In 1912 the Polish biochemist Casimir Funk wrote a paper called The Etiology of the Deficiency Diseases and proposed the word vitamine, short for vital amine, after his work on rice bran and beriberi. The final e was dropped later, when it turned out that not all vitamins are amines. More than a century on, the shelf has more choices than anyone needs, and most of them promise more than a label can.

The best vitamins for men are not the ones with the longest ingredient list. They are the ones that fill a gap you really have. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 to 2025 list vitamin D and calcium among the nutrients of public health concern, and say more than 90 percent of adults do not get enough vitamin D and close to 30 percent of men do not get enough calcium. That is a population number, not a diagnosis of you. A doctor or a blood test is the way to know what you actually lack.

The first grid is daily multivitamins for men, as tablets and gummies. The second is formulas written for men over 40, 50 and 55, when the brands say needs start to change.

Here is a test I like: read the back of the bottle and find the nutrient you already get from your diet. If it is doubled by three other supplements, you do not need a fourth.

Think of this grid as three types: simple, athletic and gummy. The simple ones are Ritual's Essential for Men 18+, made for men 18 to 49 to help fill nutrient gaps, and Nature Made's Men's Multivitamin Tablets, with 22 key nutrients for immune, bone and muscle health. BioSchwartz's Men's Multivitamins features a complete B-complex, which the brand pitches for energy and focus.

The athletic ones are bigger. Optimum Nutrition's Opti-Men packs 75 plus active ingredients into a three-tablet serving that you can spread across the day, and the brand calls it nutritional insurance for an active lifestyle. EVL's VitaMode for men is over 50 active ingredients, including superfood extracts, digestive enzymes and BioPerine, and it is vegetarian and gluten-free.

The gummies are an easier habit. Nature Made's Zero Sugar Men's Gummies come in cherry lime, are sweetened with sugar alternatives and take two a day. The Men's Multi plus Omega-3 gives 60 mg of EPA and DHA per two-gummy serving, and the Men's Advanced Multivitamin Gummies have 20 key nutrients including magnesium citrate and calcium, in three gummies a day.

A tip: if you take more than one thing, line the labels up and check for overlaps before you start.

What I would skip: the biggest tablet count if you already forget to take a pill. A gummy you finish beats a three-tablet serving you abandon.

Brands write these on the theory that needs shift as you age. Nature Made says exactly that about its Men's Multivitamin 50+ Tablets, which have 22 key nutrients in one daily tablet, and its Advanced Multivitamin 50+ For Him Gummies, made with 60 percent more total nutrients and meant to help close potential gaps. Ritual has its own Essential for Men 50+, written for men 50 and older to help fill nutrient gaps.

MegaFood has two for men 55 and older. The One Daily is a once-a-day tablet with vitamin D to help keep already healthy bones strong. The Advanced Multivitamin adds choline to promote an already healthy memory, plus pumpkin seed, green tea extract and zinc, which the brand says support healthy prostate function.

Codeage's Men's Multivitamin 50+ is a capsule with CoQ10, turmeric and panax ginseng, along with vitamins and minerals. Garden of Life's Men's 40 Plus Multi is a whole food tablet made with ingredients from fruits and vegetables.

Here is a pairing I like: a quick chat with your doctor at your next checkup, and ask specifically about vitamin D. Bring the bottle you already take.

What I would skip: a botanical blend without knowing why it is in there. Turmeric and ginseng are interesting, but if a formula has many extras and you cannot say why you want them, choose the simpler one.

I think the best vitamin for a man is a plain multi he actually takes, after he has looked at his food and, if he can, at a blood test. Anything beyond that should come from a doctor, not from the front of a bottle.

My rule: pick one, take it with a meal, and give it a few months before you judge anything. If you want a change at 40, 50 or 55, ask what has changed in your own life first, then choose the formula that says it is made for you.