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 Multi-vitamins
/minerals are America's most popular dietary supplements. Referred to as "multis,"
the ingredients vary widely by brand. There are no established standards on what
multis should contain.
One reason for not having uniform
standards is that people's diets and their needs differ. Nutrient requirements
and cautions vary depending on age, gender, health status, use of substances
such as alcohol or tobacco, and medications taken.
A major update of the recommendations for daily nutrient intake was issued by
the Institute of Medicine in 2001. However, The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has yet to require product labeling to include much of this
new information in the "% Daily Value" ("DV") listing that appears in the
"Supplement Facts" panel on supplements. The current DVs are largely based on
nutritional recommendations dating from 1968.
Products also can remain on store shelves for months or even years before being
replaced with newer versions. Consequently, even if a manufacturer has
re-formulated its product to meet new recommendations, consumers may still be
buying the older version.
What to look for in a Multi-Vitamin
In addition to selecting a product
that appears to have the right ingredients, one should be confident that it:
contains what it claims; breaks down properly once in the body so its
ingredients can be effectively utilized; and is free of impurities.
Keep in Mind:
Neither the U.S. government nor any
agency is responsible for routinely testing multis or other dietary supplements
for their contents or quality.
ConsumerLab.com, as part of its mission to independently evaluate products that
affect health and nutrition, purchases many of the leading multivitamin/multimineral
products sold in the U.S. and Canada and tests them for their quality and
evaluates them against the most recently recommended Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs).
Quality Concerns:
Multivitamins/multiminerals are among those supplements most likely to have
quality problems. They contain multiple ingredients and, therefore, more
possibility for error. Earlier tests by ConsumerLab.com have found multis that
were short on ingredients, failed to dissolve properly, or were contaminated
with heavy metals.
ConsumerLab.com tests products for their amounts of several common labeled
ingredients: folic acid, calcium, and vitamin A (retinol and beta-carotene) as
indicators of product quality. Not all of the products were labeled to contain
every one of these ingredients. Therefore, some were alternatively tested for
other ingredients — such as vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the absence of folic
acid, and iron or zinc if calcium was not present.
Products are also tested to determine if they: disintegrated properly in
order to dissolve and be absorbed in the body; and did not contain excessive
and/or potentially harmful levels of lead, a contaminant of some mineral and
herbal-based products.
Products have to pass testing on all of these criteria to be considered
APPROVED. In addition, ConsumerLab.com reviews the levels of vitamins and
minerals to determine if any product provided doses high enough so as to carry a
risk of adverse side effects.
What CL Found in their most recent tests:
Among twenty-one products for adults and children that ConsumerLab.com
independently selected and tested, only
ten met their claims and other quality standards. The reasons
why products failed are indicated in the table and described below by category
of multivitamin/multimineral supplement.
This is not a complete list. I've
highlighted several multi-vitamins from Consumerlab.com's most recent review.
You should consider looking up your own multi at
consumerlab.com
General (Adult):
NOT Approved:
- Eniva® VIBE™, a liquid sold in packets, had only 54% of its claimed
5,000 IU of vitamin A.
- Healthy Moments™ Mint Cream Flavor Vitamin Strips contained none of
its claimed vitamin A. It also contained 180% of its claimed 2 mg of niacin
per strip.
- Swanson® Daily Multi-Vitamin & Mineral had only 77.5% of its
claimed 400 mcg of folate per capsule.
- The Greatest Vitamin in the World had only 85% of its claimed 800
mcg of folate in its suggested nine capsules per day — although this still
meets the adult RDA.
- WEIL™ Andrew Weil, M.D. Daily Multivitamin for Optimum Health had
only 73% of its claimed 10,000 IU of vitamin A (as beta-carotene) per tablet —
although this still meets the adult RDA. It also had 251% of it claimed 60 mg
of calcium — possibly an oversight of the calcium contributed by di-calcium
phosphate, a binding agent listed among its inactive ingredients.
Women's:
NOT Approved:
- Nature's Plus® Especially Yours® Women's Multi-Vitamin failed to
break apart properly, requiring more than one hour to disintegrate rather than
the 30 minute limit established by the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP). Such products
may pass through the body without being fully utilized. It also contained 292%
of its claimed 50 mg/tablet of calcium — possibly due to an oversight of the
calcium contributed by the di-calcium phosphate in the product.
- The Vitamin Shoppe® Multivitamins Especially for Women was
contaminated with 15.3 micrograms of lead per daily serving. This is more than
ten times the amount of lead permitted without a warning label in California —
the only state to regulate lead in supplements — and several times the normal
daily exposure to lead. Lead at this level may not in itself be toxic to
adults, but lead is stored in the body and unnecessary exposure should be
avoided. This product should not be shared with children, as they are
susceptible to lead poisoning at levels as low as 6 micrograms per day. This
product also contained only 54% of its claimed 200 mg of calcium in its
suggested daily dose of two tablets.
Approved:
Men's:
NOT Approved:
- Now® Adam™ Superior Men's Multi failed to break apart properly,
taking 40 minutes to disintegrate rather than the 30 minutes set by the USP.
- Win™ Fuel Men's Formula had only 81% of its claimed 4,000 IU of
vitamin (although this is still above the RDA of 3,000 IU for men) and only
75% of it claimed 400 mcg of folate.
Approved:
Seniors:
NOT Approved:
- AARP Maturity Formula failed to break apart properly, taking 50
minutes to disintegrate rather than the 30 minutes set by the USP.
Approved:
Children's:
NOT Approved:
- Hero Nutritionals™ Yummi ® Bears contained 216% of its labeled
amount of vitamin A, potentially delivering amounts in excess of those
tolerable in children up to eight years old. The product contained 5,400 IU of
vitamin A in the retinol form in a daily serving of three bears. The upper
tolerable level (UL) set by the Institute of Medicine is 2,000 IU for children
one to three years of age and 3,000 IU for those four to eight years old.
Children of these ages only need to get 1,000 to 1,333 IU of vitamin A. Excess
vitamin A in the retinol form is of concern as it may lead to bone weakening
and other problems.
Approved:
My-Nutrition-Coach.com nutrition tip:
Some products, by
design, provided specific nutrients at doses above the tolerable upper intake
levels (ULs) established by the Institute of Medicine for certain groups of
people. We use these standards in our online meal planner. Adverse effects —
such as skin tingling from niacin, nausea and weakness from magnesium, and
immune deficiency and anemia from zinc — may occur when these levels are
exceeded for long periods of time. More serious toxicities would not be expected
at the doses in these products. You should always know what you are
getting for individual nutrients from whole food first.
For Complete Test Results by Product:
Go
to ConsumerLab.com to check your supplement
Bottom Line:
If you get caught up in the hype or pressure of buying a product
from a friend, family member or infomercial trying to sell you supplements,
I would STRONGLY suggest you consult with
ConsumerLab.com
first to see if your supplement passed independent testing. Also I suggest you
speak with a nutrition professional and your physician about any possible drug
and nutrient interactions you should know about before supplementing.
Go to ConsumerLab to check your supplement
My-Nutrition-Coach.com
chooses
Puritan's Pride because they score high in all categories with ConsumerLab
and were the best price found for a quality, independently tested and verified
product. Direct shipping-no markup for the middleman or rep-$SAVE$
 
My-Nutrition-Coach.com finds that Puritan's Pride also has the
best combinations of researched ingredients. For example, the last webinar
by Consumerlab.com on Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplements showed that they had
their ratios exactly with the latest science.
For
more on multi-vitamins and supplements replay part 3 of my Metabolism Matters
workshop here
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More tips for choosing smart
multi-vitamins are in my new book
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