Multivitamins information

Dissolvability has been a problem for some multivitamins. Obviously, if a vitamin doesn't dissolve properly, its nutrients won't be absorbed by the body. It's easy enough to test your own vitamins for this. The following test is taken from the article "What's in Your Multi?" by Wyn Snow, managing editor of the Supplement Quality website.

1. Place approximately one cup of white vinegar in a small bowl and warm it to 98 degrees Fahrenheit or so by placing it inside a larger bowl of water that you "top up" several times with warm water from the tap. (The goal is to keep the vinegar reasonably close to 98 degrees for half an hour.)

2. Drop your multivitamin (or other pill) into the vinegar, and jostle it about every five minutes or so by gently shaking or swirling the cup. Although you can also stir the mix with a wooden stick or toothpick, be careful not to touch the tablet itself.

3. The tablet should dissolve within 30 minutes. (This is the United States Pharmacopeial Convention standard for all pharmaceutical tablets.) If it doesn't dissolve within a full hour, it's not doing you much good. Get another brand.

Health and nutrition resources

ConsumerLab.com's "Multivitamin/Multimineral Supplements" testing results are available on its website. This document also includes information about each nutrient, daily values and food sources. A single report can be accessed for 30 days for $12; a 12-month subscription for all reports costs $30.

The Nutrition Action Healthletter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest has an excellent review of multivitamins, along with helpful information about daily values for each vitamin and mineral.

The Food and Nutrition Information Center at the U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains detailed lists of the recommended daily intakes (RDA) for vitamins and minerals. Each RDA is listed for different genders and age groups. The National Institutes of Health also have "Vitamin and Mineral Supplement Fact Sheets" listing information about each nutrient, daily values and food sources

Vitamin D is an important nutrient, and research shows that many Americans are not getting adequate levels. The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends that adults get more than the current RDA. The Harvard School of Public Health notes that 15 minutes of daily sun exposure without sunscreen is enough for most people to get adequate vitamin D, but the American Academy of Dermatology cites the risk of skin cancer, recommending that people get their vitamin D from foods and supplements.

Vitamin E also has some controversy. The Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University recommends 200 international units (IU) of vitamin E per day, and the Berkeley Wellness Letter recommends food sources, including nuts, seeds and leafy greens. The institute provides a good overview of current research on vitamin E.

About.com has an interactive quiz titled "Does Your Multivitamin Measure Up?" It answers a series of questions about the ingredients in your multivitamin and will tell you whether your multivitamin is giving you the right amount of nutrients, too much or too little. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)

The University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter publishes the "Wellness Guide to Dietary Supplements." Additional information about vitamins can be found by clicking on the supplement list.

Manufacturers' websites are also helpful sources of information about multivitamins. Most have ingredient labels for each product so you can compare different brands from the comfort of home.

Centrum

Dr. Fuhrman

Flintstones

GNC

L'il Critters

Kirkland Signature

Nature Made

Nature's Way

New Chapter

NowFoods

One-A-Day

Pregnancy Plus

Pure Encapsulations

Puritan's Pride

Rainbow Light

Stuart Prenatal

21st Century

Twinlab

Viactiv