It's hard to say what inspires less enthusiasm – pap smears for women or prostate exams for men.

But it seems that women are better about getting their tests regularly. Men are 25 percent less likely than women to have visited the doctor within the past year, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

That increases the chance that illnesses are going untreated. Men are 1.5 times more likely than women to die from heart disease and cancer.

To raise awareness about check-ups, the federal healthcare agency has teamed up with The Advertising Council on an ad campaign targeted at middle-aged men, who face increasing risks of prostate and colorectal cancer. Coming to a television set near you is the "Real Men Wear Gowns" commercial.

The ad appears to appeal to men's sense of responsibility to their families. Stay healthy and you can watch your kid take his first bike ride. Get tested and walk your daughter down the aisle.

A different kind of ad for over-40 males. Who else wants "Viva Viagra" to stop running through their heads?

In recent years, the physicians over at Harvard Men’s Health Watch have promoted multivitamins on the basis that taking them can’t hurt, and may even do the body some good.

In fact, half the doctors on the advisory board take a multivitamin themselves.

But now they’re so concerned that multivitamins create a greater risk for colorectal cancer that they’re advising men to stop taking the supplements until scientists can confirm their safety.

The problem? Supplements may be giving men more folic acid than they need, which could lead to colon polyps, the doctors say.

Men already get plenty of folic acid from what's added to grain products, like bagels and bread. The practice began about a decade ago as a way to get more folic acid, a preventer of birth defects, into Americans’ diets.

But, taking a multivitamin may push a man’s daily intake to more than 1,000 micrograms – 2.5 times more than the recommended daily amount.

Thinking about dropping your multivitamin (or your feelings of guilt about forgetting to take one)? Consider replacing the multivitamin with a vitamin D supplement, says Harvard Men's Health Watch.

The vitamin is important good for bone health and something that men and women often don’t get enough of, but it's hard to get naturally from food.