Saw someone on Instagram saying that if you're on T you should take men's multiviatims and if you're on E you should take women's multivitamins. And I can see how someone could come to that assumption, if you thought that vitiam intake needs were affected by hormone levels.
However that's not really the case, at least not when it comes to the sort of vitiams in a multiviatim.
The main difference is that "women's" multiviatims have iron in them to help make up for presumed monthly bloodloss. And "men's" multiviatims will sometimes have antioxidants that /could/ help with prostate health.
If you don't experience a menstrual cycle that features uterine shedding and consist monthly bleeding, then you shouldn't take multiviatims that are marketed as "women's", becouse if you use them longterm you'll end up suffering from secondary iron overload which can cause liver, heart, and pancreas damage.
To my knowledge, the antioxidants in "men's" multivaitims are not harmful to people who don't have a prostate. It's also might be good to remember that trans men on Testosterone for at least a year do develop prostate tissue (it's just not in the same spot). That being said, the antioxidants in men's vitiams aren't medically proven or assessed by the FDA as being beneficial to the prostate tissue - and what studies that do exist certainly don't include transmasculine people in testing, so really it's more 🤷 🤷 🤷
Anyway, basically:
If you're postmenopausal, if you're on T and it has stopped your menstrual cycle, or if you have a condition that makes it so you don't bleed every month, or if you're a trans woman or otherwise transfem then you probably don't want to be taking multiviatims that are marketed towards women, to avoid secondary iron overload.
And if you're on T but you still have a consistent menstrual cycle, you /might/ want to take multiviatims that are marketed towards women to make up for the iron loss during uterine shedding. Though this probably is only necessary if you are a heavy bleeder or someone who bleeds more days then the average.
Now - if you're transfem and having to take multivaitims marketed as "men's" makes you dysphoric, or if you're transmasc and having to take multiviatims marketed as "women's" makes you dyphoria, of it your transneutral and hate any gendered marketing in general. There is good news.
Adult multiviatims, which are marketed as just "for adults" provide a good baseline amount of vitiams that every person needs regardless of gender, with no iron and none of the antioxidants that are sometimes added to men's vitiams.
You can just take those, they're usually cheaper then the gendered ones. And if you think you need more iron, just buy a bottle of iron supplements (talk to yourd doctor or OB/GYN first) or eat more high iron veggies during your period. And if you're concerned about your prostate health then you should talk to a doctor instead of taking an antioxidant about it!
