Americans are overfed and undernourished - multivitamins can help

Americans are eating more than ever. Today, the average adult consumes about 3,700 calories per day. That’s nearly 30 percent more than we ate in 1961 — and about double what’s recommended.

Despite these calories, tens of millions of Americans are undernourished. Since many of our extra calories are coming from processed foods rich in sugar and saturated fats, we’re not getting enough nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Curbing our consumption habits — and trimming Americans’ waistlines — will be difficult. But Americans can start to get the nutrients they need with a multivitamin. And our government should ensure even those with low incomes can have access to these dietary supplements.

Today’s typical diet does not provide adequate amounts of vitamins and essential minerals. More than eight in 10 Americans lack the recommended amounts of vitamins D and E. More than four in 10 don’t get enough of vitamins A and K, calcium and magnesium.

These inadequacies corrode people’s bodies. A lack of vitamins C, D, and K can weaken bones. A shortage of vitamins B12, C, D, and E can impede cognitive performance. Healthy blood pressure cannot be maintained without the proper amount of magnesium, potassium, and vitamins C and D.

It’s unlikely that Americans will improve their diets soon. Unhealthy foods are generally pretty tasty, found everywhere — and cheap. Healthy foods are harder to come by.

Additionally, eating a balanced and healthy diet requires careful planning and willpower. Six in ten people who worry they lack at least one key nutrient haven’t actually done anything to change their diets, according to a poll conducted by the magazine Prevention.

Multivitamins won’t make Americans eat less — and they can never replace a good diet — but they can prevent nutritional inadequacies that seriously harm our health.

I’ve researched this subject extensively. In a national survey published in Nutrients magazine last August, a team of experts and I found that frequent use of multivitamins by adults markedly decreased inadequacies for a long list of nutrients — including vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron, to name a few.

Multivitamins can also help children aged 8 to 18 achieve adequate levels of magnesium, phosphorous, vitamins A, C, and E, according to a study in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Unfortunately, fewer Americans are using multivitamins. From 2005 to 2012, the proportion of American adults who took one dropped from 40 percent to 31 percent. Thus far, the federal government hasn’t taken our nutritional insufficiencies seriously.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans — which advise us all on proper eating patterns — have identified only four nutrient shortfalls as “of public health concern.” Yet there are nearly a dozen nutrients for which people also fall short.

Given that multivitamins can readily and inexpensively fill these nutrient gaps, it is surprising that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — the USDA initiative that provides low-income Americans with a monthly benefit to purchase food — excludes these supplements from the list of covered goods. Policymakers can easily expand access under SNAP to include multivitamins.

Americans are taking in too many empty calories and too few essential nutrients. There is a ready solution to one of these problems. Policymakers should take it.

Dr. Jeffrey B. Blumberg is a professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and also serves as a senior scientist in the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.