taking a multi-vit??

[alli]

For those who don't get enough fruit and veggies in their diet and take a multivitamin, here's (http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/22/healthmag.multivitamins/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail) a great article!!

[nesielheum]

Hi alli,
Good info on multi's! It is always good to see Centrum on the http://www.psoriasis.org/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif list. Centrum Silver is my one and only daily supplement, and no I don't take it for PS, just for my general health and well being.
I was a little surprised to see some familiar names on the avoid list, but on the other hand glad to see that at least a few of the manufacturers have recalled their products and are making an effort to ensure that their products do in fact match the ingredients posted on the package labeling.
There are too many corrupt individuals and organizations out there that give credible organizations and products a bad name. Kudo's to Consumer Labs for supplying this information.

[AnnieB]

I usually buy the generic equivalent of Centrum--like the Rite Aid or (formerly) Eckert brands. Their composition is exactly the same as the name brand and cheaper. GNC make the vitamins for Rite Aid, btw.

"GNC will also become the exclusive manufacturer of Rite Aid's private label vitamins and nutritional supplements."

http://www.riteaid.com/company/news/news_details.jsf?itemNumber=335

[LoriASoCal]

The Vitamin Shoppe Multivitamins Especially for Women Contaminated with 15.3 micrograms of lead per serving—10
times amount permitted without a warning label in California—
and short of listed calcium
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Toxicity of Lead
Lead is a slow cumulative poison to humans and other animals, and it can affect people exposed to small doses over a long period of time as well as those who receive larger doses over a short period of time. Fatal effects are observed if its concentration is high enough, but the usual effect is nonfatal. Effects of low-level lead toxicity in children are believed to include lowered intelligence, other neurobehavioral derangements, and impaired hearing. Lead generally builds up in the bones of affected individuals and also shows up in their blood.
Blood levels are usually used as indicators of an individual's health in cases of suspected lead poisoning. An individual having a blood lead level of 80 micrograms/100 mL (0.8 ppm) would be diagnosed as definitely sick. A blood level of 0.6 ppm would mean the individual was probably sick, while 0.4 - 0.6 ppm would indicate a high risk. A level of 0.2 ppm is the modern mean level for adults (U.S.A.). Some effects in children have been noted at levels near 0.2 ppm.

Lead level in bones, on the other hand, are of more archaeological interest. A level of 60 ppm is sometimes found today in the U.S.A., while values of about 40 ppm are found for the 1865 era, U.S.A., and lead bone levels of about 4 ppm are found in North American Indian skeletons of around 1500. More typical modern bone values would be 20 - 40 ppm. The level of lead in soft tissue is usually less, 0.1 - 28 ppm, and more variable.

Lead is toxic in the form of the Pb(II) cation, whose principal toxic effect is inhibition of hemoglobin synthesis. The reaction inhibited is the formation of the heme nucleus itself.

Normal lead levels in intake vary considerably. In foods the lead levels are 0.1 - 0.3 ppm, and in beverages they are 0.02 - 0.03 ppm. Modern public water supplies normally have lead levels well below 0.1 ppm (the lead comes from lead solder in the pipes). The current U. S. Environmental Protection Agency standard of 50 ppb may be lowered. Electric drinking fountains have been found to supply water with higher lead content due to their lead fittings and solder.

Lead levels in air vary from 0.17 micrograms per cubic metre in unpopulated rural areas through 4 micrograms per cubic metre in urban, densely populated areas. Values near freeways may reach 10 - 25 micrograms per cubic metre, and in a long highway tunnel, extreme values of 50 micrograms per cubic metre are possible. The air values originate from use of tetraethyllead, Pb(C2H5)4, as an antiknock additive in gasoline. As environmental regulations have reduced or eliminated the use of lead in gasoline, these values have steadily dropped.

Abnormal sources of lead intake for humans are primarily two. First, drinkers of large amounts of moonshine whisky drink in lead from the lead solders of stills. Second, children, especially toddlers in poor urban areas (of 2255 lead poisoning treatments, New York City, 1970, all but 90 were children 6 years of age and under) from eating the lead-based paints used prior to about 1950. These used compounds such as PbSO4, PbCrO4, and PbCO3 as pigments. Modern paints contain little or no lead.

Lead balance in the body is important. Most of the lead taken into the human body is excreted; a rough daily maximum balance is, for maximum normal intake and probable upper normal limits of lead content: solid foods, 1200 micrograms per day; beverages, 30 micrograms per day; public water, 200 micrograms per day; air intake, 225 micrograms per day, for a total maximum normal lead intake of 1655 micrograms per day. The maximum normal daily output of lead from the human body is about 2000 micrograms per day.

The details of the normal or average input and output are as follows. The air inhaled contains, on the average, 15 - 19 micrograms per day, of which 35 - 55% is exhaled, leaving a net air intake of 7 - 8 micrograms per day; of this perhaps 7 - 13% is absorbed by the lungs. Food and water contain about 250 - 350 micrograms of lead per day; of this, perhaps 5 - 10% is absorbed and eventually reaches the blood. Smoking contributes about 500 micrograms of lead per cigarette; the amount of this which is absorbed is unknown.

The corresponding average daily output would be, in the urine, 10 - 40 micrograms per day; in the feces, 100 - 400 micrograms per day; and in the sweat, 10 - 40 micrograms per day, for a total of about 120 - 480 micrograms per day. Clearly, the average input and output are approximately in balance. It is only when a human body takes in a high level of lead that the lead accumulates in the body.

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This article above puts the lead thing into perspective. It doesn't seem quite as horrible as when I first read that the vitamin was 15 times the legal amount in california(is that for a vitamin? or for food? not sure) But I do believe that a Big Vita Company like this holds some responsibility for the purity of the product.

[nesielheum]

I usually buy the generic equivalent of Centrum--like the Rite Aid or (formerly) Eckert brands. Their composition is exactly the same as the name brand and cheaper. GNC make the vitamins for Rite Aid, btw.

"GNC will also become the exclusive manufacturer of Rite Aid's private label vitamins and nutritional supplements."

http://www.riteaid.com/company/news/news_details.jsf?itemNumber=335If I am not mistaken, one of the things that ConsumerLabs looks for in the products that they test is that the ingredients listed on product labels actually match the product in the bottle. At the same time, the study from ConsumerLab.com shows that you can't assume just any vitamin is safe. Because there are no uniform manufacturing rules for supplements, a multi may not contain what the bottle claims, could be contaminated with something from the manufacturing plant, or might have tainted ingredients.I am not sure if Rite Aid or GNC multi was part of the recent test, but neither showed up on the multis to avoid list. I was glad to see the vitamin that I am taking on the recommended list. :)
Here is the Health Magazine's short list of multi-vitamins to avoid (http://i.timeinc.net/health/i/downloads/vitaminsno.pdf):
Eniva VIBE, a liquid sold in packets (No comment from manufacturer)
Healthy Moments Mint Cream Flavor Vitamin Strips (No comment from manufacturer)
Swanson Daily Multivitamin & Mineral (No comment from manufacturer)
The Greatest Vitamin in the World (No comment from manufacturer)
Weil, Andrew Weil, MD, Daily Multivitamin for Optimum Health (No comment from manufacturer)
Nature’s Plus Especially Yours Women’s Multvitamin (No comment from manufacturer)
The Vitamin Shoppe Multivitamins Especially for Women (Product voluntarily withdrawn from market)
Now Adam Superior Men’s Multi (No comment from manufacturer)
Win Fuel Men’s Formula (No comment from manufacturer)
AARP Maturity Formula (Product voluntarily withdrawn from market)
Hero Nutritionals Yummi Bears (offering consumers a replacement.)