WHEN I stock up on ibuprofen (my painkiller of choice), I typically buy a 500-count bottle of a store brand like Kirkland or Rite Aid. After all, ibuprofen is ibuprofen. Each pill costs me about 3 cents — or only one-third the cost of 9-cent Advil.
Yet, when it comes to vitamins — which I take only when I feel run down — I turn to name brands like Centrum or Nature Made. My thinking has been: Why mess around with quality when it comes to the essential ABCs?
But now that I’ve done some research, I might soon change my vitamin-buying ways. Read on to find out why.
Americans love vitamins. About half of adults take a daily multivitamin, according to industry data. And according to some theories, the economic downturn has inspired them to fortify themselves by swallowing more.
Sales over the last decade had been growing by about 4 percent annually. But this year, as more people are taking their health into their own hands, perhaps hoping to stave off doctor bills, vitamin sales are expected to grow by 8 percent to a total of .2 billion, according to Nutrition Business Journal, a market researcher and publisher.
About 42 percent of shoppers purchase their vitamins at natural and specialty retail outlets, like GNC and Whole Foods, according to the journal, while only 23 percent take the discount approach and buy their bottles at supermarkets and club stores. The other 35 percent buy through mail order or from a health care provider.
Of course, it’s controversial whether we should be taking vitamins at all. Recent studies have indicated that taking a multivitamin won’t protect you from heart disease or cancer. And experts maintain that if you eat well, you don’t need vitamin supplements.
“The evidence shows that a healthy diet and exercise are the best way to ward off disease; a vitamin cannot replace those benefits,” says Eric Rimm, associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.
But what if you don’t eat well or are chronically stressed out? Then, Professor Rimm says, there may be some benefit from taking a multivitamin. “Certain subgroups, including women of child-bearing age attempting to get pregnant, may need specific supplements, like folic acid and omega-3,” he added.
As for the matter of cost: If you take only a daily multivitamin mainly as a medical insurance policy, it certainly won’t hurt your health — as long as you do not already eat a lot of fortified food. And it could help. But it will require spending some money. And if you take a multivitamin and a few individual vitamins and minerals, it’s even more worth your while to make sure you’re not paying more than you need to.
Here’s how to get the most vitamin for the least money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/health/05patient.html?ref=healthThe only vitamins or supplements I take are by prescriptions. You simply don't know what's in the over the counter product and it's certainly not regulated by the FDA.So many foods and products these days are adding stuff. You have to read your labels. I probably pay too much for my vitamin C. I have a presciption for 1000 mg and I have the pharmasist fill it along with my other meds. The same for my fishoil. I am not an overly trusting person. I just want to know that the product actually contains what I am supposed to take. I was reading the lables on some cheaper fishoil and it said 1200 mg of fishoil on the lable but had less omega 3 on the back of the lable that gave the percentages.