Multivitamins for men help bridge nutritional gaps created by poor dietary habits, while also enabling more effective workouts and bolstering physical vitality.
Multivitamins for men reduce oxidative stress, fend off heart disease, ensure strong bones and teeth and strengthen the immune system.
There are scores of multivitamins for men on the market today, each one claiming to hold the key to health and longevity. Our team of experts sifted through dozens of the most popular brands and concluded that the following are the best of the best for 2023.
Rankings
1. Ritual for Men 50+
Ritual for Men 50+ is designed to address the specific nutritional needs of older men with an emphasis on antioxidants, testosterone boosters, and fatty acids that are so important for maintaining muscle and bone health.
What we like: Ritual has their priorities in order. Magnesium, zinc, and B12 help men stay strong and vital, while fending off diabetes and high blood pressure. At the same time, vitamin A bolsters the immune system.
Flaws: Nothing worth mentioning.
2. One A Day Men’s Multivitamin
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One a Day Men’s Multivitamin is, in some ways, a predictable mainstream supplement. There are no ‘superfoods’ or exotic herbs you never heard of, just a full vitamin load that speaks to men’s specific nutritional needs.
What we like: One a Day Men’s Multi keeps it simple. Vitamin A for your eyes, C and E to reduce oxidative stress, magnesium and zinc for strength and sexual vitality, and vitamin B12 for just about everything else.
Flaws: Does not include iron.
3. Performance Lab NutriGenesis Multi for Men
The B vitamins play a central role in producing energy, enhancing brain function, and bolstering the immune system. Performance Lab NutriGenesis Multi for Men goes all-in on the B complex vitamins. The result is a multi that’s perfect for active guys who want to stay that way.
What we like: Unlike many multivitamins, Performance Lab NutriGenesis contains no animal-derived micronutrients. That makes it one of the few popular multis for men that is vegan friendly.
Flaws: Low in calcium.
4. Dr Tobias Adult Multivitamin
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Dr. Tobias Adult Multivitamin may have a gender-neutral name, but it’s a great choice for men of every age. Instead of leaning on synthetically produced micronutrients, it gleans its ingredients from safe, potent superfoods like spirulina, green tea, black current, and more.
What we like: Dr. Tobias Adult Multivitamin is rich in antioxidants that fight oxidative stress. It also includes prebiotics and probiotics to improve digestive health, so you get more nutritional value from the foods you eat.
Flaws: The capsules are pretty large.
5. Nature Made Men’s Multivitamin
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Nature Made has built their reputation on producing research-based supplements that are potent and pure. Their Men’s Multivitamin reduces oxidative stress, bolsters energy levels, boosts testosterone production, and promotes eye and brain health.
What we like: Nature Made Men’s Multivitamin is rich in vitamin C, B12, and magnesium. It provides plenty of vitamin A for your eyes, calcium for strong bones, zinc for vitality, and B-complex vitamins for brain, mood, and red blood cell production.
Flaws: The pills are pretty large.
6. Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men
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Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men provides generous helpings of the vitamins that matter to men’s health, including vitamins A, C, E, and B12. But it goes a significant step further with essential amino acids for muscle growth along with saw palmetto and oyster extract for virility.
What we like: Optimum Nutrition attempts to be all things to all men and comes pretty close to succeeding. This is a great choice for guys who work out a lot as it contains a bit of green tea extract to provide a mild caffeine boost.
Flaws: Definitely not vegan-friendly. And if you let them sit too long, they may start to fall apart.
7. NOW Foods Adam Men’s Multivitamin
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NOW Foods Adam Men’s Multi provides everything an active, health-conscious man needs. It hits all the right vitamin notes but doesn’t stop there. It also bolsters sexual vigor, cleans up your digestive tract, and helps ensure productive workouts.
What we like: NOW Foods Adam Men’s Multivitamin boasts one of the most impressive ingredient lists on the market. It promotes healthy digestion, muscle and bone production, wards off oxidative stress, and enhances sexual vitality.
Flaws: Like the Opti-Men multis these are not vegan-friendly. Should that matter to you.
8. Nature’s Way Alive! Once Daily Men’s Multivitamin
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Nature’s Way Alive! is a potent, antioxidant-rich multivitamin for men that help fend off illness while enabling more effective workouts and strengthening your heart. From digestive health to brain and bone health it hits all the beats using mostly plant-based micronutrients.
What we like: Alive includes digestive enzymes to enhance bioavailability, B-complex vitamins to strengthen the immune system, antioxidants to neutralize free radicals, and fend off oxidative stress. And that’s just for starters.
Flaws: They have a pretty strong odor.
9. Animal Pak Multivitamins for Men
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Strength training pays countless dividends for men of all ages, so we felt compelled to include at least one multi designed to address the specific needs of guys whose favorite room is the weight room. Animal Pak Multivitamins for Men is all that.
What we like: Animal pack is rich in antioxidants and amino acids that are crucial to muscle growth and workout recovery. There are also digestive enzymes, so you get more from the food you eat and, unique among multis for men, protein for muscles.
Flaws: It’s a good idea to drink a lot of water with these.
10. Centrum Multivitamin for Men
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Along with One a Day, Centrum helped make multivitamins nutritional staples. Centrum Multivitamin for Men is their most complete male-oriented supplement touching all the micronutrient bases without reverting to artificial ingredients.
What we like: Centrum Multivitamin for Men bolsters the immune system, enhances metabolism, undermines the activity of destructive free radicals, and helps build strong, vital muscles and bones.
Flaws: There’s quite a bit of iron, so keep them away from the kids.
Who Needs A Multivitamin for Men?
That is an extremely easy question to answer: men do. Multivitamins for men are not just for those dealing with specific nutritional deficiencies or older guys looking to maintain robust health. Young men need multivitamins as well.
Why? Because young guys are far more likely to eat a substandard diet that includes lots of calorie-rich, nutrient deficient fast food. They are also more likely to skip meals and indulge in numerous substances and activities that undermine their health.
Making a multivitamin part of your dietary routine at a young age will go a long way toward preventing youthful excesses from turning into chronic health problems. It will also help ensure that as you get older and the need for nutrient supplementation becomes more acute, that you are already in the habit of taking them.
How We Ranked
The nutritional requirements of men and women are different in some fundamental ways. Women, for instance, have a more pressing need for calcium to prevent osteoporosis and iron to fend off anemia. Both of those conditions tend to strike women more often than they do men. So while any old multivitamin may do in a pinch, on a regular basis, men want and need a vitamin that is formulated for their particular nutritional needs.
That means we wanted to see multivitamins rich in antioxidants, since men are more likely to die of heart disease and antioxidants help prevent it. We also awarded extra points to men’s multis that contain zinc, since zinc is vital in ensuring testosterone production. For the record, zinc should also be in soluble form to ensure better absorption.
Another mineral that is vital for men’s health is magnesium. Like zinc, magnesium helps boost testosterone production. But that’s not all. Magnesium also supports proper muscle function, which is important if you work out on a regular basis. Chronically low magnesium also raises the risk of developing high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and more.
While herbal supplements such as saw palmetto have shown an ability to boost male libido, the fact is if you are getting enough magnesium and zinc, you probably don’t need saw palmetto. So we did not award any extra points for such ingredients.
We did, however, pay close attention to whether or not a supplement contained lots of artificial fillers, flavors, preservatives, or binders. If it did, that supplement did not make our list. It was also important that the supplements were produced in Good Manufacturing Practices facilities since that ensures a standard of quality overseen by the FDA.
FAQs
Q: Do multivitamins for men work?
A: There are those who swear by multivitamins as the best thing since sliced bread, maybe better, and there are those who contend they are useless. As is usually the case, the truth lies somewhere in between. Certainly, men with nutrient deficiencies will benefit from multivitamins. And there is compelling evidence that vitamin C provides antioxidant benefits, that zinc can help with mood (1), and that men who take multivitamins can reduce their risk of developing cancer (2).
Q: When should a man start taking multivitamins?
A: Young men typically have robust systems that do not need a lot of propping up. Still, it’s a good idea to get in the habit of taking a multivitamin early on so that when you get a little older and need those supplemental vitamins and minerals, taking a multivitamin will already be part of your daily routine.
Q: What is the right time of day to take a multivitamin for men?
A: There is no right time or wrong time for a man to take a multivitamin. That said, it is suggested you make a multivitamin part of some aspect of your daily routine, like breakfast, lunch, or dinner, so as not to forget taking it. Taking a multivitamin with food is typically a good idea for those with sensitive stomachs. For most guys, though, it does not really matter when. What matters is that you don’t forget.
Q: Why do some multivitamins for men not include iron?
A: Anemia (3) is a serious condition characterized by a lack of red blood cells. Anemia is most often the result of iron deficiency, so you would think multivitamins for men would include iron. Many, however, do not. The primary reason they do not is that anemia is nowhere near as common among men as it is among women. Iron is often left out of chewable vitamins because of its unpleasant taste.
Q: Are multivitamins for men also antioxidants?
A: Antioxidants are our first and best line of defense against oxidative stress. Oxidative stress causes cellular death and is thought to be the driving force behind many chronic illnesses. Multivitamins are not exclusively antioxidants, but they do contain antioxidants in the form of vitamin C and vitamin E. Beta-carotene and selenium also have antioxidant capabilities.
Q: Are multivitamins for men vegan-friendly?
A: It may surprise a lot of people, but many vitamins are derived from animal sources. These include vitamin A, which often comes from fish liver or egg yolks, calcium, which is often derived from animal bones, vitamin B12, which also comes from animals, glucosamine, which is derived from shellfish, and more. The bottom line is that unless a multivitamin for men states explicitly on the label that it is vegan-friendly, it probably is not.
Q: Is it true multivitamins can reduce the risk of cancer?
A: Recent studies have suggested that both multivitamins as a whole and vitamin D in particular, may play a role in reducing the risk of various types of cancer (4)(5). But it is not considered settled science at this point. More research is needed before we can say with absolute certainty that this is the case. One unfortunate caveat is that prostate cancer seems unaffected by multivitamin intake.
Q: What does ‘water soluble’ mean when it comes to multivitamins?
A: If you spend any time researching multivitamins, you will no doubt see the term ‘water soluble’, particularly in reference to the B vitamins. Water soluble vitamins like the B vitamins work their way through your system and any extra is expelled from your body when you urinate. It is excess amounts of water soluble vitamins that can turn your pee interesting colors. So if your pee is neon yellow, you might be taking too many B vitamins.
Q: Can you overdose on multivitamins?
A: Multivitamins for men are not drugs. So it is nearly impossible to overdose on them. You would have to consume vast quantities of multivitamins before you entered the danger zone with things like vitamin A (potential liver damage) and vitamin C (potential kidney stones). As long as you stick to the recommended dosage, you should have nothing to worry about when it comes to overdosing on multivitamins.
Q: Do multivitamins for men contain harmful substances like mercury?
A: Some vitamin manufacturers source their vitamin D from fish livers. This is about the only possible way mercury might find its way into a multi. However, even then, the amount would be so tiny that you would need to eat hundreds of vitamin capsules at once before it would pose any threat. And if you eat hundreds of multivitamin capsules, mercury will not be your biggest concern. Liver failure from too much vitamin A (6) would probably take out first.
Q: How long do I have to take multivitamins?
A: You don’t ever have to take a multivitamin. But if you want to enjoy optimal health and give yourself the best chance of fending off illness, taking a multivitamin for men is a great way to do that. To ensure you provide your body with the micronutrients it needs at every stage of life, the best approach is to make a multivitamin a part of your regular dietary intake when you are young and continue to take them as you age.
Q: Will multivitamins for men interact with prescription medications?
A: For the most part, you do not have to worry about multivitamins producing adverse reactions with prescription meds. But there may be rare instances when taking multivitamins prescription drugs together is not a great idea. One such example is the diabetes drug glucophage (7), also known as Metformin. If you are taking glucophage, talk to your doctor before taking a multivitamin. Iron may also interact with the Parkinson’s drug Levodopa (8).
Q: Can multivitamins cure the cold?
A: For the better part of the past century, there has been a popular myth circulating that vitamin C can cure the common cold. It can’t (9). It is theoretically possible that the vitamin C in a multivitamin might help ward off a cold, or even shorten the length of the cold. But vitamins have little medicinal value. Their value is preventive, not curative.
Q: Are multivitamins for men regulated like prescription meds?
A: No. Prescription medications need to go through years of testing before they are allowed to enter the market (10). Even then, their sale and distribution is tightly controlled by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Vitamins, on the other hand, are considered dietary supplements. While their content is monitored by the FDA and manufacturers are forbidden from making unsubstantiated claims about them, supplements sales are not regulated.
Q: Can a man survive on multivitamins?
A: Multivitamins provide what are known as micronutrients (11). What they do not provide is calories or amino acids. Calories provide the energy to power your body. While amino acids (12) are needed to maintain bones, muscles and other tissue. If you are carrying extra weight, you might be able to last for a while by burning off fats stores. But if all you eat are multivitamins, you will eventually starve to death.
Q: Do men’s multivitamins produce any side effects?
A: Hundreds of millions of people around the world take multivitamins on a daily basis. Few, if any, are those who report noticeable side effects, other than better overall health. Multivitamins are considered generally safe by the FDA and are widely recommended by doctors to help people fill gaps in their nutritional profile. In addition, numerous large scale health studies have been conducted on multivitamins, with none concluding that they produce noticeable side effects.
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Recap
Multivitamins for men help fill nutritional gaps caused by a substandard diet. They also help prevent an array of potentially deadly health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, depression, and even cancer.
The best multivitamins for men utilize top-notch ingredients that address men’s specific nutritional needs and are produced in facilities that comply with the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines.
Any one of the multivitamins for men on our list will serve you well, although some put more emphasis on certain aspects of nutrition than others. Use the information in this guide to determine which multivitamin is right for you.
For cpoe.org’s #1 recommended multivitamin for men, click here.