People who aren’t getting enough of the essential vitamins and minerals in the foods they eat are taking multivitamins to main their bodies functioning. Multivitamins are also taken by people who have special nutritional needs, such as a pregnant woman. A multivitamin may be a tablet, capsule, liquid or powder, but they are all designed to insure our bodies are receiving adequate nutrition.

In a perfect world, there would be no need for the average person to take a multivitamin. All the vitamins our bodies need could be obtained from food, except for vitamin D, which our bodies produce when exposed to sunlight, and vitamin K, which is produced by the body in the intestines. However, this is not a perfect world and our diets are sadly lacking in nutrients.

The vitamins contained in multivitamins are categorized into water-soluble vitamins and fat-soluble vitamins. Water-soluble vitamins travel through the bloodstream. If the body has more water-soluble vitamins than it can use, the extra is eliminated by the body through urine. You can’t store water soluble vitamins for future use.

Fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamins A, D, and E are stored in the fat tissues of the body for a up to 6 months. Taking extra doses of multivitamins can cause fat-soluble vitamins to be stored in the liver, which may cause health problems. These are the paths water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins take when entering and leaving the body.