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Prescriptions
Avoiding a Bitter — and Costly — Pill
By Susan Enfield
A wad of cotton and several dozen stinky, big-enough-for-a-horse pills. These are the contents of most vitamin-and-mineral jars, and they're almost always identical. But the labels-and the prices-can be as different as Ch‚teau Lafite and Night Train. For instance, the Master Nutritional System from haute
supplement-maker Rainbow Light, which boasts that its nutrients are lovingly grown in a liquid medium, will set you back $40 a month, versus two bucks a month for Kmart's. You're worth every penny, of course, but ever wonder whether the cheap stuff is just as good?
According to Jeanne Goldberg, director of Tufts University's nutrition center, it is. "There's no justification to pay more for a so-called natural vitamin," she says. "Vitamins are chemical compounds, so getting it from rose hips is no better than getting it from a lab." The synthetic-versus-natural debate-a skirmish in a multimillion-dollar battle to
perk up aging boomers-promises to rage, but in the meantime, a few label-reading points will help you separate marketing from medicine.
Percentages
Look for 100 percent of the U.S. Daily Values in supplements you take. Despite the implied claims of megadosages, twice as much isn't twice as healthy, and 30 times as much is useless.
Quality
The letters "USP" (U.S. Pharmacopeia) indicate the brand has voluntarily met rigid standards for potency, quality, and purity. Given the nonprofit advocacy group's more than 175 years of experience, "USP" is worth seeking. In a recent study at Tufts, some supposedly top-shelf calcium supplements without the seal didn't so much as dissolve.
Time release
Forget highly touted time-release coatings said to keep certain nutrients-such as water-soluble vitamins B and C-from going to waste by being absorbed all at once. Just take your vitamins and minerals with meals, and you won't have to fuss with various coatings. A National Institutes of Health study, for example, suggests that tissues can't use more than
200 milligrams of vitamin C a day, rendering a time-released pill overkill.
Source
For minerals in particular, provenance matters. Calcium supplements from oyster shells, for example, may also give you a dose of lead. Look for calcium citrate or purified calcium carbonate instead.
Dosage
Taking one multivitamin a day may be sensible, but some high-potency brands suggest up to nine pills a day — questionable advice, at best.
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S T A N D A R D S
The True Thrust of Basic Training
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Squat-thrusts may seem like a handy bit of torture employed only by demented Hollywood drill sergeants, but military outfits such as the Navy SEALs really do use the exercise. "They work the arms, shoulders, chest, and thigh muscles," confirms Mark De Lisle, a SEAL reserve who recently revised his self-published book, Navy SEAL Exercises.
To execute the exercise with true SEAL zeal, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, hands on your hips. In one fluid motion, squat until you can place your palms flat on the floor alongside your feet. Keeping your weight planted over your arms, kick your feet straight back so that you end up in a straight-armed push-up position. Do one
push-up, hop your feet back to the starting squat, and stand up. Add squat-thrusts to an existing thrice-weekly strength routine by starting with 20 reps and working up to 60. Ten reps in quick succession also make a good warm-up.
— Daryn Eller
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Illustration by Marcos Sorenson; photograph by David Roth
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