To evaluate multivitamins I guess the first thing is to look at the contents.

What does it contain? All of them will have the basic vitamins (A, B, C, D, E, K, etc) and basic minerals (calcium, iron, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc). Even the cheapest ones have these because these are the basics. The better multivitamins will have additional ingredients and really it is up to the manufacturer what other extras they want to pack in - it can be probiotics, antioxidants, enzymes, etc... etc... the list is endless. Of course if they pack in extra ingredients then the dosage goes up. Instead of just 1 pill per day, it can be 2 pills per day, or 3 or 4 or more.

Does it contain enough? For all the basic vitamins and minerals, the health authorities have established a RDI (Recommended Daily Intake). This % will be stated in the multivitamin label. Most of the ingredients will be supplied at 100% or more than 100% of the RDI. For the non-basic ingredients many of them do not have any RDI, so there is no % given.

What is the quality of the ingredient? This is perhaps the hardest to determine because no info is given. Manufacturers get their raw material from different suppliers. Nowadays a lot of raw material comes from China (because cheaper). Usually the cheaper multivitamins will source from China. Other premium suppliers may source from Western countries.

What is the manufacturing quality? This describes the factory/plant used by the manufacturer. How clean is the premises and equipment used to manufacture? Remember the issue with an Aussie manufacturer that was reported in the newspapers a few years back? Again this is hard to know because the info is undisclosed. The only public thing we can try to find out is if they follow GMP standard or not.

What is the form of the ingredient? Vit C is not all alike. Vit E is not all alike and so on. The vitamins can have different forms or versions. From what I can tell, the different forms impact absorption and bioavailability. For example Vit C can be ascorbic acid (the most basic and cheapest form); a better multivitamin might use something like Ester-C or ascorbyl palmitate. Zinc is normally just zinc oxide - a better multivitamin might use zinc picolinate. And so on...

How well does it disintegrate? Tablet type pills have got binders and fillers. These must disintegrate in the stomach to release the ingredients. There are standards in the US and British Pharmacopeia about disintegration. We assume all manufacturers follow that but not necessarily. That's why in some 3rd party tests they test this and some multivitamins don't pass.

As you can see it's not easy to properly evaluate a multivitamin.

It's always best to get your nutrition from whole foods (eaten or juiced).

How much would you be spending for your juice blend each time? In terms of the cost of the raw materials?

If the pee is bright yellow it indicates excess of Vit B2 (not necessarily excess of all kinds of vitamins).

At the end of the day it is a cost vs benefit situation.

Sure it is best to get your nutrients from whole foods. However, those juice bars cost a lot more. I think say RM7-10 per cup. Can a person afford to spend that per day?

Reasonably decent vitamins are in the range of RM1.00 - RM2.50 per day. It's more affordable.

So in the end, you want best quality gotta pay more.

For myself I take a hybrid approach. I do buy some fruits and make my own juice using high power blender - drink this periodically. But also take some supplements (not necessarily multivits), for compounds and nutrients that might not be in the juice.

This post has been edited by jchong: Mar 11 2014, 06:40 PM