One A Day Maximum

I don't look for much in a vitamin. In fact, I don't even really know what my body needs in order to function properly, aside from food, water, air, and television. But I figure that by taking multivitamins, I can make up for my ignorance. This is why I decided to buy some One-A-Day.

The first time I bought multivitamins, though, I bought Centrum instead. When those ran out, I went for a little variety and bought some One-A-Day. The kind I got then didn't have any iron in them, so I made sure next time to buy a kind that did. That's how I ended up with the Maximum version.

I didn't do much product comparison, but I figured that if it was "maximum," then there probably weren't any other options that could give me more nutrition. One-A-Day Maximum gives 100% of the daily value in many essential vitamins, and even gives you 213% of the molybdenum you need.

Although it excels in many vitamins, it lacks in others. For instance, one pill gives you only 31% of your vitamin K, and only 16% of your calcium. From what I've observed, though, calcium is hard to come by in large doses. A bowl of cereal doesn't give you too much, and even calcium-only pills give you about 50%.

It's not like I went to GNC or anything to check this out. In any case, I think my main disappointment stems from the fact that science has not yet created a pill that gives you 100% off all your daily needs of everything, like food, water, and sunlight.

The pills themselves aren't especially attractive, as they are all blood red. The 100-pill bottle looks nice, though. It is white with an orange label, fits right in the palm of your hand, and the One-A-Day logo is really well made; just the design of the label in general is quite appealing.

There is a safe child-proof cap, to prevent youngsters from getting into it and overdosing on iron, as the warning label notes. An expiration date (a long 15 months after purchase) appears on the bottom, and the rest of the label is rounded out with nutrition facts and ingredients, along with information on contacting Bayer.

Having taken One-A-Day Maximum for a good three or four months, I haven't noticed a significant change in my health. Then again, I don't know if that's what's supposed to happen. I guess maybe that when I have gotten sick, it hasn't lasted as long as it would have without the pills; I really don't know. I'm going to continue to take my One-A-Day, however, until the Surgeon General or some other authority tells me otherwise.

Review by Albert Stephanides