What’s Really in Your Vitamins?

Independent health product tester ConsumerLab.com is dishing up unsavory news for people who take multivitamins. Of 29 products tested, eight “failed” as mislabeled or contaminated.

One vitamin water contained 15 times the amount of folic acid claimed on the bottle, while a multivitamin for older people provided less than half the vitamin A claimed on its label. And a men’s multivitamin had traces of lead.

New federal rules “were supposed to ensure the potency and quality of the products,” says the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Bruce Silverglade. “But apparently the rules are not having their intended effect.” 

Katharine Greider writes about medical issues and health policy.