Multivitamin - Supplement Quality and Concerns

Supplement Quality and Concerns

Multivitamins are the most popular dietary supplements in the United States, accounting for $4.8 billion in sales in 2009. However, there is no standard formula for multivitamins, and no U.S. agency that routinely tests multivitamins, so formulations and quality can vary widely. Additionally, vitamin and mineral needs and tolerances differ based on factors such as age, gender, health conditions and pregnancy, so there is no one formula that is appropriate for everyone.

Considerations for multivitamin quality include verifying that the supplement contains the amounts of specific vitamin ingredients claimed on the label, tablet disintegration (which can affect absorption) and the potential for lead contamination. ConsumerLab.com has reported the quality of multivitamin supplements to vary widely, and that price is not predictive of quality.

Read more about this topic:  Multivitamin

Famous quotes containing the words supplement, quality and/or concerns:

    That life is really so tragic would least of all explain the origin of an art form—assuming that art is not merely imitation of the reality of nature but rather a metaphysical supplement of the reality of nature, placed beside it for its overcoming.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    There are few things more disturbing than to find, in somebody we detest, a moral quality which seems to us demonstrably superior to anything we ourselves possess. It augurs not merely an unfairness on the part of creation, but a lack of artistic judgement.... Sainthood is acceptable only in saints.
    Pamela Hansford Johnson (1912–1981)

    If we had a reliable way to label our toys good and bad, it would be easy to regulate technology wisely. But we can rarely see far enough ahead to know which road leads to damnation. Whoever concerns himself with big technology, either to push it forward or to stop it, is gambling in human lives.
    Freeman Dyson (b. 1923)