Multivitamins – who uses them? Well, you probably do, Americans spend $4,000,000,000 a year on multivitamins alone. 70 % Australians are no less keen on them, spending a tiny $2,300,000,000, and yes … that is a ton of zeros!
Who needs them? Well the number of people that can say that every day they honestly eat a well balanced diet of containing lots of fruits, nuts and vegatables, whole grains, dairy, along with chicken and fish is not just low, it is merely non-existent. Of the people who think they are doing well, most do not realize the sheer quantities that have to be consumed to maintain that ‘well-balanced diet’.
Okay, so almost everyone needs a multivitamin, but which one to choose?
Having 30,000+ vitamins on the market presents so much choice it normally is a case of finding the bottle you think looks the nicest … or the cheapest. After all, a vitamin is a vitamin right?
Fortunately, 7 Canadian and American biochemists have come to rescue us from our ignorance. They looked at and compared what is in each of these multivitamins by separating and measuring each ingredient – that is, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and other components.
They put together the ‘perfect’ multivitamin, which actually does not exist as some vitamins needs to be taken separately and it would be the size of large chestnut, and rather difficult to swallow!
They examined how absorbable the vitamins were, whether they were in the right amounts/form and the variety of vitamins and minerals. Also looked at was having the vitamins in the right combinations for the body’s needs. The score was how close each one was to that perfect multivitamin out of 100%.
| Nutritional Supplements: | |
|---|---|
| Advocare Macro-Mineral Complex | 1.1 |
| Amcal Multivitamin & Mineral Effervescent | 2.6 |
| Amcal One-A-Day | 3.3 |
| Amway NutriWay Daily | 4.2 |
| Amway NutriWay Double X | 27.3 |
| Avon VitAdvance Women’s Complete II | 9.1 |
| Berocca Performance | 3.2 |
| BioCeuticals Multi Essentials | 25.3 |
| Bioglan Daily Plus Max | 2.5 |
| Bioglan Men’s Complete Multi Complex | 11.6 |
| Bioglan Women’s Complete Multi Complex | 16.4 |
| Blackmores Men’s Performance Multi | 6.2 |
| Blackmores Multi + Gingko for 55+ | 3.0 |
| Blackmores Sustained Release Multi Vitamins & Minerals + Selenium | 10.7 |
| Blackmores Sustained Release Multi Vitamins and Minerals | 11.5 |
| Blackmores Sustained Release Women’s Multi Vitamins & Minerals | 13.3 |
| Blackmores Women’s Multi & Evening Primrose Oil | 13.4 |
| Blackmores Women’s Vitality Multi | 14.1 |
| Cenovis 50+ Multi | 3.8 |
| Cenovis Mega Multi | 8.4 |
| Cenovis Men’s Multi | 2.5 |
| Cenovis Multivitamin and Minerals | 3.4 |
| Cenovis Women’s Multi | 3.1 |
| Centrum Complete from A to Zinc | 3.9 |
| Centrum Select 50+ | 4.3 |
| Clinicians Vitamin and Mineral Boost | 45.1 |
| Eagle Tresos B PluSe | 16.4 |
| GNC LiveWell Mega Men | 21.2 |
| GNC LiveWell Women’s Ultra Mega | 26.1 |
| Golden Glow Men’s One-a-Day Multi | 2.5 |
| Golden Glow Senior’s One-A-Day Multi | 11.1 |
| Golden Glow Super One-A-Day | 6.7 |
| Golden Glow Women’s One-a-Day Multi | 3.1 |
| Good Health Men’s Multi-Plus | 9.1 |
| Good Health Women’s Multi-Plus | 6.0 |
| Guardian Multi Vitamins & Minerals Hi Potency | 2.1 |
| Guardian Women’s Multi Vitamins & Minerals | 3.6 |
| Healtheries Women’s Multi (AU) | 3.2 |
| Healtheries Women’s Multi (NZ) | 2.7 |
| Herbalife Formula 3 | 8.7 |
| Herbs of Gold Executive Multi Vitamin & Mineral | 11.1 |
| Herron Clinical Nutrition All-in-One Multi-Vitamin & Mineral | 2.1 |
| Herron Clinical Nutrition Men’s Multi-Vitamin & Minerals | 6.2 |
| Herron Clinical Nutrition One-a-Day Women’s Multi-Vitamns & Minerals | 3.6 |
| Hivita LiquiVita | 2.6 |
| Kordel’s Men’s Multi (without Iron) | 15.4 |
| Kordel’s Women’s Multi Plus EPO | 8.6 |
| Mannatech GlycoLEAN Catalyst | 13.9 |
| Melaleuca Vitality for Men | 7.5 |
| Melaleuca Vitality for Women | 10.6 |
| Metagenics Multigenics | 14.1 |
| Metagenics Multigenics Phyto Plus | 13.5 |
| Microgenics Mega Multivitamin | 8.0 |
| Microgenics Men’s Essential Multivitamin | 4.1 |
| Microgenics Women’s Pro Active Multi Vitamin | 6.8 |
| Myadec Gold A-Z Guard | 4.0 |
| Myadec Multivitamins and Minerals | 2.4 |
| NFS Nutraceuticals Ultimate Sports Multi | 44.5 |
| Natural Nutrition Mega Potency Fifty Plus Multi Vitamins | 13.4 |
| Natural Nutrition Mega Potency Men’s Multi Vitamin with Selenium | 13.3 |
| Natural Nutrition Mega Potency Women’s Multi Vitamin with Selenium | 13.7 |
| Nature’s Own Daily Multi Essentials | 3.1 |
| Nature’s Own Daily Multi Peak Performance | 14.0 |
| Nature’s Own Multivitamin & Mineral | 2.4 |
| Nature’s Own Multivitamin Plus Omega 3 Fish Oil | 9.1 |
| Nature’s Sunshine Mega-Chel | 13.5 |
| Nature’s Sunshine Supplemental Vitamins & Minerals | 20.6 |
| Nature’s Way Mega Multi | 17.1 |
| Nature’s Way Men’s Energy Mega Multi-Vitamin Iron-Free | 11.6 |
| Nature’s Way Women’s Energy Mega Multivitamin | 16.4 |
| New Vision Essential Vitamins | 4.7 |
| Neways Orachel | 24.1 |
| Nutra Life Active Men’s Multi | 22.3 |
| Nutra Life Active Women’s Multi Plus | 16.4 |
| Nutrition Care Formula 33SE | 7.4 |
| Nutrition Care Formula SF88 | 15.1 |
| Pharm-a-Care Men’s Mega Strength Multi-Vitamin | 11.7 |
| Pharm-a-Care Women’s Mega Strength MultiVitamins | 16.4 |
| Pharma Foods Pharma Day with Selenium | 8.7 |
| Pharmalliance OxiChel | 24.8 |
| Pharmanex Lifepak | 28.1 |
| Pharmanex Lifepak Prime | 21.0 |
| Pharmanex Lifepak Women | 25.6 |
| Pluravit 50 Plus | 3.0 |
| Pluravit Time-Release Multi | 11.5 |
| Pluravit Women | 3.1 |
| Pretorius Women’s Live Better Multi Vitamin & Mineral | 16.3 |
| Radiance Multi-Power | 22.6 |
| Red Seal Men’s Multi | 13.3 |
| Red Seal One-a-Day Multi & Minerals | 2.6 |
| Red Seal Total Multi with Minerals | 3.9 |
| Red Seal Women’s Multi | 14.0 |
| Reliv Classic | 7.5 |
| Reliv Now | 10.4 |
| Solgar Formula VM-75 | 23.1 |
| Solgar Omnium | 56.5 |
| Solgar VM-2000 | 37.9 |
| Swisse Men’s Ultivite Formula 1 | 10.8 |
| Swisse Women’s Ultivite Formula 1 | 11.5 |
| Swisse Women’s Ultivite No Iron or Iodine | 10.9 |
| Thompson’s Femmefort | 8.3 |
| Thompson’s Immunofort | 16.9 |
| Thompson’s Men’s Multi with Antioxidants | 11.3 |
| Thompson’s Multifort | 17.5 |
| Thorne Research Al’s Formula | 46.9 |
| Thorne Research Basic Nutrients III | 38.7 |
| Thorne Research Basic Nutrients V | 44.4 |
| USANA Health Sciences Essentials | 73.7 |
| Vitaplex Professional One a Day Multivitamin | 5.0 |
A staggering 50 out of the total 110 multivitamins did not even reach 10% and only the top 11 multivitamins were above 25% of what the human body needs on a daily basis.
The popular supermarket brands all featured below 10% possibly due to being forced to compete on price with other supermarkets. The downside for you, means the product you take every day is a hugely inferior supplement.
In other words, you get what you pay for. My advice, choose a multivitamin that is backed by a great company with a good reputation and do not just buy any old vitamin because of the price. You would be better off spending the money on something else.
From Disabled World, Ian Langtree
