This question might seem a little simple but I was wondering what some of you guys are using for a multi-vitamin. I’m using the GNC Mega-Men (seems to have a higher level of ingredients than Centrum or some other supermarket brand) and I was wondering if there was some other good brand/ type that was flying under my radar. BTW, I’m also taking fish oils caps, 1-3 grams of C, a Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM complex and ZMA to round out my pill selection (besides Spike, of course). Just curious to hear what others are using…
I am using Life Extension for multi. These are the best there are in my opinion.
I use to take Mega Man from GNC, but the additional herbal ingredients made my heart race, so i stopped those.
AA
I have used GNC’s Mega Men in the past and was rather happy with it. I wanted to try to get something a bit cheaper, and if possible, more highly packed with vitamins, minerals, and “bonuses”, so I recently switched to Animal Paks. I missread the label a bit when ordering, thinking that the nutrition info was for 1 pak, but, instead found that it was for 2, causing the planned cost per day to double(also, its lacking a little bit in one or two things… Selenium comes to mind). I’ve done more research, and carefully chose a new multi to try as soon as I get done with these animal paks(I’m up to two paks a day since I’ve already ordered the other stuff). I’m going to be trying Nature’s Best Perfect Super Multi Power Pack, and, from the looks of it, it will be cheaper then either of the other two I’ve had, and definately better then the Animal Paks. I think it would likely roughly equal the Mega Men, having a few extras Mega Men doesn’t, but lacking the veggie powder mix that Mega Men has.
SuperNutrition Opti-Pack (iron free).
I forgot to mention that I ordered Greens+ since I went with the Life Extention 2-a-days that don’t have these ‘extras’ like their tabs do.
Twinlab Daily Two (Iron Free)
I don’t like alot of extras in my multi so I use Multi Pro 32X from Ast-SS. Its just a basic multi vitamin/mineral with none of the extra fluff. Beyond that I take some extra antioxidants, glucosamine/chrondroitin, ZMA, and Coromega fish oil packets.
[quote]Highwaystar1 wrote:
Twinlab Daily Two (Iron Free)[/quote]
I’m thinking of buying this stuff. 
I heard lots of good stuff about it.
I have used both TWIN LAB and LIFE EXTENSION. Both are good depending on your goals.
Solgar VM-75 “one a day”. Quality.
i doubt the efficacy of multi vits. Truly, how bioavailable are they. as such, is it just a matter that they turn your wee yellow(er) and make it smell(ier)
[quote]ZEB wrote:
I have used both TWIN LAB and LIFE EXTENSION. Both are good depending on your goals.
[/quote]
Zeb - Just curious as to what you mean by this statement?? Wouldn’t everyones goals supplementing with a vitamin to get the extra vitamins / nutients they aren’t getting from food? I could see QUALITY of the vitamin coming into play and that is why I supplement with Life Extension as I feel they are a superior product. Am I missing something?
I hope I am not coming across as a smart-ass, just curious.
AA
[quote]ZEB wrote:
I have used both TWIN LAB and LIFE EXTENSION. Both are good depending on your goals.
[/quote]
ZEB, why do you say depending on your goals? I use TWIN Lab daily two and it’s ok in terms of sources of vitamins/minerals and quality.
Are there any specific and tangible differences between Twin Lab and LEF?
Thanks,
Gary
Multi Pro 32x from ASTSS
Many always mention Twin Lab-besides their hornyscreamlikeabluewhaleinheatfuel product tendencies, I have always found them to taste terrible. Their always seems to be pallatability problems and afterburn. Their stuff is high quality in that the product matches the label-but why must THAT be a complement?!?
The Multi Pro at least is built with athletes in mind with a lot of extra B, antioxidants, and zinc. Sort of like an Animal Pak except based on science. Out of all the ones I have tried this is the only one I can tell any performance benefit from.
[quote]aschy wrote:
ZEB wrote:
I have used both TWIN LAB and LIFE EXTENSION. Both are good depending on your goals.
Zeb - Just curious as to what you mean by this statement?? Wouldn’t everyones goals supplementing with a vitamin to get the extra vitamins / nutients they aren’t getting from food? I could see QUALITY of the vitamin coming into play and that is why I supplement with Life Extension as I feel they are a superior product. Am I missing something?
I hope I am not coming across as a smart-ass, just curious.
AA[/quote]
There are some differences in the “mix” of vitamins between the two companies. When I know that I am not going to be eating properly over a given period of time I rely more on one than the other. That’s all I meant by “your goals.”
Hope this clears it up.
I’m a fan of the Nutraceutical Sciences Institute (NSI) vitamins available at Vitacost.com. They have a fairly wide range of multi’s there (a wide spectrum of potencies) and do not include a lot of the “funky” extras, such as herbs that I tend to avoid. Also, the actual vitamin types used tend to be very good as well.
Kuz
I used to take a multivitamin called Usana. I believe the vitamin for my age group 15-21? was called something like Body Rox. My sports medicine guy recommended it to me and told me his friend started it. He showed me a study that was done on like a hundred common multivitamin products where they gave a score to them on a scale of 0-1.0 based on bioavailability, toxicity, what vitamins it had in it and if it had enough, etc. It had like 20 things the rating was based on. I don’t know the details of the study but most of the common multivitamins ppl take like Centrum, Mega-Men, etc. were rated very very low like 0.2 . Usana was near 0.9 and I believe Twinlabs might have been up there also around 0.8. Not sure, I’ll try to find the study online for you though. Don’t know if Usana has a website or what but it was good stuff. I slept a lot better and felt better during day (placebo effect?). Might be worth looking at though.
APEX Profiles 3 & 4 Multi:
Its simple. And has larger amounts of Zinc and Magnesium than some I have seen, I like it even if based on that for my anabolic mineral support. Rather than going for ZMA, I get all the basics with this.
I like Schiff’s Whole-Food Based Multi. It’s only about $13 for 30 days and you get lot’s of calcium, probiotics, vitamin C, and several other peripherials that you normally don’t get in a multi (like ginseng), along with the standard vitamins and minerals. The whole-food based part means that they contain several plants (broccoli, algea) which helps the body more readily assimilate the the micronutrients.
TopSirloin
I wouldn’t call it my favorite, but am currently using A.D.A.M. from NOW. No complaints…