The best multivitamin for you -- and 11 to steer clear of

CNN & Health Magazine ^ | August 22, 2007 | Valerie Kramer Davis

[decimon]

You've been told for years that popping a multivitamin every day might help you live longer. But the daily multi habit has been getting a bit of bad press lately.

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Longtime vitamin experts at Tufts University and the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University continue to say multis aren't dangerous and the paper's findings are wrong. The paper analyzed previous studies, including many with people who were sick before taking vitamins, so there's a good chance vitamins weren't responsible for shortening their lives. Experts say the paper also ignored two major studies that found vitamins reduced the risk of death.

At the same time, the study from ConsumerLab.com shows that you can't assume just any vitamin is safe. Because there are no uniform manufacturing rules for supplements, a multi may not contain what the bottle claims, could be contaminated with something from the manufacturing plant, or might have tainted ingredients. Health.com: 20 antioxidant powerhouses

Your best bet: Avoid the vitamins singled out by ConsumerLab.com (see 11 Multis to Avoid), and stick with mainstream names such as Centrum Silver and One-A-Day Women's, which were found to be free of impurities and accurately labeled. Also, check vitamin bottles for the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), NSF International (NSF), or ConsumerLab.com (CL) seals. The USP and NSF are nonprofit groups that verify whether companies offer contamination-free products and use good manufacturing practices. Not every brand has the seals -- some don't want to submit to testing--but those that do (Kirkland and Nature Made carry the USP seal, for instance) are reliable.

Cont...

[Salvation]

I would rather do it in the FReepmail.

[SamAdams76]

I guess you figured that out because Marvin Gaye died the day before his birthday! Well now that I’ve outlived Marvin, I’m targeting Freddy Mercury for the longevity sweepstakes and I’m going to do it without the benefit of multivitamins.

[NittanyLion]

It’s true. Try dissolving one of those in a cup of warm water. It won’t dissolve. The ones I take dissolve completely. (Made In the U. S. A.)

I'm not totally refuting your claim (because I have no evidence to offer), but I must point out that your stomach does not contain warm water. If you tried dissolving the vitamin in a liquid with a 2 pH and found that it stayed intact you'd have a valid point.

[Sloth]

OK, I just tossed one (a store brand Centrum knock-off) in a cup or so of plain old room temperature pH 7 tap water and it disappeared in about 12 minutes with some moderate agitation. Granted, not all the material is actually in solution at that point — there’s a fair amount of sandy-looking sediment in the bottom — but the pill disappeared readily.

[Yardstick]

Interesting. I wonder if the sediment would dissolve in stomach acid -- and it may not have to totally dissolve in order to deliver the RDA requirement. Or the sediment could just be some kind of filler.