The good news, according to the LA Times, is that cheaper vitamins are very often better than pricier versions. The paper cites a recent study conducted by ConsumerLab, which analyzed several aspects of best-selling brands, and revealed that inexpensive multivitamins often performed as well or better than expensive counterparts. Among the best buys were Nature's Way Alive! Daily Energy Multi-Vitamin Multi-Mineral, which cost 12 cents per day, and Kroger Complete Ultra Women's Health and Walgreens One Daily for Women were each only 6 cents per day.
The bad news is that vitamins may have no actual value. The Wall Street Journal reports that an NIH panel in 2007 concluded that "the present evidence is insufficient to recommend either for or against the use of [multivitamins and minerals] by the American public to prevent chronic disease." Wait, there's more: a 2003 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force report found insufficient evidence either for or against taking multivitamins to prevent cancer or cardiovascular disease. And more: a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology this year that followed 182,000 people in Hawaii and California for 11 years found no association between multivitamin use and deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease or any cause.
Do bodies work better without vitamins?
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