Freshlife's own... To B or not to B

by Brian Tanzer, guest columnist

Hamlet asked that question – and you should, too. The next time you’re shopping for a multi vitamin, be sure to ask about the Bs!

The B-complex family of vitamins is a group of water-soluble, essential (body cannot manufacture) nutrients that have a variety of important functions. Most importantly, Bs serve as coenzymes, partnering with the enzymes that assist the body in converting the food we eat into energy. This is one of the reasons B vitamins have earned the reputation of supporting and enhancing energy. They do! It is also true that Bs are known as the “anti-stress” vitamins since they help the body to cope with many forms of stress. The more stress you have – the more Bs you “burn” – and therefore require.

When it comes to the levels of B-complex in one-serving-daily multi vitamin formulas, there is a world of difference. Most mass-market multis offer levels of B vitamins ranging from less than 2 milligrams (mg) to about 20 mg. These small doses are just enough to meet the very low U.S. RDA (recommended daily allowance) but certainly not enough to meet your body’s needs for optimal health and wellness. Many people fail to understand that consuming less than the U.S. RDA almost guarantees you a deficiency illness (such as scurvy for vitamin C). The RDA does not come close to the amount of a nutrient we believe is necessary for exceptional health.

At Freshlife, we understand the intricacies of the body’s biochemical and physiological processes, and the need to provide the essential nutrients to support these processes. The Freshlife Vita Min 75 formula, our most popular one-a-day multi, provides B-complex vitamins in much higher amounts than those found in Centrum, One-A-Day® and other supermarket and pharmacy brands.

The labels of dietary supplements provide a % of Daily Value listing. This tells the consumer what percentage of the daily value for each nutrient that particular supplement provides. In the chart below we compared the individual B-complex nutrients found in Freshlife Vita-Min 75 to those offered in Centrum®. As you can clearly see, the B-vitamins in Freshlife’s Vita-Min 75 far exceed the amounts found in Centum®. For the most part, Centrum offers 100% of the daily value. This would be fine if we all consumed 10-12 servings of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables daily, had no stress, lived in a pollution/chemical-free environment, exercised every day…. you get the idea. Consuming only 100 percent of the daily value, particularly of the B-complex vitamin, is simply not enough given the factors of life in our modern world.

“To B or not to B” has a simple answer. It is better NOT to suffer the slings and arrows of low-dose B complex multis. (Sorry, Shakespeare!) Vita-Min 75, available with or without iron, provides optimal amounts of all of the B-complex vitamins, plus many other essential nutrients that are critical to maintaining optimal health and wellness.