Multiple Choice: How To Pick A Multivitamin

Nutrition Action Healthletter, April, 2000 by Bonnie Liebman

7 High Potency High Shmotency

One A Day Essential High Potency Multivitamin has 100 percent of the DV for 11 vitamins. What's "high potency" about that?

The FDA says that a multi can call itself "high potency" if at least two-thirds of its nutrients have at least 100 percent of the DV. To most people, "high potency" means considerably more than the DVs.

And in practice, "high potency" may mean pumped up Bs and C but not enough minerals. Some examples: "Super High Potency" Puritan's Pride Ultra Vita-Min has less than 15 percent of the DV for chromium, copper, magnesium, selenium, and zinc. And "High Potency" Solgar Multi II Caps have no more than 17 percent of the DV for chromium, magnesium, selenium, or zinc.

In contrast, pick up a bottle of Centrum (which could call itself "high potency" but doesn't) and you'll get 100 percent of a day's chromium and zinc. The same probably goes for store-brand copies ("knock offs") of Centrum.

8 Not So Special

Most companies sell "specialized formulas" for women, men, seniors, etc. But those claims aren't regulated, so it's up to each company to decide what each group needs. And sometimes they decide wrong.

For example, AARP Seniors Multivitamin With Minerals has only 3 mcg of vitamin B-12. That's half the DV, but it's only a fraction of the 25 mcg that some experts recommend for anyone over 50 (see "How to Read a Vitamin Label," p. 8). Given AARP's older membership, all of its 21 multivitamins should have 25 mcg of B-12. Yet only four do.

Women's and men's formulas are also not always based on the best science. Most women's formulas have extra calcium, but some--like GNC Women's Multiple--have only half the DV for vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium.

And Safeway--one of the largest supermarket chains--has a Women's Daily Pack with only half the Daily Value for folic acid, the B-vitamin that can help prevent birth defects and may cut the risk of heart disease.

9 Name Claims

KAL sells Hair Force and Enhanced Energy-S. Futurebiotics sells PMS Forte. Schiff sells Dr. Susan M. Lark's Menopause Nutritional System Kit. Inverness Medical distributes StressTabs.

Multivitamin labels don't usually make blatant promises to grow hair, curt) the symptoms of menopause, control stress, or whatever. But multivitamin names often do. (You're unlikely to see claims that a multi can cure cancer, heart disease, or other illnesses. That would require the manufacturer to prove that its product is safe and effective, like a drug.)

Unfortunately, most name claims--like those above--aren't backed by good evidence. The bottom line: Companies are on their own when it comes to making name claims ... and consumers are on their own when it comes to judging them.

10 Structure - or - functions Claims

Not all claims are part of a supplement's name. What inside-the-Beltway types call "structure-or-function claims'--which can appear anywhere on the label--are also loosely regulated. These claims describe how something affects the structure or function of the body. But they're often misleading.