Whether you realise it or not, your body depends on a plethora of vitamins and minerals to maintain its overall health and wellbeing.

Whilst your body is able to synthesise a number of vitamins itself, a number have to be sourced exogenously (from outside the body). These latter are known as ‘essential vitamins’. 

These essential vitamins can be divided into two types: 

  • Water-soluble vitamins. 
  • Fat-soluble vitamins. 

Water-soluble vitamins are those vitamins that can be easily absorbed by your body via the intestinal tract. As they are easily absorbed, they must be replenished on a daily basis. 

Examples of water-soluble vitamins include: 

  • Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid). 
  • Vitamin B1 (Thiamin). 
  • Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin).
  • Vitamin B2 (Niacin).
  • Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid).
  • Vitamin B6.
  • Vitamin B7 (Biotin). 
  • Vitamin B9 (Folate).
  • Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin).

Fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins that are soluble within adipose tissue (fat) and which can be stored by the body for weeks or even months. As a result, fat-soluble vitamins do not need to be replenished as often. 

Examples of fat-soluble vitamins are: 

  • Vitamin A.
  • Vitamin D.
  • Vitamin E.
  • Vitamin K.

Aside from vitamins, your body also makes use of a surprisingly large array of minerals. In contrast to vitamins, minerals are inorganic compounds (being derived from rocks, soil, and water). 

Minerals can typically be divided into two types; macrominerals (that your body needs in larger volumes), and trace minerals (which your body only needs in smaller amounts). 

Supplement Needs - through the initiative of Dr. Dean St Mart PhD - has developed a series of multivitamin, vitamin and mineral supplements to make it easy for you to supplement your body with the vitamins and minerals it needs for healthy function. 

What is a multivitamin?

Sometimes, you just want to take a supplement that covers multiple compounds at once. The perfect example of this is a multivitamin; this is a type of supplement that contains multiple vitamins (and sometimes minerals) in a single, handy capsule. 

Well formulated multivitamins are designed to be taken on a daily basis and will contain a blend of both water-soluble and some fat-soluble vitamins. 

The best quality premium multivitamins, such as the Supplement Needs Multivitamin and Mineral PRO contain a carefully curated selection of minerals in addition to water and fat-soluble vitamins. 

There are also examples of multivitamins that have been developed and formulated to support the wellbeing of certain organ groups or bodily systems. The Supplement Needs Liver Stack is an exemplary example of this type of multivitamin supplement. It has been designed by Dr. Dean St Mart PhD to support the liver and the wider biliary system. Another example is the Supplement Needs Heart Stack. This is a multivitamin supplement that has been carefully designed to support the heart and the broader cardiovascular and circulatory systems. 

What is a vitamin supplement? 

Whilst a multivitamin is a great way to supplement your body with a mix of vitamins, it’s sometimes the case that you’ll want to take a concentrated dose of a single vitamin (for example if you’re suffering from a dietary deficiency or have been unwell and are low in a particular vitamin). 

In which case, you’ll want a vitamin supplement.

Supplement Needs has developed a series of thoroughly researched bespoke vitamin supplements that can help you ‘top up’ important essential vitamins in your body. 

Take, for example, our Supplement Needs Vitamin D3 supplement. This is designed to provide you with a concentrated, efficacious dose of 0.125 mg of Vitamin D (as D3 5000iu) per serving. 

This makes it ideal for those scenarios where you want to increase your body’s intake of Vitamin D, such as the winter when many people suffer a Vitamin D deficiency. 

What is a mineral supplement? 

Just as you may want to ‘top up’ your body with a single vitamin, the same can also be true for minerals. 

Enter mineral supplements. These offer you a way of taking a concentrated dose of an individual mineral and tackle any potential deficiencies. 

A great example of a mineral supplement is the Supplement Needs Magnesium Bisglycinate, which contains 11% elemental magnesium.

Magnesium is present in every cell in the human body, and plays a really important role in many bodily functions - especially in relaying signals between your brain and body. 

What about multivitamins for women? 

Many multivitamins you’ll find on that market are non-gender specific. However, Supplement Needs has developed a range of multivitamins that are designed to support and nourish female health. 

These include our fertility supplement Supplement Needs Fertility+, our PMS supplement Supplement Needs PMS+, and our female Omega supplement, Supplement Needs Omega Femme. 

Do I need to take a multivitamin, vitamin, or mineral supplement? 

If you’re reading this, the chances are you’re mulling over the prospect of taking a multivitamin. 

Do you really need to take one? 

The answer is, it depends. Whilst it’s entirely possible to get all the essential vitamins and minerals you need from a standard healthy diet, numerous national diet and nutrition surveys have revealed vitamin and mineral deficiencies amongst the UK population.

In other words, you may feel relatively healthy, but you could be deficient in a particular vitamin or mineral without realising it.

Take Vitamin D, for example. According to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, approximately 1 in 6 adults in the UK have low levels of Vitamin D in their blood. 

Let’s take another example; Vitamin B12. Studies suggest that up to 80 to 90% of vegetarians and vegans may be deficient in Vitamin B12. 

Finally, how about a mineral? In the case of magnesium, the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey found that ‘sizeable gaps were found for magnesium with 19% of young people in their twenties having intakes below the LRNI (Lower Reference Nutrient Intake)’. 

So, even if you’re young you may potentially benefit from adding a vitamin and mineral supplement to your diet. 

The best multivitamins

Whether you’re looking for a multivitamin supplement, or want to add a specific vitamin or mineral to your diet, Supplement Needs has you covered. 

Our multivitamin and mineral supplements really do stand out from the rest. How do they do that? Like this: 

  • Bioavailable - unlike cheap supermarket supplements, Supplement Needs uses highly bioavailable vitamins in their active forms, meaning your body is much more likely to absorb and use the supplements’ contents.

  • Transparent - Supplement Needs is completely transparent about the ingredients (and the dosage of those ingredients) in our supplements. There aren’t many other supplement brands that can say the same thing…

  • Developed by experts - Supplement Needs multivitamin and mineral supplements have been developed by renowned industry leader Dr. Dean St Mart PhD. Dr Dean holds a double first class honours degree in chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry, and a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry and fluorescence spectroscopy. Enough said!

  • Quality manufacture - Supplement Needs multivitamins are manufactured to the highest standards, including GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and ISO 22000:2018. 

Invest in your future health today with Supplement Needs range of multivitamins, vitamins, and minerals.