Some vitamins better than others?

I was told that a Centrum chewable vitamin would be enough, but I belong to another WLS group, and they stress that you buy these bariatric specific multi-vitamins, claiming they absorb better for us WLS patients.  True, not true?

In my humble opinion......some what yes. Over the counter vitamins like One A Day and Centrum are mass produced by the millions and have a tendancy to be made of inferior ingredients, with a lot of fillers (crap we don't need in our body!)
While supplements that are made by the smaller manufacturers have ingredients that are made from "whole food" (meaning from organic plant sources) and are of a higher quality.
 I don't take a "bariatric specific" vitamin, but I do take top quality supplements from a vitamin supplement store. I think I absorb these better and I know I am putting high quality vitamins in me, with no fillers and other gunk.
 Just my two cents worth!

Centrum is manufactured according to the USP (United States Pharmacopeia) Standards and bears the USP symbol right on the label.  This is an indicator of quality, absorbability and bio-availablity. 

Bariatric Advantage has the same USP symbol and is manufactured under the SAME regulations that Centrum is.

This study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition used Centrum multi-vitamins to determine the effects of multi-vitamins on blood serum levels.  The study was conducted on older adults --- so hydrochloric acid production (stomach acid) would have been in the same range as a WLS patient. 

If you look at the exact nutrient balance of the different multi-vitamins (centrum vs. BA, for instance) you'll see that the bariatric vitamins contain a slightly higher dose of the vitamins that we malabsorb (A,D,E,K) ... but these vitamins are also readily available in the foods we are now eating (healthier choices) and also contained in the multi-vitamins that are not designated as bariatric.  I have a comparison spreadsheet posted on my blog: http://pamtremble.blogspot.com/2008/01/mulit-vitamin-compari son.html

For TWICE the price, I really don't see the added benefit of buying the more expensive version just because it has a label on it that says it's for WLS patients. 

Just my humble opinion...

Pam

Wow, that was some great work!!  That other group I am in really pushes not only the  BA vitamins, but all this 'BA' food and such.  Personally, I think I can do just as well with my choices with regular food that I really don't see the point of spending all that money.

So in your comparison, which vitamin did you end up deciding to take?

My personal choice would have been the Adult Life Chewable Multi.  But unfortunately it tastes like eating spoiled pineapple straight out of the garbage dumpster.  After trying it I literally had the dry heaves for 2 hours.  Needless to say those got sent back to the store.  LOL!

I take Centrum Adult Chewables.  I don't mind the flavor (it's orange) and I feel better using a chewable.  Makes me feel more assured that chewing it up before I swallow is really starting the digestive process.  My NUT said I could switch to a pill form, but I like the peace of mind of a chewable, I guess.

This thread actually spurred me to do some extra research about multi-vitamins this afternoon.  I was pleased to find out that Centrum consistently ranks at the top of the list of various multi-vitamins for "truth in advertising".  Lab tests show that the pill content matches the label claims and that all the USP standards are met and exceeded for Centrum's products (the entire line of supplements).

There's a couple articles in Consumers Reports and Consumer Labs that did testing on different vitamin brands to check quality and content.  I'm going to check with my library to see if I can get my hands on the full articles.  Here's a page that links to several different resources: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/multivitamins/revie ws.html

Yeah, I hate pineapple, so that one would not do!  LOL!

And I take Centrum chewables as well, so I fell better now!