Researchers have found that vitamin deficiencies are commonly linked to chronic diseases, and supplementation helps. Even a complete diet may not be giving you the nutrients you need, when you need them. That’s where multivitamins come in.A daily multivitamin can help provide a good foundation for your health. It can also protect you when you’re experiencing stress, sleeping poorly, or not getting regular exercise. Even with a perfect diet, these issues can make it tough for your body to properly absorb the nutrients.

But with so many vitamin and mineral combos, how do we know exactly what to look for when shopping for a multivitamin? Luckily, you don’t need an advanced degree in nutrition to figure out which multi is worth taking with your morning OJ. We asked four experts to tell us which seven ingredients your multivitamin should have, no matter what brand you choose, and those ingredients are:

  1. Vitamin D
  2. Magnesium
  3. Calcium
  4. Zinc
  5. Iron
  6. Folate
  7. Vitamin B-12

Checking the label for these ingredients is not a hard task, but very important. These are important to the body and the most necessary for continued good health. The cost can vary from very cheap to very expensive, even with the same ingredients in each, so choose wisely.

I’ve included links to Amazon, which I use frequently and Puritans Pride, both online for convenience. I find that they both have very good quality vitamins at a lower cost.