All of us dream about magic bullets - the one single thing that is
going to be the key to health. Perhaps the best embodiment of this idea
is the all-in-one multivitamin and mineral supplement. These promise to
offer up all the essential micronutrients we need in one single pill.
The
problem is, getting all of the 25 or so nutrients you need every day of
your life is a tall order. It’s also expensive. Consequently,
multivitamins can be hideously expensive, or so diluted with such small
amounts of each nutrient that they are no better for you than
swallowing cottonwool (and probably even less palatable). So, the big
question in deciding which one-a-day vitamin to take is whether it has
enough of everything you need at an affordable price.
The other
question is whether all those nutrients crammed into a single
supplement stay potent over a reasonable length of time.
PROOF!
sent a cross-section of multivitamin preparations, purchased as usual
from the Nutri Centre in London, to the Birmingham City Laboratories,
one of the largest local government laboratories in Europe, which tests
for standards and quality for both the government and private industry.
What we were mainly looking for was whether a given preparation
could give you all the nutrients you need in a single tablet as well as
whether the price of this dosage represented good value for money.
To
arrive at comparable daily dosages, we compared what was contained in
each of the products with what PROOF! panel members like Melvyn Werbach
suggest are the optimum daily dosages for all vitamins (see box on p
3). A vitamin which had excellent levels of vitamin A would be marked
down if the levels of another nutrient like vitamin E were too low.
We
also examined the freshness of the product. Certain vitamins, such as
vitamin C, lose potency quickly when exposed to air or heat, as they do
when they sit for a long time on a healthshop shelf. Oil-soluble
vitamins, such as vitamin E, are notorious for losing potency or
spoiling, the longer they have been on the shelves. Any supplement -
however high the quality - is no good to you if it has become degraded.
As it would have been impossible for us to test whether all the
vitamins and minerals were present in the potencies stated on the
labels, we had the Birmingham Laboratories test levels of vitamin C.
They subcontracted out another test for vitamin E.
To examine value for money, we looked at:
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the price per serving, which we arrived at by using the manufacturer’s
stated daily dosage, the size of the container and the price of the
bottle. The prices in this sample ranged from 11 p to 27 p a day;
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how much of a given nutrient you got for your money. In this road test,
we compared how much vitamin E and vitamin C you got for your £;
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the comprehensiveness of the product. Some products carry the bare
minimum of nutrients whereas others also contain many good co-factors.
For instance, bioflavonoids - such essential antioxidants work in
tandem with vitamin C to fight infection, allergies and inflammation,
plus offer many advantages on their own, such as maintaining good
circulation and eyesight. Some products include bioflavonoids while
others just opt for the more minimal ascorbic acid; yet others provide
additional vitamin C or other nutrients in a buffered form, attached to
another mineral such as calcium or magnesium, which acts as a low-acid
buffer so that your system can more easily tolerate and digest a large
dose.
We also took marks off for any additives or excipients which had questionable effects on your health.
The
main surprise of our road test was the large disparity in value for
money. There were huge differences between how much you got for your £,
with some providing 100 mg of vitamin E compared with others that
contained almost five times that amount, and some offering more than
1000 mg of vitamin C compared with others that offered less than half
that.
In terms of potency, virtually all of the sampled products
but one contained the amounts of vitamin C stated on their labels (and
often more); the problem one showed a small amount of degrading.
Vitamin E fared almost as well, although one product contained slightly
less vitamin E than stated.
In general, our sampling proved that
there is no such thing as a magic bullet. Although many of the better
supplements provided every important nutrient, most contained levels
that are far too low to cover your daily needs. For instance, levels of
magnesium usually hovered around 10-25 mg, representing only one-tenth
to one-twentieth of the daily supplementation you should be aiming for.
At
best, the broad-spectrum multivitamin/mineral supplements may serve as
your basic supplement, but still require that you customise your regime
by the addition of, say, extra vitamin C, magnesium, zinc and possibly
vitamin E.
Adding on individual nutrients may also be
necessary because certain vitamins shouldn’t be taken with others. The
most notable of these is zinc, which nutritional expert Dr Stephen
Davies recommends should be taken on an empty stomach either last thing
at bedtime or first thing in the morning.
The most interesting
finding of all is that many of the so-called bargain brands actually
work out to be the most expensive when you see how little of each
nutrient you get for your money. Don’t let the price tag on the bottle
fool you. It’s wise to take a calculator with you when you’re shopping.
While
you’re at it, it’s also a good idea to take a magnifying glass for
reading the label. Half of our samples had such tiny print that they
were impossible to read without some means of magnification.
Formula V Vm-75
Manufacturer: Solgar
Price: £7.69 for 30 tablets
Rating: *****
American
vitamin giant Solgar has weighed in with a heavyweight one-a-day with
lots of added extras at a highly competitive price.
Formula V
VM-75 costs just 26 p a day for reasonably high levels of nutrients.
Each horse-sized yellow tablet provides 124 mg of vitamin E and 250 mg
of vitamin C - among the highest in our sampling - and the laboratory
found that tested levels slightly exceeded the stated dose.
All
told, you get 484 mg of vitamin E for each £ it cost you, which
represents nearly twice the vitamin E of any other product sampled. And
with 975 mg of vitamin C per £, it is the fourth highest amount of
vitamin C for the money in our sample.
As always with Solgar,
there have added a number of extras like hesperidin, rutin and citrus
bioflavonoid complex, and it’s refreshing to see a company that is not
afraid to add high levels of vitamin D (400 IU), and vitamin A (10,497
IU, they promise) from retinols and beta-carotenes, to their product.
They have also added hydrochloric acid (HCl) - the stuff of which
stomach acid is made - to aid digestion and assimilation, and more
arcane minerals like copper.
But lest you think this is all you need to take, levels of many of the important minerals, such as magnesium and zinc, are low.
Formula
V VM-75 is suitable for vegetarians, and makes use of a powdered
vegetable cellulose for binding. As with all tablets, it also contains
magnesium stearate, another binding agent.
We prefer capsules to tablets because they contain no extras, but as a one-stop shop, this vitamin was our clear favourite.
Multivitamin Mineral Complex
Manufacturer: BioCare
Price: £8.05 for 30 capsules
Rating: ****
Birmingham-based
BioCare has produced an outstanding all-in-one product, with good
levels of the main nutrients needed every day in an easy-to-swallow
capsule at a competitive price. Their Multivitamin Mineral Complex
works out at 27 p a day and contains 282 mg of vitamin C - the highest
of our sampling - delivered in the form of magnesium ascorbate, which
is far easier on the stomach than the standard sodium ascorbate. It
also has good levels of the B vitamins - about half the recommended
(see box on p 3). BioCare also delivers a high level of zinc citrate
(25 mg).
The product contains a number of the more arcane
minerals - molybdenum, iodide, chromium - also in buffered form.
Although the levels of vitamin E are low at only 154 mg per £, you get
a lot of vitamin C - 1051 mg - for your money.
The other great
benefit with BioCare is that you don’t take in any excipients. With a
capsule, you consume cellulose and water. Although we’d have liked to
have seen a few more frills in the form of boron or bioflavonoids
included, as a one-stop multivitamin, this is undoubtedly a very good
buy.
High Five
Manufacturer: Viridian
Price: £6.80 for 30 capsules
Rating: ***
New-kid-on-the-block
Viridian has come up with a product that slightly undercuts the price
of its major competitors. At 23 p a day, High Five would appear to be
the better deal compared with BioCare and Solgar. However, this is a
false economy because Viridian has taken a middle-of-the-road approach
to the levels of nutrients in its product. This means that each capsule
contains only 50 mg of vitamin E and 100 mg of vitamin C - making it a
tie for the second lowest vitamin C content in our sample.
So,
Viridian isn’t that cheap when you consider that you only get 221 mg of
vitamin E and 441 mg of vitamin C for every £ you spend. The product
provides the least amount of vitamin C per £ of any of the brands we
tested.
Furthermore, there are low levels of zinc (5 mg) and
magnesium ascorbate (107 mg). It was also one of the two products in
which the vitamin E content per capsule - at 44 mg - proved to be
slightly lower than the declared 50 mg.
It’s a shame because
there are all sorts of thoughtful touches to this product - vegetarian
cellulose capsule, bioflavonoids and rutin, iodine from kelp, even the
possibility of recycling your bottle (return it to the shop you bought
it from and they will give you 25 p back).
Viridian also has a
lovely ethos, guaranteeing that 50 per cent of all net profits will be
donated to environmental and children’s charities.
There’s nothing bad in these capsules - all you get is pure vitamin. What they need to do is give you more.
Improved Once a Day
Manufacturer: Quest
Price: £4.15 for 30 tablets
Rating: ***
At
first glance, this appears to be excellent value for money - no doubt
the thinking of Quest behind the new and improved element of this
product. At £4.15 for a one-month supply, Once a Day costs merely 14 p
per day, among the cheaper products of all the vitamins we tested. The
preparation offers a reasonable amount of vitamin C at 150 mg per
capsule, but only 10 mg of vitamin E, the lowest level in our sampling.
The biggest drawback with this product is the same problem as
with all cheap vitamins: there’s less put into it. Just about every
last nutrient you’d like to take is contained here, but less of it than
with other brands. There’s half as much of most of the B vitamins as in
other brands, so if you take three of these a day, you end up paying
what you’d have paid for the more expensive products anyway. The
notable exception is folic acid, which is present in abundance (100
mcg).
Like Solgar’s vitamin, Quest has added digestive enzymes
(papain) and HCl for ease of digestion. There’s also a smidgen of some
other substances like lysine and cysteine as well as bioflavonoids and
vanadium.
Quest displays a special notice on the front that
the product contains no hydrogenated fat, although we’re not aware that
any other vitamins do. As with all tablets, it uses a glazing agent -
in this case, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose.
In the end, there’s probably no getting around it - you get what you pay for.
Naturetime
Manufacturer: Blackmores
Price: £6.72 for 31 tablets
Rating: **
Blackmores
also has aimed for the low end of the market with this well-priced
product and, at 22 p a day, it is the fourth cheapest product we
tested. Nevertheless, Blackmores have not stinted on certain nutrients.
Naturetime contains 250 mg of vitamin C and, at 1153 mg of vitamin C
per £, represents the best value for money for vitamin
C of all the products sampled.
However,
this generosity does not extend to vitamin E. At only 33 mg - or 162 mg
per £ - it is squarely in the middle of all our samples in terms of
value for money for vitamin E.
Nevertheless, Naturetime is
surprisingly potent in the B vitamins and selenium, with levels
comparable to those of the more ex-pensive vitamin makers. What lets
the side down are the levels of some of the more important minerals,
such as magnesium (with only 6 mg), zinc (5.6 mg), vitamin D (5 mcg)
and beta-carotene (3 mg) although, like most of the brands tested,
nutrient levels exceeded those declared on the label.
This is
the only supplement that claims to be a time-released product, with 25
per cent released from the 'vegetable gum matrix' in the first hour,
followed by the remainder over the next seven hours. In truth,
time-release capsules are known to be hit-and-miss. Dr John Briffa, the
nutritionist, told PROOF! that such formulas are often less well
digested than ordinary vitamins by those with less than optimum
digestion.
VitaGuard
Manufacturer: BioCare
Price: £4.85 for 30 capsules
Rating: **
This
is BioCare’s cheaper one-a-day offerings at 16 p a day. On the face of
it, this is a good-value product. It contains a good amount of vitamin
C (868 mg), but only 128 mg of vitamin E per £. However, with most of
the nutrients in this supplement, VitaGuard contains about half the
levels of BioCare’s more expensive product, making it - in fact - more
expensive than its big sister.
Although the levels of B vitamins are reasonable, the amounts of many of the other important nutrients fall away sharply.
There’s
no question that this is a quality product - as a capsule of vitamins,
cellulose and nothing else - which covers basic requirements. But other
than as a vitamin for preteens and teenagers, this level of vitamin
supplementation isn’t going to offer you much besides some assurance
that you won’t have a deficiency of the basics.
A to Z
Manufacturer: Lamberts
Price: £6.50 for 60 tablets
Rating: *
Lamberts,
the quality manufacturer of such preparations as Health Insurance Plus,
developed by Dr Stephen Davies, has gone for a no-frills product at the
bottom of the vitamin market and, to its credit, it calls a spade a
spade on the label.
This product, they inform the consumer,
contains many vitamins and minerals at 100 per cent the recommended
daily allowance (RDA), and is aimed at those who want a 'low priced
product to take on a long-term basis'. The RDA, for the uninitiated, is
the minimum amount needed per day to prevent a deficiency disorder,
such as scurvy, and not the amount necessary for good health. So, A to
Z contains only 60 mg of vitamin C, 10 mg of vitamin E and about
one-twentieth the B vitamins of the others.
Nevertheless,
Lamberts has made sure to include all the main nutrients, including
copper, vitamin K and vanadium. Despite low levels of many vitamins,
Lamberts has surprisingly good levels of magnesium (100 mg) and zinc
(15mg).
Once again, the cheap price tag is deceptive.
Although, at 11 p a day, this was the cheapest we sampled, it turned
out to be the most expensive per £, since it offers the least amount of
vitamin E (112 mg) and the second least vitamin C (554 mg). To compete
with other products, you’d have to take five of these a day, which
would certainly make this the most expensive option of the lot.
Compounding
the drawbacks are all the additives included in the tablet -
maltodextrin (a sweetener) and microcrystalline cellulose - and in the
tablet coating (hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, magnesium silicate,
titanium dioxide and iron oxide).
Several panel members of WDDTY and PROOF! suggest the following as
a general guideline of what a daily supplement should contain. Remember
that these are only general guidelines. Your individual requirements
could be different from these.
To determine what you should be
taking, it is best to consult a qualified, experienced nutritionist
before taking supplements. Also, these levels do not apply to pregnant
women or children.
Bioflavonoids 100-1000 mg
Biotin 200-1000 mcg
Boron 3 mg
Calcium 500 mg
Choline 500-700 mg
Chromium 100 mcg
Copper 2-3 mg
Folic acid 400-800 mcg
Inositol 600 mg
Iodine 500 mcg
Iron 10 mg
Magnesium 200-400 mg
Manganese 5-25 mg
PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid) 500 mg
Potassium 300-600 mg
Selenium up to 200 mcg
Vitamin A 10,000-25,000 IU (10,000 IU as retinol)
Vitamin B1 (thiamine) 50 mg
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) 50 mg
Vitamin B3 (as niacin) 50 mg
(as niacinamide) 100 mg
Vitamin B5 (pantothenate) 500 mg
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine/pyridoxal) 50 mg
Vitamin B12 100 mcg
Vitamin C at least 50 mg, preferably 1-3 g per day
Vitamin D 400 IU
Vitamin E 100-600 IU
Zinc 15-30 mg
Nucell
Price: £14.99 for 60 capsules (one month’s supply)
Distributor: Wyreside Products (01789 490 600)
Rating: *
What does it claim to do?
According
to the publicity handout, this supplement - which contains nucleotides
and ribonucleic acid (RNA) - helps support the immune and nervous
systems, and liver function. Taking it regularly should increase
vitality and energy, improve digestion and help the body resist the
effects of stress.
Has it been tested?
Wyreside says the
product has been the subject of 10 years of extensive research. This
may well be true, but there are no published trials of Nucell. Most of
what is known about dietary nucleotides is based on animal studies and
is theoretical.
Human research has centred on the benefits of
breastfeeding - breast milk is high in nucleotides. However, the
nucleotides in breastmilk are of human origin and it is questionable
whether those extracted from plants or other animals are truly the
same. In a study of postoperative cancer patients - tubal feeds
containing nucleotides improved immune function, and reduced
complications and time in hospital (J Nutr, 1994; 124: 160-4S).
Likewise, it was found that growth-retarded infants fed synthetic milk
may also benefit from a formula that includes nucleotides (Nutrition,
1998; 14: 748-51). But there is nothing to suggest that supplementation
helps the average person.
Comments
Molecular genetics has
revealed much about the importance of nucleotides (the building blocks
of nucleic acids), and the function of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and
RNA as the body’s cellular database and messengers involved in several
biochemical activities, including maintaining immune function.
But
there is little scientific proof that supplements of this nature are
beneficial. There is also some debate over whether dietary nucleotides
can survive the digestive process intact - something they would need to
do to work the wonders claimed by nucleotide supplements. It is
believed that only the simple components of these substances are
absorbed for use during metabolism.
In spite of the backing of
media doc Jan de Vries, this product appears to be not much more than a
highly concentrated yeast-extract supplement with added amino acids and
vitamins. It is also expensive, in view of the limited evidence that
supplemental nucleotides and RNA are beneficial for anyone other than
the severely malnourished. Nucell is available through the Internet
(www.nucell.co.uk), by mail order (08452 705 070) or through Jan de
Vries’ healthcare clinics and stores.
As the body is constantly
manufacturing nucleotides, a deficiency is unlikely. Food sources of
RNA/DNA and other nucleotides include mushrooms, sardines, brewer’s
yeast, green vegetables, legumes and organ meats. Yeast is the main
source of supplementary nucleotides (and is the source for Nucell) as
are dried glands and brains.
Cautions
Nucleotides may cause
problems for gout sufferers because they eventually form uric acid.
Nucell also recommends that those with autoimmune disorders not take
this product since it may stimulate an immune response. Similarly,
those who are allergic to live yeast should avoid this product.