A reader asks:
What’s better — taking my vitamins first thing in the morning, or just before bed?
Your garden-variety multivitamin can be taken pretty much any time you’re going to remember to do so. If this is when you get out of the shower before work, when you’re brushing your teeth after dinner, or during the first bio break of your nightly raid, it doesn’t matter too much. Humans are creatures of habit, so once you get used to taking your vitamins, you’ll pretty much go on auto-pilot.
If you’re already taking any daily medications, that’s pretty much the perfect time to add one more to your regimen. Hey, we’re not going to ignore the simple, obvious answers around here just because they’re simple and obvious. You want to know the easiest way to do something? Ask the slacker to do it, and they’ll find the easiest way possible.
Some specific vitamins and supplements are more effective when they’re taken either with food, or on an empty stomach.
Better taken between meals:
- Iron
- Most herbal supplements (bioflavinoids and phytochemicals)
- Pro-biotics
Better with food:
- B vitamins (since they may cause nausea on an empty stomach)
- Anything that is fat-soluble (since the fat in the food will help with absorption and uptake)
- Hydrochloric acid enhancers (for folks with poor digestion); these should be taken just prior to eating to avoid heartburn
There are some vitamin/mineral combos that go poorly together, like Iron with Vitamin E or Calcium, because they get in each other’s way, or co-opt one another instead of doing what you’re taking them to do.
Mostly, though, it’s a matter of personal preference, and how they fit into your routine. If you have a lot of pills and capsules as part of your every-day regimen (with all the various herbal, nutritional, and workout supplements I take, along with stuff that’s prescribed, it’s something on the order of three dozen), you may want to spread them out. A couple in the morning, a couple with dinner, and a couple before bed; whatever works for you.
Much like getting in your exercise, the best time to take your vitamins is whenever you’ll do it.
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If you take regular meds also check with your doctor or pharmacist: some meds and vitamins need to be taken separately for the same reason as some supplements, absorption. I have to wait a full four hours after my morning meds to take anything else, so vitamins are a lunchtime occurrance.
I always have to take mine in the morning. It seems like when I take vitamins before bed I have funkier than normal dreams.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in few foods, and available as a dietary supplement. Vitamin D is also produced endogenously when UV rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger the synthesis of vitamin D.