Choosing a Multi-Vitamin

My topic really isn't choosing a multi-vitamin, it's more aimed towards rebutting an article I saw in the local newspaper about Nutritional Supplements and some of the not so good advice the article was passing out to ti's readers.

Newspaper. Avoid supplements that provide more than 100 percent of the daily value (DV) for any vitamin or mineral.

MyAchingKnees: What?!? The DV's are in most cases 70 years old. Consuming 100% of the RDA was supposed to protect you against the diseases of that time,...scurvvy, ricketts, etc. The rise in degenerative disease over that time frame is, in my mind, largely due from the lack of nutrients we consume and the degrading value of food produced. Add in the population's propensity to eat fast foods and heavily processed and packaged items for the microwave then you have an environment where you are most probably getting very little nutrients unless you are very careful. Even then a person needs enhanced does of nutrients to enable the bodies immune systems to protect against oxidative stress and the degenerative diseases that result.

Newspaper: Take 600 IU's of Vitamin D each day.

MyAchingKnees: Even the USDA recently changed the RDA from 400 IU's to 800 IU's. Most Nutritional experts will now agree that 1,800 IU's of Vitamin D is more of a minimum dose. Vitamin D is very important to immune system function,..and no, you will not produce enough Vitamin D from spending your days in the Sun.

Newspaper: Before taking supplements, check with your Doctor and ask him/her what they recommend.

MyAchingKnees: With my respects to all Doctors, maybe the first question should be "Do you know anything about nutrition and/or nutritional supplements?" Most Doctors will reply, concerning supplements, that you get most of what you need from foods. Oh really? I supposed they know what you eat? The sad fact is that almost everyone cannot get the nutrients they need from foods.

Newspaper: The newspaper article went on to list a bunch of recommended supplements, based on their daily cost broken down! That's called selling your health to the lowest bidder.

MyAchingKnees Taking the recommended supplements from the newspaper, I checked them against the Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements, 3rd Edition, to see where these recommended supplements rate on the scale of 0.1 to 100, with 100 being the highest quality, although no supplement yet has attained a score of 100. FYI: The highest score is 96.1.

Nature's Bounty Ultra Man Time Release , Score of 12.5
Kroger Advanced Formula Complete , Score of 4.9
One A Day Active , Score 5.1
Nature Made Essential Mega , Score of 17.9
Rite Aid Whole Source , Score of 6.2
Kirkland (Costco) Signature Daily Multi-Vitamin , Score of 5.2
Equate (Wal-Mart) Complete , Score of 4.9
Centrum Silver , Score of 4.7

......again, the above choices were the Newspaper's recommendation. Like I always say "Proof is in the pudding" and "Let the Buyer Beware"


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