Ok, so I’m in the pharmacy with a friend. He’s filling a prescription, and I’m just wandering around, kind bored. Being a pharmacy, there’s lots of vitamins and other pills there. And I start noticing that some of them say, “women’s daily”. A few say they’re for men, but most of these specific vitamins are apparently targeted at women.
So what’s the deal? I looked, and there’s no estrogen in there. So what makes them specific to women? What would happen if I, a definite man, used them ? (Same question for midol, btw, while I’m on the subject.) Or is this just some kind of marketing thing?
Xodiac
Men and women have different nutrient needs. For example, many more women have iron-deficiency anemia than do men.
However, I suspect that most of these “gender-specific” or other “specific” types of vitamins are more marketing gimmick than anything.
I myself take a children’s chewable vitamin because they taste good and generally give me lots of different vitamins. It’s better that I get my nutrition from food anyway, the vitamin is just more for insurance purposes.
So in regards to your question, the women’s formula probably has more iron or calcium than the normal multivitamin, since women generally need more of those nutrients.
That is correct. Also keep in mind that women may actually need iron suplements while it can be deadly to men. Excess iron is linked to heart disease in men. Therefore, versions are available for each sex.