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Are Your Vitamins Worthless?

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August 11, 2009
	Dr. Gary Huber : Head Medical Ego

I see vitamins brought to me by my patients every day. As I pick up their bottle and begin to inspect it I feel like a sommelier (one of those snobby wine experts who tells you there is just a hint of raspberry in this pinot). But as I review these vitamins I realize that people are throwing tons of money into the toilet (literally) as many of these formulations have limited chance of helping people. The reasons are many but allow me tutor you through “Vitamins 101.”  Here are the quick hit items to look for. The bold print words are the specifics to look for.

Vitamin A is best derived from NATURAL BETA CAROTENE, with minimal amount of vitamin A directly. Beta carotene is a storage form of vitamin A and is safer to take. Natural beats synthetic, because synthetic beta carotene has not been shown in clinical studies to have natural beta carotenes cancer fighting benefit.

Vitamin C is hard to screw up.

Vitamin D should be as CHOLECALCIFEROL.  The amount will typically be small but 400 units is nice.  For more people this is not enough to balance their vitamin D needs but it’s a nice start.

Vitamin E is a common blunder by most vitamin manufacturers. You will see “d-alpha tocopherol” as the only listing. There are 8 different forms of vitamin E and to be effective and do all the wonderful things that vitamin E is capable of you want all 8. You are looking for a MIXED TOCOPHEROL. If you find one then it’s likely that you have found a quality vitamin. 

Vitamin B complex is fairly standard but a good vitamin will offer an activated form of folic acid listed as 5-METHYL FOLATE. This is another sign that you are holding a high quality vitamin but might be rare to find.  

Calcium is a dead give away that you are holding a bottle of “junk”.  You do not want calcium “carbonate” as this is simple sea shell calcium and can’t be absorbed.  If you take calcium carbonate you are just going to deposit it into your toilet without benefit. Your plumber will see more of that calcium than you will. You want calcium citrate, or ascorbate or hydroxyapatite or any other variety.  The key here is to avoid carbonate. 

Magnesium is a similar story. Avoid magnesium oxide. It is not absorbed well. Look for any other type such as magnesium taurate, citrate, glycinate, malate or others. 

Minerals are nice to have and brands vary as their completeness but it would be nice to see some iodine (100 mcg or more), chromium (200 mcg or more), vanadium (300 mcg or more), selenium (100 to 200 mcg), zinc (10 mg or more). 

Buyer beware: watch out for the tom-foolery known as “window dressing.”  This is the practice of putting a hundred different ingredients in the vitamin to look impressive and comprehensive but adding the tiniest amounts such that they are ineffective. For example, CoQ10 is a wonderful nutrient with many health benefits but manufacturers will list it and put in 5 mg. Thanks for nothing. For CoQ10 to have any tangible affect on your body you need a minimum of 50 mg and for some people as much as 800 mg. So what is that 5 mg dose doing? Impressing uninformed shoppers and nothing else.