It seems lots of supplement manufacturers just kind of make it up as they go along.
Other warning signs that should get you to throw out particular multivitamins—Vitamin E as d-alpha tocepherol only rather than mixed tocopherols, and selenium as a single form such as selenomethionine rather than selenium yeast or selenium amino acids.
I also suspect Vitamin A is similarly harmful in isolated form compared to the much more complex natural sources of it but don’t really have any evidence on that.
I also suspect Vitamin A is similarly harmful in isolated form compared to the much more complex natural sources of it but don’t really have any evidence on that.
I would bet against the specific prediction without rejecting the principle. That is, I expect when maximising a given function along the lines of “useful when you don’t have enough and minimally harmful when you have more than enough” there is a specific isolated form that is better for supplementation than complex natural sources. Where my in principle agreement comes in is that I consider it highly unlikely that the actual isolated form used in an arbitrary multivitamin supplement to be the most desirable one.
The most obvious reason I would expect to find that at least one of the forms of Vitamin A to be better supplemented in isolation than just adding more of a combination is that some of the forms are largely inactive until they are converted by the suitable enzymes. That gives you a potential rate-limiting buffer in the case where you are already eating too much of the stuff and adding more would otherwise be bad.
It seems lots of supplement manufacturers just kind of make it up as they go along.
Other warning signs that should get you to throw out particular multivitamins—Vitamin E as d-alpha tocepherol only rather than mixed tocopherols, and selenium as a single form such as selenomethionine rather than selenium yeast or selenium amino acids.
I also suspect Vitamin A is similarly harmful in isolated form compared to the much more complex natural sources of it but don’t really have any evidence on that.
I would bet against the specific prediction without rejecting the principle. That is, I expect when maximising a given function along the lines of “useful when you don’t have enough and minimally harmful when you have more than enough” there is a specific isolated form that is better for supplementation than complex natural sources. Where my in principle agreement comes in is that I consider it highly unlikely that the actual isolated form used in an arbitrary multivitamin supplement to be the most desirable one.
The most obvious reason I would expect to find that at least one of the forms of Vitamin A to be better supplemented in isolation than just adding more of a combination is that some of the forms are largely inactive until they are converted by the suitable enzymes. That gives you a potential rate-limiting buffer in the case where you are already eating too much of the stuff and adding more would otherwise be bad.
IIRC at least some multivitamins contain at least part of their Vitamin A as carotene rather than retinol.
Yup, definitely, many multivitamins (particularly at the higher end) also contain complex forms of Vitamin E and selenium.