Tips on Choosing The Best Vitamins for Teenagers
Every kid is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to nutrition, so you should always shop around and read the label to find the best blend of nutrients for your needs. Additionally, you should always get professional advice before starting a new supplement regime to make sure you’re getting the nutrients you need and in the right amounts.
We strongly recommend searching for a product containing the RDI of the vitamins and minerals listed above, but feel free to omit or add any nutrients you – or your family doctor – feel necessary. Furthermore, you should stay away from high-strength vitamins for teens, as more isn’t always better – taking too many vitamins can be just as bad as taking too little – so try and find supplements that provide the RDI of each active ingredient.
How many vitamins does a teenager need per day?
Teenagers need a lot of nutrients to support their developing bodies, and while we put a lot of focus on a balanced diet – with plenty of vegetables, protein, fiber, etc. – it’s a lot harder to measure the right amounts of vitamins for teen boys and girls. Thankfully, nutritional scientists have worked hard to answer those questions, and the experts at the National Institutes for Health recommend that teenagers eat the following amounts of essential vitamins and minerals:
- Vitamin A: 700-900mcg
- Vitamin C: 65-75mg
- Vitamin D: 15mcg
- Vitamin E: 15mg
- B Complex Vitamins:
- Vitamin B1: 1-1.2mg
- Vitamin B2: 1-1.3mg
- Vitamin B3: 12-16mg
- Vitamin B6: 1-1.2mg
- Vitamin B9: 300-400 mcg
- Vitamin B12: 2.4mcg
- Calcium: 1,300mg
- Iron: 8-15mg
- Magnesium: 240-410mg
- Potassium: 2,300-3,000mg
- Zinc: 8-11mg
Best Vitamins For Teenagers & Teens
When it comes to boosting the vitamin levels of teenagers and teens, giving them fresh fruit isn’t going to cut it – you need help, and multivitamins are the easiest way to get more nutrients in you, so let’s start there. Although it’s easy to assume that multivitamins are ideal all-rounders for boosting your intake of essential nutrients, they are carefully tailored to the dietary needs of different groups, and the best vitamins for teen girls will look a lot different to ones for adult men.
With that in mind, you should look for supplements that are rich in active ingredients (ideally around the RDI for each nutrient), manufactured by a trustworthy brand and tailored to your child’s health needs. In short, the best supplements for teens are specially formulated with the growing dietary needs of teenagers in mind and should contain most (if not all) of the essential nutrients we’ve highlighted above.