Do multivitamins make you hungry? (We find out)

When you start a new vitamin, you’re likely to have lots of questions. One of those that we hear often is; Will my multivitamin make me hungry?

Multivitamins don’t necessarily make you hungry, but the lack of specific vitamins in our diets can often cause a lack of appetite, especially if a health condition is involved. When we supplement with multivitamins to fill the nutritional gaps in our diets, we gain our healthy appetite back.

If you are curious to find out why you suddenly have an increased appetite after using multivitamins, then you have come to the right place. We have the answers for you.

You may also be interested in my list: Best Multivitamins UK.

Table of Contents

Why Vitamins Can Make You Feel Hungry

Although some vitamins might affect your hunger levels in certain situations, it is often linked to another cause, like a health condition. In normal circumstances, supplementing with vitamins shouldn’t increase your appetite. However, if you find yourself getting extra hungry, it’s probably due to the vitamins reducing conditions that decreased your appetite in the first place, e.g., stress, indigestion, thyroid, etc.

Increased Appetite and Multivitamins

Adding multivitamins to your daily routine would fill in your diet’s nutritional gaps, which would ultimately balance out any appetite conditions. It shouldn’t make most people feel hungrier.

Quite often, we become so accustomed to how we feel, even when it isn’t healthy. We carry that feeling for years. So even when there is a lack of appetite, we consider it to be normal. It isn’t a negative condition in our minds because we hardly realize it.

When you use multivitamins, you add the nutritional value to your diet that your body desperately needs, thereby filling in what is lacking and balancing hunger levels.

In fact, a 2008 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition demonstrated that women who used multivitamins had fewer feelings of hunger than those that don’t use supplementation.

Other potential reasons for the increased feelings of hunger should be considered, such as reduced stress, balanced hormones, decreased cholesterol, etc., all of which could have been the cause of prior reduced appetite.

The Body Craves the Nutrition You Give It

You open a chocolate candy bar and promise yourself you will have one piece. But then you crave more and more, and before you know it, you can’t stop, and you finish the entire slab of chocolate.

We have all experienced this probably more than we are willing to admit, be it with chocolate, potato chips, cake, fizzy drinks, or whatever is your forte of food.

See, the more sugar and carbs you feed your body, the more it will crave it. If you keep eating processed foods or drinking coffee, that is what your body will want more of. It becomes familiar and addictive.

Due to the over intake of junk, there is a lack of proper nutritional-dense wholefood intake. There is generally no space or desire for it.

Once you start feeding your body what it requires to function efficiently, your body will recognize it and want it more. So when multivitamins provide your body with a range of nutritional components, you start wanting more of the foods containing those properties.

In this case, if you find yourself eating more whole foods, fruits, and vegetables or healthy fats and protein, you might wonder what’s bringing the appetite for it because you are not used to eating that way.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you are getting hungrier. It means your desire for specific foods is changing that you are not typically accustomed to. Eventually, your taste for the junk will probably decrease, allowing you more space for the good stuff.

Possible Health Reasons for Increased Appetite

If you are healthy, you won’t experience a spike in hunger from vitamins, but people with specific health conditions may experience increased appetite when starting a course of supplementation. Loss of appetite is a common side effect of certain vitamin deficiencies. If you use multivitamins to correct vitamin deficiency, it will reduce the loss of appetite symptoms and make you feel hungrier.

Vitamin deficiencies involved

There is an unlimited list of how specific vitamin deficiencies can cause the loss of appetite and how supplementation can change that.

Below are a few examples:

Vitamin C -According to a study published in the Journal of Korean Medical Science, cancer patients with loss of appetite can experience an improved appetite with the administration of Vitamin C in high doses.

Another study found that Vitamin C improved symptoms of nausea and loss of appetite symptoms in people with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment.

Vitamin B12 -The deficiency of vitamin B12 can cause a loss of appetite, which is more common among vegans, chronic alcoholics, people who have digestive disorders, and weight loss surgery. A B12 supplement can increase appetite in these situations.

Folate – A study published in 2014 found that folate supplementation may improve the appetite of young children. Like other B vitamins, Folate helps turn the food you eat into energy and is essential for a healthy metabolism. A deficiency can cause loss of appetite.

Vitamin D – Vitamin D deficiency can cause a loss of appetite, and at the same time, vitamin D toxicity can also cause appetite loss. Increasing healthy vitamin D intake can improve appetite levels.

Vitamin K – Vitamin K deficiency is most common in people on certain medications or those who have difficulty absorbing fat, thereby causing a loss of appetite. Using a multivitamin that contains vitamin K can cause an increase in appetite.

Multivitamins Are Not a Food Replacement

Using vitamins should be because you want to improve your health or find that your diet lacks some value from what you are supposed to be getting daily.

Unfortunately, many people cut out certain foods because of diets or dislike the taste of it and then use vitamins to replace them. This is not healthy and can cause more harm than good.

By doing this, you may still experience an increased appetite because the body is not getting the specific nutritional calories it requires to keep your body running.

That means that it is not the multivitamins causing the hunger, but merely the lack of certain foods in the diet itself.

It’s Not Always the Multivitamin

There are other factors to consider for why you may be feeling hungrier than usual after starting multivitamin supplementation.

Many people often start taking vitamin supplements with the hope of improved health. It can sometimes work as a motivational point to make other lifestyle changes such as exercise, detox, follow certain diet plans, etc., which all can be reasons for increased appetite.

Exercising causes the body to burn more energy (obtained from food), thereby increasing your appetite. Additionally, detoxing and diet plans can also create hunger as the body is not necessarily used to not getting certain foods. A reduction in food portions will also spike your hunger levels, especially at the beginning of a diet.

It is vital to check with your doctor before starting supplements or making health changes to see if you have any medical conditions such as low blood sugar and hyperthyroidism, increasing hunger levels.

Multivitamins and other medications

Sometimes certain medications can be a contra-indication to specific vitamins. They won’t all agree with each other, so it is always best to get as much nutritional value directly from food sources before using supplementation. Medications can increase appetite – antidepressants and corticosteroids are examples of this.

Conclusion

You might feel like multivitamins increase your appetite while there are several other factors to consider, such as health conditions, medications, and lifestyle changes.

A typical healthy person will not experience increased hunger from multivitamin supplementation. However, someone who does experience it should consider all aspects of life events before concluding that vitamins are the cause.

Always talk to your health practitioner and make sure you are using supplements to fill the gaps in your diet and not as food replacement.

My Supplement Recommendations

These are products that I currently use and enthusiastically recommend:

Multivitamin – Nutrigenesis Multi for Men or Nutrigenesis for Women. Performance Lab use their patented Nutrigenesis technique to provide a range of vitamins and minerals in their most effective form. Read my review.

Nootropic – Mind Lab Pro contains eleven natural nootropics that have been proven to support cognitive function and brain health. Read my review.

Collagen – Edible Health Bovine Collagen. This excellent bovine collagen powder is completely tasteless and absorbs quickly into any liquid. It’s third-party lab tested and provides 13g of collagen per serving. Read my review.

Turmeric – VitaBright Organic Turmeric with Ginger and Black Pepper. These turmeric capsules are organic, effective and affordable. They include black pepper to enhance curcumin absorption and ginger to provide additional useful benefits. Read my review.

Incredible value – G&G Vitamin 28 day packs This is the most affordable way to buy supplements in the UK. One tub holds 28 daily packs of up to 11 different vitamins, minerals or food supplements.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Which is the best multivitamin?

The best multivitamins are Earth’s Blend Superfood Multivitamin and NATURELO’s Whole Food Multivitamin Gummies for Adults.

2. Do multivitamins work?

Getting enough of the essential vitamins and minerals can have a profound effect on your health and wellbeing. The best way to achieve this is through a balanced diet; however, if you aren’t able to for any reason, a multivitamin can provide a cost-effective way to get a wide range of vitamins into your system.
If you take the time to make sure you are using a high-quality product that matches your needs, they are beneficial.

3. What vitamins should I be taking UK?

The best way to get enough essential vitamins and minerals is through a healthy balanced diet. However, if you are struggling to get everything you need through your meals, a good-quality whole-food multivitamin is an excellent option.

4. How do I choose a good multivitamin?

Choosing an effective multivitamin depends on how well you can assess what vitamins and minerals you need. To do this, you have a few options:

-Evaluate your diet against the recommended guidelines.
-Speak to your doctor.
-Sign up to an online evaluation via self-administered prick test.

When you know what vitamins you need to top up, look for a multivitamin that matches them. Look out for those that source their ingredients from whole food ingredients. They are easier on the gut and absorb quicker than the synthetic options.