Search for the most complete multivitamin

Abstract

The group descriptor "multivitamin" doesn't guarantee that all vitamins are included in the product or that they are present in proportion to nutritional requirements. In fact the great majority of multivitamin preparations do not contain all the 13 established vitamins. We have reviewed the stated composition of all vitamin products registered with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. All containing fewer than five vitamins were excluded and so were those containing non-culinary herbs or amino acids, or intended only for export, or designed for children and pregnancy or in the form of powder and injections. 163 multivitamins were left for scoring. One point was awarded for each vitamin but a point was deducted if the amount was below or clearly above the Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI). We found two multivitamin preparations containing 13 vitamins at levels close to the RDIs: Centrum Complete (our score 11) and Centrum Select 50+ (score 10); five multivitamins containing 12 vitamins: the best Avon Women's Complete (score 12) and Pluravit (score 10). Others contain fewer vitamins (or scored less than 10). Centrum and Pluravit are available at major outlets and their cost is moderate. We recommend that these most complete multivitamins should be clearly listed in MIMS and dispensed in public hospitals when " Rx multivitamins" is prescribed. People who take a multivitamin supplement to insure that they obtain their vitamin requirements would be best to ask for a multivitamin that contains all (or nearly all) the 13 true vitamins.