Multiple Choice: How To Pick A Multivitamin

Nutrition Action Healthletter, April, 2000 by Bonnie Liebman

Calcium. To reduce the risk of osteoporosis (and possibly colon cancer), shoot for these daily doses: 1,000 mg (if you're 19 through 50), 1,200 mg (51 through 70), and 1,500 mg (over 70). If you don't consume three or four servings of low-fat milk, yogurt, or cheese every day, take a 300-mg calcium supplement for each one you miss.

Magnesium. Americans may get too little from food (among the best sources: whole grains and beans), which may raise the risk of diabetes. Look for at least 100 mg, just for insurance (the DV is 400 mg).

Selenium. In a landmark trial, people from the (selenium-poor) U.S. Southeast were half as likely to get prostate, lung, and colon cancers if they were given 200 mcg a day of a yeast-based selenium supplement. Studies are under way to confirm the finding. Our advice: consider taking 200 mcg a day separately. (Natrol, Solgar, and YourLife use SelenoExcell--the kind used in the trial--in their selenium supplements. Natrol says that it will start adding 200 mcg of SelenoExcell to its line of My Favorite Multiples this summer. Other kinds of selenium may be as effective, but it's too early to say.) If you take 200 mcg separately, look for a multi with no more than the DV (70 mcg). Selenium is toxic, possibly in doses as low as 1,000 mcg.

Chromium, Look for the DV--120 mcg--to (possibly) reduce your risk of diabetes. There's no need to get more than 200 mcg a day.

Potassium. Ignore. Amounts in multis are trivial (the DV is 3,500 mg). Instead, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, which are good sources. That's a better way to help keep your blood pressure from rising with age.

Expiration Date. Make sure that it's at least a few months away.

HOW TO PICK A MULTI

Who says Americans can't think for themselves?

For decades, health experts have issued platitudes like "you don't need vitamins if you eat a balanced diet." Yet an estimated 40 percent of Americans take a supplement, and it's most likely to be a multivitamin/mineral. They're no fools.

It makes sense to get roughly the Daily Values for most vitamins and minerals just in case you don't get them from food. That's especially true for women because, on average, they eat less food than men.

What's more, many people run short on some key nutrients, possibly raising their risk of heart disease or birth defects (folic acid), weakened bones (vitamin D), or irreversible nerve damage (vitamin B-12). (See p. 8.)

Of course, you can't expect a supplement to make up for a lousy diet. Vitamins or no vitamins, you still have to eat enough fruits and vegetables, beans, whole grains, and low-fat dairy, poultry, and fish. And you still have to limit fatty meats and dairy products, pastries, commercially fried foods, and sweets.

But a healthy diet and a supplement may be the best of both worlds. The question is which supplement ... or supplements?

It's not as simple as taking 100 percent of the DV for everything. We already get too much of some nutrients, and some others won't fit into a multi (unless you have to take six a day). Here's how to sort out the good from the not-so-good multis.