5 Red Flags In A Multivitamin You Shouldn’t Ignore

Gender and age-based marketing is tricky: It can be helpful for some to navigate the wide world of supplements and make it easier for you to find a formula you love. But there are a couple reasons why these options don’t make much sense, according to Ferira. First, the actual ingredients are sometimes the same: “The supplement facts panels are [often] identical,” says Ferira. “It just has different label artwork.” 

If they are different, they are only slightly tweaked—and sometimes in a negative way. For example: “Before mbg’s ultimate multivitamin+ existed, I would recommend my male clients almost always take a multivitamin designed for women, because a lot of multivitamins designed for men sadly will cut out the iron or calcium completely or knock it way down,” says Ferira. 

In reality, both men and women from ages 19 to 50 have the same calcium needs every day (1,000 milligrams), which is very difficult to hit, especially if you don’t consume dairy daily. And we all have bones to care for, so “Why in the world would you cut out calcium from a men’s multi?” Ferira wonders. 

That’s why she doesn’t believe in men versus women when it comes to multivitamins—or any age-specific limits among adults, for that matter. “I think that is marketing,” she says. “Sometimes it’s really successful, and other times it’s confusing to folks.”