7 Vital Supplements & Vitamins for Women

As a woman, you have unique nutritional needs when compared to men. And in a perfect world, you’d meet all those requirements through a balanced diet. But in reality, eating healthy isn’t enough.

“A key thing I see a lot of women struggling with is being undernourished–in large part, due to depleted soil which results in our fruit and veggies only containing a fraction of nutrients compared to what they did 50 years ago,” says Christina Santini, clinical nutritionist and owner of The Nutrition Clinic in Los Angeles, CA. “This is easily a recipe for disaster because both our overall health and hormones along with our appetite control center is tightly regulated by how nutrient dense our diet is.”

So even if you eat a wholesome, balanced diet, proper supplementation is key–especially during the winter. Here are the best women’s supplements to keep you healthy and vital all season long–and for years to come.

Best Women’s Supplements for Winter (and Year-Round)

Vitamin D

“Vitamin D is actually a hormone and is key to transport calcium into the bones,” Santini says. And while our bodies produce this hormone naturally in reaction to sunlight, getting enough sun in the winter months isn’t always possible. It’s especially important for women’s supplement routines, due to higher risks of osteoporosis and bone fractures.

If you have symptoms like muscle and bone weakness or seasonal depression, you’re extremely deficient in vitamin D and need to start supplementation immediately. Aim for 600 international units (IU) daily, or 800 if you’re over the age of 70. You can also get vitamin D from:

Fatty fish, such as salmon, sardines, herring, tuna fish, and cod liver oil
Beef liver
Fortified orange juice
Dairy or plant milks made from soy, almonds, or oats

Vitamin C

This vitamin is a crucial nutrient for immune health. A powerful antioxidant, vitamin C may help protect you from getting a cold–or, it may at least shorten it, reducing its duration to a couple of days instead of a week.

Vitamin C has also been linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, which is the most common cause of death for women. So it has lots of amazing health benefits.

“Vitamin C acts like an antioxidant and protects our body against stressors,” Santini says. “This is especially important today as chronic fatigue is epidemic and we are so stressed out due to various factors: environmental toxins, emfs, nutrient deficiencies, global uncertainty along with mental health issues on the rise.”

To make sure you’re getting an ample amount every day, look for a supplement that contains 500 mg. You can also get vitamin C from foods like:

Citrus fruits
Bell peppers
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower
White potatoes

Omega-3 Fish Oil

Omega-3 fatty acids offer powerful protection from Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, breast cancer, heart disease, and even depression. And for women, Omega-3s are helpful for reducing menstrual pain and osteoporosis.They also help boost brain activity and improve cognition–specifically abstract thinking, or the ability to understand complex concepts using logic and reasoning.

“Everybody should be taking a good quality fish oil made from small fishes like sardines or anchovies and aim to get at least 1000 mg EPA and 400 mg DHA,” Santini says. “For treating mental issues like depression, I double the dosage on both–that is what we see from research has a clinical effect.”

Cod liver oil also contains plenty of easily absorbable vitamin A which is beneficial for your skin, bones, eyesight, and immune system. Great food sources of Omega-3s include:

Salmon
Tuna
Sardines
Mackerel
Herring
Cod
Lake trout

Calcium

Calcium is one of the most important women’s supplements due to its role in bone health. Deficiency in this vital nutrient is associated with bone degradation (osteoporosis and osteopenia), for which women have higher risk factors than men. You can reduce your risk of bone loss by consuming plenty of calcium through diet and supplementation, and taking it with vitamin D.

The best women’s calcium supplements contain up to 1,000mg. But be careful not to take too much, Santini warns. ‘Supplementing with over 1,000 mg of calcium daily can actually lead to increased risk of stroke in women,” she says.

Furthermore, “calcium is only healthy if it gets absorbed properly, so monitoring blood and cellular levels of calcium while supplementing with cofactors [like vitamin d] is important, if we want to ensure it is going to where it needs to go in the body.”

You can get calcium through your diet as well as supplements. Dairy products like cow, sheep, and goat milk, cheese, and yogurt are some of the best sources. But you can also get calcium from:

Fortified orange juice
Winter squash
Edamame (young green soybeans)
Tofu
Canned sardines
Salmon (consumed with bones).

Iron

Iron supports a number of important bodily functions such as immunity, maintaining energy levels, and transporting oxygen via red blood cells. And since women lose a significant amount of iron via menstrual blood, they’re at a higher risk of deficiency, which can cause exhaustion, weakness, pale skin, headaches, and other unpleasant symptoms.

According to some experts, the best women’s iron supplements are made with iron bisglycinate (also known as ferrous bisglycinate), which is more bioavailable and has fewer gastrointestinal side effects than other forms. If you’re between the ages of 19 and 50, look for a supplement with 14.8mg of iron, and 8.7mg if you’re over 50.

Santini also recommends eating red meat a couple of times a week for the best bioavailability. “Alternatively beets, lentils, chickpeas, tempeh (fermented soy), cashew nuts, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, kale, spinach, dried apricots, figs and raisins do contribute with decent levels of iron.”

But she cautions that the plant-based sources are not as easily absorbed. “You can improve your body’s absorption by eating foods containing vitamin C with it–i.e. throw in some berries with your spinach salad,” she adds.

Magnesium

“Magnesium is probably the single most important nutrient we are lacking today,” Santini says. Magnesium helps your heart pump blood, relaxes the walls of your blood vessels, which can help keep blood pressure down, and may boost your HDL, or “good,” cholesterol levels. All of these benefits are crucial for women, due to high risks of heart disease.

Magnesium can also reduce menstrual cramps, help prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis, and reduce inflammation, which can lead to health problems such as arthritis and diabetes. It’s often recommended for pregnant women, since it can help prevent preeclampsia (a serious high blood pressure condition).

If you’re under 30, aim for 310 mg of magnesium daily, and 320 mg if you’re 31 or older. If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you may need between 360 and 400 mg daily. You can also get magnesium from foods like:

Pumpkin seeds
Chia seeds
Almonds
Spinach
Cashews
Peanuts
Soymilk.

Collagen

Collagen is the substance that keeps skin cells together. That’s why it’s “the beauty nutrient;” it’s vital for skin, hair, nails, and joints. The external signs of aging are actually associated with collagen loss. So, by taking collagen supplements, you can support your skin cells’ health and postpone their aging.

There’s also evidence that taking collagen orally helps our skin produce new collagen on its own. This is especially important for women during and after menopause, when collagen production slows down the most significantly.

Look for powdered or encapsulated collagen hydrolysate in the supplement section at your local grocery store. You can also consume more collagen in foods such as:

Fish
Poultry
Red meat
Eggs
Dairy
Legumes
Soy
Gelatin
Bone broth

“Magnesium, vitamin C, and omega-3 directly boost collagen production in the body,” Santini adds. So taking all of these supplements together will set you up for slower, more graceful aging.

Crucial Women’s Supplements for Health and Wellness

No matter your age, lifestyle, or health status, it’s important to supplement a healthy diet the right way. “The first step to any health program should be to flood the body with nutrients, [and] also to ensure it can detoxify environmental toxins rather than accumulate them and end up sick,” Santini says.

So start with these core supplements this winter. And depending on your unique issues, you can see if others are necessary, too.

References: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46537053_Soil_degradation_as_a_reason_for_inadequate_human_nutrition

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27670741/

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218767/#:~:text=Inborn%20differences%20in%20the%20activity,determined%20biochemical%20and%20metabolic%20factors.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3941188/#:~:text=Vitamin%20D%20is%20pivotal%20to,interventions%20such%20as%20vitamin%20D

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