Probiotics & Multivitamins
| SC Quality Benchmark for Probiotics & Multivitamins These are complicated products and have the following multifaceted benchmarks for quality. All of the criteria below have been taken into account in the assessment of products in this category. 1) minimum of 100% RDA of all essential vitamins with the possible exception of vitamin A 2) 100% RDA of iron, iodine and zinc 3) 20% RDA of magnesium and calcium 4) presence of the trace minerals: selenium, chromium, manganese 5) probiotic bacteria at minimum of 1 billion per daily dose. 6) if a prebiotic is present then this should be at a minimum of 0.5g per day |
Probiotics and Multivitamins and Minerals
Combinations of multivitamin and minerals with probiotics have become popular in recent years, pioneered by Multibionta from Seven Seas.
These combination products are commendable as long as both the multivitamin and mineral component and the probiotic component are of a quality to deliver their respective benefits.
Quality
The vitamin and mineral component of all products assessed, was of high quality with the most complete formulation found in the Boots product. All products would be likely to deliver the expected benefits of a good quality basic multivitamin and mineral. The probiotic component however was highly variable with the Boots product providing 100 times more probiotic bacteria than any of the others, and the only product within those assessed which reached the SC benchmark for a ‘stand alone’ probiotic. In the opinion of the SC expert panel this is the only product likely to deliver the expected benefit of supplementation with probiotics. As such this is the SC category winner, by some distance.
Value range
The value range used here is an average of the cost of 100% RDA level of the multivitamin and mineral component, which varied between £0.08 and £0.14 of the products assessed and the cost per billion of probiotic bacteria which varied between £0.05 and £13.60 between the products assessed.
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