What Are the Benefits of Women's One-a-Day Vitamins?

Though common sense may dictate that Women's One-a-Day brand multivitamins will boost your health on all fronts, the product's small print reveals that the vitamins aren't evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and aren't intended to treat or cure illness.

One-a-Day offers the benefits of many individual vitamins in one pill. (Image: RightOne/iStock/Getty Images)

The same things can be said for many over-the-counter health products, so that doesn't necessarily mean Bayer's popular vitamins don't offer health benefits. Before taking them, though, you should know exactly why you're doing so and what they can do for your health.

Iron Replacment

During the course of menstruation, pre-menopausal women lose iron, which helps the body transport oxygen and promotes healthy cell growth. Vitamins containing Iron, such as One-a-Day, help to replace the amounts lost in blood discharge. Each Women's One-a-Day pill contains 18 mg of iron, which helps prevent iron-deficiency anemia -- a condition that is sometimes caused by menstruation and often helped by iron supplementation.

Folic Acid

Women's One-a-Day also contains 400 mg of folic acid, which is also known as Vitamin B9 and helps promote DNA reparation and production of red blood cells. But for women, folic acid has added importance: women suffering from deficiencies of the vitamin are at risk of neural tube defects when giving birth.

Neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, are birth defects occurring in the spinal cords and brains of babies. According to the National Institutes of Health, folic acid is "really important" for women who may become or are pregnant.

Vitamin D

One-a-Day contains 800 IU of Vitamin D, an important element in maintaining strong bone structure and preventing or treating Osteoporosis -- a weakening of bones that causes 1 in 2 American women over the age of 50 to break at least one bone.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends that women below the age of 50 ingest 400-to-800 IU of Vitamin 800 daily, and those over the age of 50 get 1,000 IU every day. Because it's only available through exposure to sunlight and a select few foods, supplements such as One-a-Day are considered quality sources.