INORGANIC ELEMENTAL COMPOSITIONS OF MULTIVITAMIN/MINERAL DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS: INITIAL PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT

The demand for multivitamin/mineral (MVM) dietary supplements has been increased significantly in the last couple of decades, especially in the industrialized countries including the US, Canada and North Europe. Several studies documented that these supplementary materials may contain high levels of certain elements, especially Pb and As compared to their safe/tolerable exposure levels. Therefore, determining elemental compositions of multivitamin/dietary supplements is crucial.

The aims of this study are to document labeled and non-labeled inorganic elemental compositions of the MVM products, and to determine percentage deviation of the calculated daily intake values with those of the claimed ones, and/or with those of the regulatory guideline limits. In this study, 35 different MVM products in tablets, capsules, powders or liquid forms for children, women, men, young or adult consumption were selected based on their availability in the US market, and were purchased online. All the analyzed products have calculated daily intake of As, Cd, Pb and Hg concentrations lower than those of the regulatory limits. However, the percentage differences between the calculated and claimed daily intake values varied moderately (20%) to significantly (>30%) for the potentially toxic elements, especially Cr, Se, Mn, and Zn. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for the same product to have high, as well as low, elemental compositions compared to their corresponding claimed values.