Big Differences in the World of Multivitamins
When it comes to dietary supplements there are two basic kinds offered for sale. There is the health-food store
standard, backed by the orthomolecular approach, along with food-based supplements with low potencies. They both believe in purity and active ingredients for maximum absorption
and assimilation.
On the other side of the fence we have the pharmaceutical drugstore
multivitamins. They actually are the ones the public most frequently
purchase. Not only are their potency usually much lower, but they differ
in the excipients. Frequently the form of the multivitamins differ. The
pharmaceutical brand multivitamin far more often uses synthetic nutrients {(e.g., Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol)} that is
inferior in quality, for example to Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) that is the natural form
found in health-food stores brand vitamins.
Often overlooked by consumers are additives which are of paramount importance. H is
where the two types of multivitamins have major, important differences.
Consider the top-selling multiple in the marketplace, which happens to be a drug-store multiple supplement for seniors. It is highly endorsed by both MDs and pharmacists.
First, let's look at its excipients (the extra chemicals
needed to make the tablet, complete the filling of the capsule, or added for
some other unknowable reason):
Polyethylene Glycol,
Polyvinyl Alcohol, Pregelatinized Corn Starch, Sodium Benzoate, Sucrose, Talc,
Maltodextrin, Calcium Stearate, Sodium Aluminosilicate, Sunflower Oil,
Colloidal Silicon Dioxide, Corn Starch, Crospovidone, FD&C Blue No. 2
Aluminum Lake, FD&C Red No. 40 Aluminum Lake, FD&C Yellow No. 6
Aluminum Lake, Gelatin, Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Hypromellose, and Modified Food
Starch.
Do you want or need all those extra excipients? How do
they affect assimilation? How do they affect your health?
A
crash course in additives will quickly help you decide, so read about them -
all are easily found on the internet and known by other common names; such as
Crosprovidone, which is PVP, and hypromellose as HPMC. When all of these
additives are researched one wonders how they could possibly pass
Regarding
quality of the drug-store multivitamin, one of the most important differences
is the use of the "dl" synthetic, and inferior, form of Vitamin E
(which form has no biological activity). The formula has many other
inferior forms of nutrients to name a few: Sodium selenate (a form of selenium
that is not chelated and is easily reduced by Vitamin C into unabsorbable
selenium); an unknown amount of sodium; a nonchelated (and therefore
less-viable) form of zinc; and all at such low potencies that researchers
consider them ineffective as discussed further on.
Let's now look at a typical health-food store multivitamin and
see the difference.
Here
are the common excipients (some times limited to only rice powder):
Cellulose, stearic
acid (vegetable), modified cellulose, magnesium stearate, silica. Coating:
vegetable food glaze.
Here is another example:
Cellulose,
magnesium, stearate, silica dioxide, modified cellulose gum
Followed usually on most bottles with a
statement similar to this:
Free of the most common allergens such as yeast, rice, barley, wheat, lactose (milk sugar) and all milk, fish and egg products. No added flavorings, sugars, salt, artificial sweeteners, coloring, preservatives or salicylates.
The
actual vitamins are the most-active forms, such as the natural "d"
forms of Vitamin E and usually meaningful portions of newer nutrients such as
lutein, which in the "drug store" variety had a quarter of a
milligram and less than a third of a milligram of lycopene both of which should
measure five to ten milligrams to approach an effective dose. Also, when
iron is present in the formula, most frequently it is ferrous-sulfate - a form
of iron that causes constipation and interferes with Vitamin-E absorption.
The health-food store vitamin formulas also take into account proper
ratios of minerals and B vitamins.
