Multivitamins Improve Mood and Increase Energy--At Least It Feels That Way!

Article by Arnie Gitomer

Multivitamins Improve Mood and Increase Energy--At Least It Feels That Way!

We talk all the time about the benefits of taking a multivitamin supplement. We report on studies and research connected with the various health benefits–these vitamins enhance immune function, those vitamins may prevent cancer, certain vitamins prevent hear disease, etc. They function as antioxidants, they function as co-factors, they retard the discombobulation of telemers, and so forth. Maybe there should be more of this and less of that. This mineral should perhaps better be taken at bedtime and that vitamin should perhaps best be taken only after a meal containing at least two foods that start with the same letter as your blood type.

Surprisingly, maybe the most important question about taking a multivitamin supplement had yet to be addressed until just recently–does taking a multivitamin supplement make you feel better?

A simple question. One that perhaps gets overlooked in our efforts to always analyze the technical side of things, and satisfy the scientific demand for “proof.”

Does it make you feel better? Do you feel as if you have more energy? Do you have a greater sense of well-being when you take multivitamin supplements?

One could argue that this is the most important question of all.

Researchers from Australia actually ran a study to determine if the daily consumption of a multivitamin boosts consumers' perception of mood and energy levels. And it was not just a case of “take this multivitamin and tell me how you feel.” There was a placebo group, and the differences were significant. The title of the study was "Participant experiences from chronic administration of a multivitamin versus placebo on subjective health and well-being: a double-blind qualitative analysis of a randomised controlled trial" Authors: J. Sarris, K.H.M. Cox, D.A. Camfield, A. Scholey, C. Stough, E. Fogg, M. Kras, D.J. White, A. Sali, A. Pipingas. Nutrition Journal, 2012, 11:110

Here is what they did. The researchers recruited 116 people to participate in their study and qualitative data was obtained from 114. The participants were randomly assigned to receive a high potency multivitamin supplement or placebo for 16 weeks.

Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that women in particular reported a beneficial effect on energy levels following supplementation with the multivitamin.

In addition, the researchers reported a trend towards better sleep in the multivitamin group, compared with placebo.

Regarding mood and emotional state, 15.1% more participants in the multivitamin group reported improvements, compared with the placebo group. This difference was statistically significant, said Sarris and his co-workers.

"Overall the exploratory experiential data provided by the participants was found to reflect the general findings of previous quantitative trial data; multivitamin supplementation may be associated with appreciable mood enhancement and increases in energy even in a normal, non-depressed and non-anxious population. . .”.

How did they prevent the participants from knowing whether they were taking the placebo or the real multivitamin? “The placebo tablets were the same size and colour as the [multivitamin] tablets and contained starch and a small amount of riboflavin (2mg) designed to give a similar smell and colouration of the urine.”



Methods: Semi-structured and open-ended written questions were incorporated into a 16-week double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel groups trial of once-daily multivitamin administration. At the final study visit (week 16), three open-ended questions were posed to elucidate any positive, negative or unusual experiences from taking either the multivitamin or matched placebo. . . Participant’s experiences were categorised as “positive” or “negative” and a Chi Square analysis was then applied to each of the experiential themes, to compare experiences between the multivitamin and placebo groups . . .

Results: Of the 182 participants enrolled, 116 completed the study and qualitative data were available from 114 participants. Thematic analysis revealed significant effects in favour of the multivitamin over placebo for participants experiencing increased energy levels (p=.022) and enhanced mood (p=.027). The beneficial effect on energy levels was particularly evident among female participants. A trend was found for participants reporting better sleep in the multivitamin over placebo. The multivitamin and placebo groups did not significantly differ in perceived positive or negative effects in areas relating to other aspects of mental function or physical health.

(To read the full article:
http://www.willner.com/content/multivitamin_wellbeing.pdf)