With so many choices of vitamin and mineral pills on the market, you almost need a medical degree
to make sure you are really getting the supplements you need.
But NBC's Lucky Severson brings us the next best thing!
You've got your "A-B-Cs" "D's" and "E's" - don't forget Calcium, Magnesium and Folate. Americans gobble up vitamin and mineral pills by the pound, but how many extra nutrients do you really need?
David Roll, Ph.D., Chairman USP:
"Look for a product that contains approximately 100% of the daily value of
recognized nutrients."
David Roll helps set national standards for vitamin pill quality.
Roll says keep a couple of tips in mind and you'll get all nutrients you need
for about $40 a year. Look for a "USP" symbol on the vitamin bottle.
It means the product meets certain standards for purity and absorption. An
X-ray shows what happens when a woman takes daily calcium pills that
don't absorb.
David Roll, Ph.D., Chairman USP:
"There were 2 tablets here, two tablets here, and two tablets here. In
essence they were the calcium pills she'd taken for the last three days. And
she is taking the product that is doing absolutely no good whatsoever."
To see if your vitamins are actually getting into your system, try this simple
test. Drop some pills into a glass of vinegar and give them a stir. 45 minutes
later they should be dissolved, if not, throw them out.
Roll says don't buy "megadose" vitamins. Your body will just dumps the
extra nutrients and hardly any contain enough calcium. And all those little
asterisks on the bottle means nobody can figure out what your body will do with
this stuff.
David Roll, Ph.D., Chairman USP:
"Those substances are absolutely worthless as a nutrition supplement."
What your body needs in calcium and Vitamin E seems to depend on your age,
weight and sex. --
Lucky Severson reporting for NBC news.
