We’ve all heard of the multivitamin and it’s come a long way since its invention in the 1930s. Millions of people take a multivitamin every day to help maintain an ideal balance of nutrients, but the reality is the benefits may not be as straight forward as people think.
So, why are you looking for a multivitamin? Maybe it’s to fill nutritional gaps in your diet, or just to cover all your bases and keep as healthy as possible. Or maybe it’s to keep your body in the best health to keep you training at your peak.
Whatever your reason, you’ll probably have heard that it should be possible for us to gain more than enough nutrients from what we eat and drink every day. But even for those of us addicted to our greens, it’s not an easy feat.
Modern farming involves high levels of processing and other factors that have led to nutritional decline in our food. From wide-spread use of pesticides to over-farming that leads to soil leaching and then the use of synthetic fertilizers, a great modern diet may not be delivering all the nutrients your body needs.
So, unless your diet is clean, organic and tailored to your specific lifestyle (and how many of us can say that?) then a high-quality multivitamin is possibly the most valuable supplement you can take for your health
Introducing Performance Lab® Whole-Food Multi
Whole-Food Multi is brought to us by Performance Lab®, and the Multi is the pillar of their new range of cutting-edge supplements for complete health and biological performance.
An overview of the advantages of Performance Lab® Whole-Food Multi:
– The most bioavailable, nature-identical nutrients on the market.
– Non-GMO
– Zero additives
– Researched and balanced doses
– Eco-friendly BioGenesis™ ingredients.
What Makes Performance Lab® Whole-Food Multi Different?
BioGenesis™ Vitamins and Minerals
Aside from the fact that the doses come in at tested and optimal levels, the point is, why can’t you just make up the nutrients you’re lacking with a cheaper multivitamin?
Surely… if the benefits of a multi are so great, the cheaper alternatives should still provide some benefit?
There are many studies that point out that cheaper vitamins made from synthetic, in-organic sources can actually be harmful to the body and are generally only recommended in cases of serious deficiencies.
This is where food-cultured Performance Lab® Whole-Food Multi comes into play.
In an ideal world, you would get all the nutrients your body needs from the food you eat, but as we mentioned, this often isn’t the case. This leads the proactive among us to use multivitamins, but the run-of-the-mill multis are unnatural, i.e. they don’t come bound with the enzymes, proteins and other cofactors that they would in whole-foods.
These cofactors are what make vitamins ‘compatible’ with your body, and why the body actually works to remove synthetic ‘pure’ vitamins and minerals as waste.
Performance Lab® Whole-Food Multi vitamins and minerals are grown in specific lab conditions on cultures that emulate the development of nutrients in their natural environments. That means these vitamins and minerals come with their whole-food counterparts, those enzymes and probiotics, that your body recognizes and readily absorbs.
These nature-identical molecules are thanks to the revolutionary BioGenesis™ process, designed to create the most bioavailable and health-supportive vitamins and minerals on the market.
Tailored Formulas
Performance Lab® have tweaked the formula of Whole-Food Multi to meet the needs of men and women with two separate gender-specific formulas. This is really appealing and it’s something many supplement companies have undertaken the last few years.
The point is, the differing demands of the genders shouldn’t be compromised to save on cost. Neither should it be necessary to pump a supplement full of too many, unnecessary ingredients in order to cater to both genders in one pill; all that does is put the price up for the customer.
The main differences between the men and women’s formulas are more iron and folate for the women’s blend, to help with the natural cycle of hormones, and more boron and zinc in the men’s blend to aid with production of natural testosterone and testosterone resilience.
Ingredients
Here’s a quick breakdown of everything you’ll find in Performance Lab Whole-Food Multi:
Vitamin A, 2000IU
A fat-soluble antioxidant and an essential vitamin. It helps plays a role in vision, skin, the immune system, protein synthesis, tissue repair and bone strength.
Vitamin C, 60mg
An immune-booster that protects cardiovascular function, as well as joints, gums and muscles.
Vitamin D3, 25mcg
Another fat-soluble essential vitamin, it aids in cell function, immune system, bones, maintains testosterone levels and plays a part in protein synthesis. The U.S. Food and Nutrition Board recommends supplementing with 15mcg of Vitamin D3. Performance Lab Whole-Food Multi contains 25mcg.
Vitamin E, 30IU
Fat soluble and essential for health, Vitamin E is also an antioxidant, shown to help with cardiovascular health as well as hair, skin, nails and tissue repair.
Vitamin K1 + K2, 100mcg
Fat soluble, and essential. These are important for blood clotting in the cardiovascular system, as well as bones and connective tissue.
Vitamin B1 (8mg for men, 4mg for women)
Also known as thiamine, it helps with the nervous system and glucose production.
Vitamin B2 (4mg)
Plays a role in red blood cell formation, cell growth and energy metabolism it’s also an antioxidant.
Vitamin B3 (20mg)
Also known as niacin, B3 is an essential vitamin that improves blood cholesterol, protein and fat metabolism, as well as the nervous system.
Vitamin B5 (20mg)
Also known as pantothenic acid, it’s critical in enzyme production and influences energy metabolism and hormone production.
Vitamin B6 (4mg)
A non-essential vitamin with small benefits across a broad spectrum. Ranging from brain chemical synthesis, blood cell formation, oxygen transportation, as well as blood sugar and cognitive function.
Vitamin B7 (300mcg)
The famous biotin, responsible for strengthening hair, skin, nails and helping regulate blood sugar and cell growth.
Vitamin B9 (Folate, 400mcg for men, 800mcg for women)
Folic acid is an essential vitamin with a vital role in new cell formation and DNA synthesis. Folate is particularly useful for pregnant women or women hoping to become pregnant as it helps to prevent defects in the fetus, such as spina bifida. Hence the higher amounts in Performance Lab Whole-Food Multi for Women.
Vitamin B12 (50mcg)
Also referred to as cobalamin, its responsible for energy metabolism, heart health and cognitive function.
Calcium (18mg for men, 21mg for women)
A dietary mineral that supports bones, joints, muscles, the nervous system and hormones. Calcium deficiency can cause osteoporosis in both men and women, but it is easy to gain enough calcium via your diet (hence the lower amounts included here) – drink more milk and dairy products.
Iron (2mg for men, 8mg for women)
Essential for blood cell formation, oxygen transport and brain chemical synthesis. Women of child-bearing age need more iron due to menstruation. Iron levels should be low for men as it can build up to toxicity over time.
Iodine (150mcg)
A mineral essential for thyroid function and metabolism.
Magnesium (17mg for men, 21mg for women)
Powerful regulator of testosterone and energy, it also helps muscle relaxation, the nervous system, and blood sugar regulation. It is used in nearly 300 processes within the body, including making protein, bone and DNA.
Zinc (15mg for men, 10mg for women)
Involved in regulating enzymes, it boosts the immune system and testosterone, and plays a part in vision, nerves, and cell growth. Its impact on testosterone is why the zinc contained in the men’s formula is higher.
Selenium (125mcg)
An essential mineral and powerful antioxidant.
Copper (1.5mg)
Essential and an antioxidant, it aids in functions from nervous and cardiovascular systems, red blood cell formation.
Manganese (2mg)
An essential dietary mineral an enzyme cofactor. It’s also an antioxidant.
Chromium (120mcg)
Essential and regulator of glucose and insulin sensitivity, so influences weight management, and blood sugar.
Molybdenum (75mcg)
A vital mineral for enzyme function and metabolism, and one that is rarer to find in your everyday multivitamin.
Strontium (150mcg)
A mineral that aids with bone formation as well as preventing bone loss and supporting joints.
Inositol (50mg)
A molecule involved in cell signaling, the nervous system, cognition and mood.
Vanadium (10mcg)
Not an essential mineral but helps regulate blood sugar and may act as an anti-diabetic. Again, a more unusual but useful addition to a multivitamin.
Boron (4mg for men, 1mg for women)
A dietary mineral that boosts natural testosterone and protects joints and connective tissue. Again, its impact on testosterone explains why the men’s blend is higher in boron than the women’s formula.
Silicon (2mg)
Helps the health and development of strong bones
Pros
- No proprietary blends
- Nature identical, BioGenesis™ ingredients. Highly bioavailable.
- No additives
- GMO free
- Vegan friendly Plantcaps® capsules
- Eco-friendly production of lab-grown ingredients.
- Ingredients are tailored into a blend for men and women
- Designed to work synergistically with the other supplements in the Performance Lab® range
Cons
- High-price end of the market
- Can only be bought from performancelab.com
How to Take
Performance Lab® recommend taking 4-6 Whole-Food Multi capsules per day.
For the best results, take 2-3 capsules in the morning and 2-3 capsules in the evening. Whether you take them with or without food is your preference, but we’d recommend taking them with at least some healthy fats to help absorb the fat-soluble ingredients.
Only take up to six capsules a day if you’re looking specifically for additional nutritional support.
Who Is It For?
With formulas for both men and women, this is a supplement for people looking for a high-quality multivitamin with bioavailable ingredients that maximize whole-body support and healthy biological performance.
From athlete to casual jogger, sideline your other supplements until your nutrition is optimized, and this is the easy way to do just that.
Conclusion
At $40 per month, or 120 capsules, it’s not the cheapest multivitamin on the market, but that’s not why any of us are here.
This is a well-engineered product with a lot of thought that has gone into its ingredient make-up. This supplement provides hormone-directed formulas for men and women with a wide spectrum of nutritional support and with generous cost-effective dosages.
But it’s the high standard of the research-backed ingredients that gives it the edge over other, similarly priced products. The impressive BioGenesis™ technique of producing incredibly bioavailable vitamins and minerals that are grown with their cofactors, such as probiotics, fiber, enzymes and antioxidants. It’s this that raises the bar not only for the rest of the Performance Lab® range, but for the whole market.
This is a multivitamin that gives you the support your diet might be lacking with ingredients you know are being used by your body and not wasted. You can also get an accumulative discount when you buy more than one bottle. Check it out on their website where you can buy direct from Performance Lab.
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