Before suggesting the Best Multivitamins for athletes, first, I would like to discuss the nutrition for Athletes. Endurance Athletes often perform prolonged physical activity thus, Nutritional requirements for them are different from the common man or even those who are doing moderate exercise.
The primary reason for using dietary supplements by the endurance athletes is to enhance performance, recover from exercise, and for maintaining health. A sufficient supply of Energy and Muscle Strength is the primary criterion for an athlete to perform better.
Loss of muscle mass with age affects the athlete’s performance. As we age, muscle fibers start dying. muscles are often replaced by adipose & connective tissue which affects the powerful contraction of muscles. Thus, the maintenance of healthy muscle is very important for athletic performance.
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy while Amino acids & Protein are required for the maintenance and repair of muscle mass. Vitamins and minerals play direct or indirect roles in mitochondrial function and cellular energy production. Let me elaborate on the roles of Carbohydrate, Protein, Amino Acid and Multivitamins in athletic performance.
Role of carbohydrate
Endurance Athletes and Sportsperson require a very high amount of energy for intense and prolonged physical activity. For energy, they mainly depend on Carbohydrate as it is the quickest source of energy for skeletal muscle function. Hence, all of the nutritionists recommend athletes to consume carbohydrate in their diets. Carbohydrates help in increasing the performance of athletes by delaying fatigue. This provides the energy and stamina to the athletes to compete in a longer duration.
Role of Amino Acid
To maintain muscle health, protein is required. You get the daily requirement from these top high protein vegetarian foods. Protein and specific Amino Acid insufficiency are linked directly with an age-related decrease in skeletal muscle mass.
It has been suggested that protein quality is very important in building muscle mass. Protein quality is a measure of a given protein source’s ability to provide adequate quantities of the essential Amino Acids required for protein synthesis.
Amino acid-like Leucine, a Branched-Chain Amino acid (BCAA), has been shown to stimulate skeletal muscle protein synthesis.
Glutamine improves athletic performance by enhancing recovery and reducing muscle damage. Further Tryptophan is an essential Amino Acid and known to play a key role in the regulation of muscle mass.
Role of Multivitamins
Vitamins and Minerals play direct or indirect roles in mitochondrial function and cellular energy production. Vitamins like B complex are essential co-factors in mitochondrial aerobic respiration and cellular energy production.
Insufficient daily intake for several multivitamins may decrease the person’s stamina and aerobic capacity.
Vitamin D and Vitamin K are required to increase bone mass and bone strength.
Now, answering your question ‘’Which Multivitamin is Best for Athletes’’.
As discussed above, a Multivitamin is suitable for athletes only when it provides a sufficient amount of all essential vitamins as well as additional ingredients that can help in the production of energy, building muscle, protection from free radical-induced muscle damage, and maintain healthy bones.
From my understanding, most of the Multivitamins available in the market do not fully fill the entire need for better performance of Endurance Athletes. Most of the multivitamin supplements are specifically formulated for energy and stamina, Immunity and general health only. Further, multivitamin supplements in the market do not contain essential Amino Acids which can assist in maintaining and building muscle.
According to me, the best multivitamin for athletes for enhanced performance is “TrueBasics Multivit Sports” which fulfills all the needs for enhanced performance in athletes. TrueBasics Multivit Sport contains 23 essential Vitamins and Minerals and provides 100% RDAs of all essential Multivitamins which helps in energy production. In addition, TrueBasics Multivit Sports contain different types of the blend which exhibits different roles for enhanced performance in Endurance Athletes:
Multi Vit Blend: Multivitamin blend helps in providing energy, enhance exercise capacity, and strengthen bone and muscle health.
Amino Acid Blend: Amino Acid blend promoting muscle-protein synthesis and protects from exercise-induced muscle damage.
Energy Blend: Energy blend enhances muscle strength and stamina.
Antioxidants Blend: Reduce oxidative stress, prevents free radical-induced muscle damage.
Thus, essential Multivitamins with different types of blend in TrueBasics Multivit Sport is the best multivitamin supplements available in the market for Endurance Athletes.
