When to Take Vitamins

Vitamins promote health and well being for already healthy individuals, and sometimes, for individuals suffering from a condition. Whatever your reason for taking vitamins, you should always read and follow the instructions on the label and let your physician and pharmacist know about the vitamins you're taking.

Conditions

• If you have certain conditions, your doctor may recommend that you take vitamin supplements. Many people in America have mild vitamin deficiencies because of poor diet. In these mild cases, you may not be aware of the problem. Symptoms include difficulty concentrating, irritability, and fatigue. If you're experiencing these symptoms, it may be time to take a multi-vitamin. Usually, people with mild vitamin deficiencies will notice that their symptoms significantly improve or even go away when they begin a daily vitamin regimen.

  Women will need to take vitamins when they are pregnant. Doctors recommend women obtain a prescription for prenatal vitamins, which contain high amounts of folic acid, iron and calcium, as soon as they know they are pregnant. These vitamins are essential to the health of both mother and developing fetus.

  If you have heart disease, or even a family history of heart disease, it may be time to consider a daily vitamin. Stanford University researchers confirmed in a 1993 study that patients with a family history of heart disease who took vitamin E were significantly less likely to develop the disease themselves than those who didn't take the vitamin. Although the results of studies on patients who already have the disease are inconclusive, the researchers believe that taking vitamin E after you've developed heart disease may help to slow its progression.

Time of Day

• Once you've decided it's time for you to begin a daily vitamin regimen, you'll need to decide on a time of day to take your vitamins. As a rule, most vitamins are better tolerated and more efficiently absorbed when they're taken with food. That is because the common vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, so you need to have fat in your stomach in order to absorb them properly. If you don't have fat in your stomach when you take these vitamins, you may not absorb them properly, but they also may not break down properly, which in some people, causes stomach upset.

  Vitamins B and C are water soluble, but it is still fine to take these vitamins with a meal for convenience. Vitamin B needs an acidic environment in order to be absorbed, so if you decide to take vitamin B, don't take antacids.

  Vitamins may not be absorbed as well when taken together. If you're taking several vitamins, try spacing them out throughout the day. You may try taking one vitamin with each meal. If spacing them out isn't possible, then take the vitamins with your biggest meal of the day so that they all have a better chance of being properly absorbed.