the Multi-Vitamin

How to pick an effective and safe Basic Multi-Vitamin

There are very few "off the shelf" Multi-Vitamins that measure up to be considered as effective and safe according to the new vitamin criteria established on this website. Most are incomplete and contain flaws in forms, dosages, and or combinations. Thus, some modifications or additions are necessary to adapt the few Brands coming the closest. This will have to suffice until Brands change multi-vitamin formulas and incorporate proper nutrient forms, dosages, and synergisms.

The major vitamin issues that most existing Multiples fail to address are listed in this article.

The first 15 flawed nutrients and concepts that needs improving are listed here.

Some of these issues are controversial, but enough scientific research exists to suggest a precautionary approach is a wise choice. To see this approach in action, go to this article.  

 Next: Here are some Multi-Vitamins that come close: Notice the number of pills to take. Only iron free forms are acceptable. Pre-menopausal Women should take iron separately when needed.

• Klaire Labs Multinutrient. (take 1-2  of 6)
• Naturelo Whole Food Multivitamin iron free (take 1-2 of 4).     NOTE: higher magnesium than calcium is good since calcium is fortified in many different foods and this will help balance ratio. Supplements below will need some extra magnesium.
• Enzymedica Multi-vitamin no iron. ( take 2 of 4, best to separate the 2 as well)
• Pure Synergy* 2 tablets a day without iron (take 1 of 2), or 4 tablets without iron, (take 1-2 of 4)

*While this brand is a FoodForm vitamin, look at the labels where they mention the family members for the three family vitamins, beta carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E. See NOTICE below.  

Notice the nutrient forms in the recommended Brands and the dosages when taking just the number recommended. Plus, the nutrient formats are pretty good, like natural beta carotene from algae has balance of all carotenoids. You can use these examples to evaluate and compare the nutrient forms of your current multiple vitamin. Use those up first.

NOTICE: One quick survey reveals a lack of the foodform vitamin companies like New Chapter, MegaFood, Garden of Life, PlantFusion, etc. While the formulas are good, the labels do not give enough information as to the form of the nutrients added to the yeast during the growing production cycle. Thus, If you pick one of these, assume they do not have any of the family members for beta carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E. These all have to be added separately making them very expensive.

Once a base is picked, check out areas where it is low or incomplete and add those nutrients separately. Like Vitamin C family (bioflavonoids, rutin) and Vitamin E family of alpha, beta, delta, & gamma tocopherols. Best to take same four tocotrienols separately. Since the serving size is reduced, the minerals may be slightly smaller than needed and an extra Multi-Mineral will be needed. For extra nutrients to complement the basic multiple...go here.

How to use New Vitamin Criteria

A search of available multiple vitamin formulas reveals very few if any are adequate by themselves to satisfy this new criteria. Plus, the consuming Public has been programmed to demand higher dosages and typical formula ingredients. This new criteria, based upon current science, is going to take time to manifest.

The closest way to get the benefits of this vitamin criteria is to modify a multiple vitamin formula by adding, reducing, or combining it with a few other products.

• First, find the best matched multiple for nutrient forms.
• Next, to match dosages, adjust the serving size, which for most multiples meeting criteria that have a serving size of between 2-6 capsules or tablets, and reduce that serving number until you are within the dosage levels for most nutrients. This is often only half the regular serving size number of caps or tabs. DO NOT TAKE THE suggested serving size number unless the dosages are nearly the criteria amounts!!!  Then add separately these nutrients: 

1.  
   1. Vitamin E tocopherol complex (4 members; d'alpha, d'beta, d'delta, d'gamma) 
   2. A vitamin E tocotrienol about 50mg complex, 
   3. A vitamin C (250-500 mg) family complex, 
   4. A multi-mineral complex, with 3-4 serving size, and again, reduce to 1-2 a day. 

• Alternate days for the Tocopherol and Tocotrienol complexes with many skipped days since the multiple will have some vitamin E as d'alpha tocopherol and fat soluble nutrients go into storage for rainy days. 
• Occasionally also take a vitamin C family. It is not needed everyday since again there is also some in the multiple. In fact, a few multiples may not need extra Vitamin C. Include the members of the C family here too (bioflavonoids, rutin, etc.) 
• Since you cut the serving size in half for most multiples, the minerals may be reduced to less than desired amounts so you might need to add one or two of a multi-mineral with a serving size of 3-6.  Ideally, taking the mineral tabs separately is of some benefit to increase absorption percentage. This mineral supplement may not be necessary, and definitely not everyday. Check combined amounts.

Now you have the most effect way to max the value of multiple formulas with complete nutrient families similar to nature's plan. The dosages and formats are more body function and processing acceptable. This will complete the Multiple Supplement criteria, now of course there are other nutrients that you may want to include, such as fish oil, tumeric, bone formula, or CoQ10 providing specific actions according to your overall diet and lifestyle situation. These other nutrients are best taken separately and should not be included in the multiple vitamin product. And not needed or recommended to take everyday. In fact, even the multiple should not be an everyday happening. Take a day or two off each week. This is a topic for a another discussion.

Watch for an example soon.

Nature's Plus GOLD Multiple

This multiple scores better by taking JUST one tablet daily and occasionally at 2 a day. That makes this multiple, a combination of natural and synthetic vitamins, a pretty good multiple choice. The base is just a bonus. 

To Vitamin Insiders, this multiple would fit in the "everything plus the kitchen sink" category. The product offers far to many ingredients at such tiny amounts. It is usually better to consume less ingredients with greater amounts of vital nutrients, not necessarily the vitamins or minerals, but the plant phytonutrients which are the object of using plant bases in the first place. 

Analysis of this product unfortunately exhibits an increasingly used method to manipulate data required on labels.  Below is the label. The ingredients listed are contained in 3 tablets.  Marketing uses a very cleverly scripted label that while technically correct, leaves the customer with a false impression. For example, Here is the listing for vitamin B1 thiamine: B1 "as thiamine HCl; naturally occurring from Organic Gold Standard [guava (Psidium guajava), holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum), lemon]"  Doesn't that give the impression that the vitamin B1 is all natural from these 3 sources? (These 3 ingredients suppling vitamins are from the same company that supplies Garden of Life MyKind Multiple vitamins as well as Sun Warrior Multiples. 

So what does the ingredient source listing really mean? You have to look at the punctuation. The semicolon is the tip off; the two phrases before and after the semicolon are separate and independent of each other, but both add together to get 30 mg of B1.  "Thiamine HCL" is synthetic vitamin B1 which does not exist in nature. The food extracts also supply part of the vitamin B1 amount, but the amounts each source provides is not mentioned. These food source vitamins were concentrated with a new patented manufacturing process in India. 

UPDATE: Here is an article with the current information about the gold standard vitamins from food products that explains this new water extraction method for getting vitamins out of just food. But, the fact that Nature's Way label lists the synthetic vitamin form before the food extract form, it is difficult to accept the explanation expressed in the article link for vitamins from this new food process.   

Detail Clarification: A rational look at the B1 content of these 3 sources reveals the real story. A serving of 3 tablets contains 30 mg of vitamin B1. Of the 3 foods listed, Guava contains the most B1, so let's just use it to determine how much Guava would be needed to concentrate out the 30 mg. of B1. There are .07 milligrams of B1 in 3.5 ounces of Guava. or .02 mg per ounce. Thus to get 30 mg. you would need 1500 ounces of Guava, or nearly 94 pounds. IT JUST DOES NOT FIT the label implications. 

If you move down the label box to "Gold Standard Whole Food Complex." you will find that it says after listing the 3 foods, "standardized naturally occurring B complex and vitamin C" This term opens the door for synthetic vitamins to spike the food elements. This is really a reach for the use of the term standardized. Obviously it is another attempt to mislead customers into thinking the vitamins are all natural. Companies that employ such tactics jeopardize their ethical standing. The same is probably true on the label for Vitamin C.

Definition: Standardized = Say milk thistle has a range for its active ingredient of between 15% to 30%. When a company standardizes it, they will add the active isolated ingredient so that all the batches of milk thistle yield the same percentage, say 25%, or they could go up to 40%. Nature's Way use of standardized for it's Gold formula stretches this meaning to new heights by standardizing to 95%. Does that mean it is at 95% of total plant material, or is it 95% of the amount that normally is present in the plant? The label says the former which would only leave 5% for the rest of the plant. A very small amount making the product almost an isolated nutrient. For some nutrients, this might be the only nutrient needed from the plant, but for others there may be synergisms with other nutrients in the plant that influence the activity of the target nutrient. With St. John's Wort, what scientists thought was the active element later proved to not really be the only element from the plant that influenced mental activity.

Author's Notes: While this product at least has a technically correct label (just misleading), there are more and more companies just flat out not telling the truth in marketing literature and put out very misleading labels.  

NEW PROCESS FOR RAW MATERIAL

Some of the ingredients in this product use a new micro grinding process that creates a particle size able to pack more into each tablet. This technique is now used with drugs very successfully to increase absorption for low absorption chemical drugs, plus it targets new areas of the body where the larger particle size did not go. How nutrients respond to this process has to be tested and verified. Some nutrients may be damaged by this process from the great pressures needed or it could create absorption anomalies due to the small size particles moving into spaces where they do not belong, or perhaps getting absorbed in forms not body ready. Benefits for manufacturing include easier mixing, better moisture control, and less interaction between nutrients.

As with any multiple with so many ingredients, the amounts of any one base nutrient are extremely small and the only hope is that there is a synergistic action from all the nutrients added together. The use of probiotics at just 28 million is hardly worth the effort. It takes nearly a billion to have an impact. Plus, with all the other nutrients present, the probiotic bacteria would likely react and breakdown rapidly.

Also of note, whole foods have fibers that interfere with nutrient absorption. This aspect is seldom mentioned in whole food supplements. Because fibers take up so much space, they usually are eliminated in the concentration process so there is more nutrient space. Is this still a whole food? The mention of fiber as a marketing tool is rather anemic for this multiple since the amount at 30 mg. is so minute. The standard size capsule holds 800 mg. The recommended fiber amount per day is over 25 grams, or an amount 833,333 times larger than the 30 mg.

Multi SCORE = at 1 per day 11.75,  at 2 per day 10.5, at 3 per day 9.5:  (scale 1-15)

Points lost or gained: Take 1-2 per day + 1 or +.5, at 3/day -.25, Gained + .4 for natural source carotenoids but lost -.15 since too high dose, Lost -.5 for no E family, -.25 for high C to low C family, lost -.25 for Cal/Mag 2-1 ratio, lost -.3 for folic acid and B12 forms, Gained +.5 for proper lower dosages of selenium and chromium, +.65 for Base from overall nutrient amounts, lost -.25 for confusing label, lost -.25 for excess B vitamins, gained +.25 for K2, lost -.1 for unknown K2 dosage since MK-4 also present.

Scoring details: Starting value is 10, can go as high as 15 with additional benefits or as low 5 with subtractions for inferior forms, dosages, or added chemicals like synthetic colors, preservatives, inorganic base, etc.

To improve score, add to multiple1-2 times a week: Vitamin E family, or gamma E and a tocotrienol supplement. 

NOTES: Too many items in base are at an insignificant amount and potency. Large number of base ingredients also increases potential for lead or other heavy metal contamination, although levels will be low since so little of each ingredient is used. A one or two base ingredient product might have less chance for lead contamination, but if present, it would be at higher amounts. Lead or other heavy metals contamination potential increases with the use of natural ingredients. Some of highest offenders include cereal grasses and algae. All raw materials need to be tested for contamination before product build. 

Did you hear that the White House vegetable garden soil is contaminated with high lead levels and the crops had to be destroyed?

To see label for Nature's Plus Source of Life Gold Standard Multiple Tablets.