Men’s vs Women’s Multis: What’s the difference?

By Naturopath Paul Keogh
Paul Keogh is the founder and technical director of Global Therapeutics P/L trading as Fusion Health. Paul is a qualified naturopath and medical herbalist with 28 years combined experience in clinical practice and the development of integrated Chinese and western herbal medicines.

Is it really worthwhile buying separate multivitamins for yourself and your partner? Naturopath Paul Keogh certainly thinks so, as he explains here.

Men and women’s nutritional needs are fundamentally the same in many ways, although men do have higher requirements for some nutrients simply due to their larger body size.

That means that regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman, your multivitamin should provide a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals, which are needed to help maintain important aspects of wellbeing such as your immune health, digestion, vision, cognitive function, cellular energy production and ability to cope with stress.

But beyond that, there are some important differences in both lifestyle and physiology that mean men and women may be better off taking a multi that’s been specially formulated for their individual requirements.

For example, the diets of many Australian women don’t supply the recommended quantities of iron, which needs to be topped up regularly to cover the iron lost during menstruation.

However, most men have adequate iron stores, and consequently should guard against building up an excess in the body, which may lead to free radical damage.

A multivitamin that’s been specially formulated for women should therefore provide adequate amounts of iron to support women’s dietary intakes (ideally in a form that’s readily absorbed and unlikely to cause digestive upsets such as iron glycinate), while one that’s tailored to men should exclude iron altogether, as it’s rarely needed.

Consequently, a multi that’s formulated for both genders is unlikely to fully meet the needs of either, as it will provide insufficient iron to make a meaningful difference to women, but more than is necessary for a man.

Similarly, a woman’s multi should also contain zinc and vitamin B6 to help maintain a healthy menstrual cycle, and a high dose of folic acid (which may reduce the risk of having a baby with neural tube defects when taken for at least a month prior to conception and during pregnancy).

On the flipside, many Australian men consume diets low in zinc, making it a particularly important ingredient in a men’s multi formula - especially as it’s required for prostate function, sperm health and testosterone production.

Nutritional support of heart and blood vessel health is also particularly important for men, as they’re at greater risk of cardiovascular problems than women are. With that in mind, it’s vital that your men’s multi includes vitamins B1, B6, C, E and folic acid, as well as the antioxidant nutrients selenium and lycopene.

Look for gender-specific herbs to support sexual vitality
Some advanced multivitamin supplements include carefully chosen herbs that have traditionally been used to support men and women’s sexual vitality and reproductive functioning. 
Yet again, this is not a ‘one size fits all’ situation, and you and your partner may benefit from different ingredients, so when choosing a multivitamin, look for a formula that includes the following herbs:

Resource: healthylife.net.au