideally be present (since these three minerals are some of the largest nutrient gaps in our nation!).
Look out for multivitamins that “sprinkle” nutrients, botanical extracts, or other bioactives. Ferira likens this less-than-savory practice to “nutritional name dropping,” which she says “might look good on the label, but isn’t included in meaningful enough amounts to actually be helpful nutritionally or based on clinical research.”
In terms of the packaging your multi comes in, we’re fans of sustainable and effective options. “I am a strong proponent of packaging that’s recyclable, doesn’t introduce more plastic into our planet, and also protects the precious ingredients you’re paying for,” says Ferira. “For that combination of environmental impact and buffering your multi ingredients from UV light, amber glass fits the bill,” she adds.
FAQ
Should all men take multivitamins?
It’s certainly a broad claim to declare that all men should take a multivitamin, but on the whole it is recommended because it’s unlikely your diet is really fulfilling all of your nutritional needs. “For most people who struggle to meet their nutrient needs through food, it is more important to take a multivitamin regularly than to stress over getting the ‘right’ men’s or women’s multivitamin because of the minor differences of the dosages,” dietitian and health counselor Ella Davar, R.D., CDN once noted.
When is the best time to take a multivitamin?
Seeing as a comprehensive multivitamin formula should contain fat-soluble vitamins, it will be optimally absorbed and thus, provide more benefit to the body, to take this supplement with food (i.e., during or soon after a meal). “Because multivitamins do typically contain fat-soluble vitamins—which are vitamins A, D, E, and K—consuming them with a meal or snack that provides some fat enhances absorption,”* Jessica Cording, M.S., R.D., dietitian and author of The Little Book of Game-Changers previously advised. To complement the water-soluble vitamins in your multi, Cording also suggests taking it with a glass of water.
As for morning or evening, it’s really up to you and when you think you can actually stick to your routine. “In general, most people are more likely to stick with taking a multivitamin first thing in the morning,” Bethany Doerfler, RDN, a clinical research dietitian at Northwestern Memorial Hospital once told mbg.
But taking a multi with breakfast might not jive for you. As Ferira previously shared with mbg: “For certain people, the morning is simply not an ideal time to take their multivitamin because some individuals’ stomachs can’t tolerate such a hefty mineral load in the initial hours of the day.” She further explains that “personalized nutrition honors these individual differences and pivots one’s approach,” which is why she takes her daily multi with lunch.
The takeaway.
Regardless of gender, tailoring your supplement routine to your unique needs is no small feat, and if you’re going to add a multivitamin into your diet it’s important that it’s actually going to make a difference in your overall well-being. Since “the saturated and segmented market of multivitamins might be more marketing than science,” explains Ferira, It’s not of the utmost importance that you select a gendered multivitamin, but rather that you provide your body with a comprehensive array of essential micronutrients in clinically useful doses each day. If it’s a clean, vegan formula that’s plant-centric and packaged in an eco-friendly way, then that’s a multi win-win.
If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking medications, consult with your doctor before starting a supplement routine. It is always optimal to consult with a health care provider when considering what supplements are right for you.
