About 45% of US adults
take in less vitamin A than the estimated average requirement.
Peer-reviewed analysisVitamin C is the lead active here, studied most for iron status. 20 human studies on Vitamin C back this formula, each one cited. Each serving carries 470 mg of Vitamin C, inside the range the published research used. Who it fits: for everyone, adults.
Verified by IngredientMDThe panel on the left is the one we evaluated, line by line.
All 23 actives checked against the clinical evidence: dose, form, and what the research actually shows.
Doses, ratios, and how the ingredients work together. That assessment is the verdict above: "Strong evidence, strong dose".
The verdict is public and identical whether or not a brand pays. A formula that does not clear the bar gets nothing.
Read by the engine against 2.1 million data points from clinical trials, PubMed and more than a hundred vetted sources. No individual reviewer is named or implied.
Cross-checked against 5,647 documented interactions for these actives.
Public health figures the engine matched to this formula's ingredients. Reported by their source, cited and dated, never written by the brand.
About 45% of US adults
take in less vitamin A than the estimated average requirement.
Peer-reviewed analysisAbout 46% of US adults
take in less vitamin C than the estimated average requirement.
Peer-reviewed analysisAbout 41% of US adults
have blood vitamin D below the level considered sufficient.
Peer-reviewed analysisAbout 84% of US adults
take in less vitamin E than the estimated average requirement.
Peer-reviewed analysisAbout 48% of Americans
take in less magnesium than recommended from food and drink.
NIH Office of Dietary SupplementsAbout 15% of US adults
take in less zinc than the estimated average requirement.
Peer-reviewed analysisMore than 1 in 3 US adults
regularly sleep less than the recommended seven hours a night.
Peer-reviewed analysisUS pregnant women, median 129 micrograms per litre
Between 2005 and 2010, US pregnant women had a median urine iodine level of 129 micrograms per liter, below the range considered adequate in pregnancy.
Peer-reviewed analysisRandomised trial, 1994
Over two years, older postmenopausal women taking calcium plus trace minerals including manganese gained about 1.5% spinal bone density, while the placebo group lost about 3.5%.
Journal of NutritionClinical trial, 1990
In people with weak, splitting nails, oral biotin increased nail thickness by about 25 percent under scanning electron microscopy and the nail surface became more regular.
Journal of the American Academy of DermatologyRandomised controlled trial (topical), 2016
A cream containing apigenin increased skin dermal density and elasticity and shortened the length of fine wrinkles compared with a cream without it.
International Journal of Molecular MedicineMeta-analysis, 2025
In a network meta-analysis of 19 trials with 1,658 participants, biotin-containing preparations were among the supplements linked to greater hair density, though most individual trials were small.
Frontiers in nutritionMeta-analysis, 2011
Across 13 trials, about 500 mg of vitamin C daily lowered blood uric acid by roughly 0.35 mg/dL.
The paperSystematic review, 2017
Across 18 reported cases, all involving an existing deficiency or related condition, hair and nail growth improved after biotin, with limited evidence of benefit in people who are not deficient.
Skin Appendage DisordersRandomised trial, 2021
In 48 adults with excess weight, 20 mg of lutein daily for 10 weeks cut body fat and cholesterol more than control, with no clear change in waist size.
British Journal of NutritionRandomised trial, 1997
In iodine-deficient adults, 0.2 mg of iodide daily reduced thyroid gland volume by about 38% over 12 months compared with placebo.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and MetabolismControlled clinical trial, 2004
Adding vitamin C to an iron-fortified meal at a 4 to 1 ratio with iron raised non-heme iron absorption about 2.9-fold, from 4.1% to 11.7%.
American Journal of Clinical NutritionControlled clinical trial (metabolic balance), 1995
In young men given 22 then 467 micrograms of molybdenum a day, absorption was efficient at both levels, and the estimated minimum daily need was about 25 micrograms.
The American Journal of Clinical NutritionRandomised trial, 2026
In repeated single-person trials, vitamin C raised blood levels by 20.6 micromol/L and lowered two stress markers, with day-to-day swings bigger than differences between people.
Free Radical Biology and MedicineMeta-analysis, 2024
Across 10 trials in 318 athletes, vitamin D3 raised blood vitamin D by about 14.8 nmol/L and hinted at better muscle strength, though few trials leave that uncertain.
Frontiers in NutritionNetwork meta-analysis, 2024
Across 38 randomised trials, lutein-containing antioxidant combinations increased macular pigment density and low-spatial-frequency contrast sensitivity, and a lutein plus zeaxanthin combination shortened photostress recovery time by about 5.75 seconds.
Advances in NutritionMeta-analysis, 2005
Across 30 trials in 4,749 people, niacin raised HDL cholesterol by about 16 percent, lowered triglycerides by about 20 percent, and lowered LDL cholesterol by about 14 percent.
Journal of the American College of CardiologyMeta-analysis, 2016
Zinc acetate lozenges cut cold symptom length by about 2.7 days, versus a roughly seven day average, across three pooled trials.
British Journal of Clinical PharmacologySystematic review and meta-analysis, 2016
Across 14 placebo-controlled trials totaling about 9,000 people, extended-release niacin lowered blood lipoprotein(a) by about 23 percent.
MetabolismSystematic review and meta-analysis, 2021
Across 22 trials in 41,633 people, folic acid supplements lowered the top blood pressure number by about 1.1 points and the bottom by about 0.2 points.
Critical Reviews in Food Science and NutritionSystematic review and meta-analysis, 2014
Across 7 trials of 441 people, niacin improved a blood vessel dilation test by about 2 percentage points.
Vascular MedicineSystematic review and meta-analysis, 2023
Across 21 trials in 2,025 adults, folic acid improved flow-mediated dilation, a measure of how well arteries widen, by about 2.6 percentage points.
Nutrition JournalMeta-analysis, 2022
Across 8 trials in 1,002 women, vitamin E taken by mouth reduced reported menstrual cramp pain compared with placebo, with the clearest effect in the first month.
Clinical Nutrition ESPENMeta-analysis, 2024
Across six trials in 739 women, zinc lowered menstrual discomfort scores, with bigger drops after eight weeks or more, even at doses as low as 7 mg daily.
NutrientsMeta-analysis, 2014
Pooling 30 trials of 5,615 adults, vitamin D gave a small rise in overall muscle strength, with no measurable effect on muscle mass or power.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and MetabolismRandomised trial, 2023
In 160 postmenopausal women with long-standing sleep difficulty, one month of vitamin E brought the median sleep questionnaire score to 6, versus 9 on placebo, where lower means better sleep.
NutrientsMetabolic balance study (crossover), 2006
In 43 healthy young women eating normal diets, over 90 percent of dietary molybdenum was absorbed and mostly excreted in urine, staying balanced across intakes of about 150 to 318 micrograms a day.
Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and BiologyMeta-analysis, 2019
Across 13 trials, selenium increased activity of an antioxidant enzyme and overall antioxidant capacity, and lowered a marker of fat oxidation in the blood.
HormonesRandomised crossover trial, 1999
In 14 adults, two weeks of parsley, a rich apigenin source, raised the activity of the red blood cell antioxidant enzymes glutathione reductase and superoxide dismutase versus a low flavone diet.
British Journal of NutritionMeta-analysis, 2018
Pooling 21 trials, vitamin A on its own raised haemoglobin and cut the share of people with low haemoglobin by about 26 percent in those with low vitamin A status.
Critical Reviews in Food Science and NutritionRandomised trial, 2025
Vegetables biofortified with iodine and molybdenum raised intake of both trace elements in the people who ate them, with no adverse change seen in the markers the trial measured.
NutrientsMeta-analysis, 2012
In trials directly comparing the two forms, vitamin D3 raised blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D more than vitamin D2 did (P = 0.001).
American Journal of Clinical NutritionAbout 23 percent lower plasma homocysteine at 0.8 mg daily, with 0.2 mg and 0.4 mg reaching roughly 60 and 90 percent of that
Lowers homocysteine, a blood marker tied to heart risk. Measured in adults, standardised to a pretreatment homocysteine of 12 micromol per litre (95% CI 21 to 26 percent).
Meta-analysisMeta-analysis, 2015
Across 12 trials, vitamin E lowered a blood marker of inflammation by about 0.62 mg/l compared with not taking it.
European Journal of Clinical NutritionMeta-analysis, 2018
Pooling trials, selenium raised the share of motile sperm by about 3.3 percentage points, with a smaller rise in normally shaped sperm and a higher sperm concentration.
Advances in NutritionMeta-analysis, 2024
In a dose-response meta-analysis of randomised trials, riboflavin was associated with about 1.3 fewer severe recurring headache attacks per month compared with control.
Neurological SciencesMeta-analysis, 2024
Across trials, thiamine was linked to a change in a heart-pumping marker called ejection fraction, but the trial base was small and mixed, so this isn't settled.
Clinical CardiologyMeta-analysis, 2026
In adults with metabolic risk factors, selenium supplementation was linked to small changes in blood lipid and inflammatory markers, with results varying between trials.
Meta-analysisMeta-analysis, 2022
Pooling six trials in 364 adults with elevated blood sugar, thiamine at 100 to 900 mg per day showed no detectable effect on HbA1c (-0.02 percent) or fasting glucose, while HDL cholesterol rose by about 0.10 mmol/L.
BMJ OpenSystematic review and meta-analysis, 2016
In children older than six months, zinc may shorten a bout of diarrhea by about half a day across nine trials, on low certainty evidence.
Cochrane Database of Systematic ReviewsMeta-analysis, 2022
Across 19 trials of about 1.2 million children in vitamin A deficient settings, supplementation lowered all-cause mortality by 12 percent (risk ratio 0.88), rated high-certainty evidence.
Cochrane Database of Systematic ReviewsSystematic review, 2023
Across 18 studies, pyridoxine on its own and in combinations improved nausea scores in pregnancy on both the Rhode and PUQE scales, a use with a long clinical track record.
Archives of Gynecology and ObstetricsMeta-analysis, 2023
200 micrograms of iodine a day raised iodine levels and shifted thyroid hormones in pregnancy across 11 studies.
Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and BiologyMeta-analysis, 2025
A nutrition-status analysis in children included thiamin among the micronutrients measured, reporting intake and status data rather than a result of giving supplements.
Journal of Human Nutrition and DieteticsRandomised trial, 2010
In healthy infants, blood lutein at 12 weeks was about sixfold higher in breastfed infants than in those given formula with no added lutein, rising further with each higher lutein level added to formula.
European journal of nutritionRandomised trial, 1998
Weekly vitamin A lowered the incidence of night blindness in pregnant women from 10.7 percent to 6.7 percent, and by about 67 percent among those who took nearly all of their doses.
Journal of NutritionSystematic review and meta-analysis, 2020
In pregnant women with mild to moderate iodine deficiency, iodine lowered a thyroid marker and curbed the usual pregnancy rise in thyroid size. Infant cognitive, language and motor scores showed no change across trials.
American Journal of Clinical NutritionMeta-analysis, 2021
Pooling randomised trials of thiamine in intensive care, the authors did not detect a clear effect on the pooled clinical endpoints, which is a failure to detect a difference rather than a demonstration that none exists.
Journal of Critical CareRandomised trial, 2026
In 306 newborns given 50,000 IU vitamin A within 48 hours of birth, the delayed skin immune response to BCG improved modestly in heavier babies, while antibody responses to polio, tetanus and hepatitis B vaccines showed no detectable change.
VaccineMeta-analysis, 2021
Pooling nine controlled trials in 673 people, vitamin B2 at 400 mg per day for three months lowered the frequency, days, duration and pain score of severe recurring headache attacks.
Nutritional NeuroscienceControlled clinical trial, 1993
In healthy women on a controlled diet, a lower manganese intake (1.0 versus 5.6 mg a day) raised premenstrual mood and pain symptom scores.
American Journal of Obstetrics and GynecologyControlled clinical trial, 1992
Taking 15 mg of manganese a day for 124 days raised the activity of the antioxidant enzyme manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase in women's lymphocytes above their starting levels.
American Journal of Clinical NutritionPopulation figures from public health data. Context for the category, not a statement about any individual and not a claim about this product.
Each line below was derived from this formula's own record at the time of verification. Nothing here was written by the brand, and nothing can be added that the evidence does not carry.
Two pairings in this formula have been studied as combinations in human trials. Each finding below is what a named study measured, cited and dated, never written by the brand.
In a two-year trial in older adults, zinc taken together with selenium improved the antibody response to influenza vaccination.
In an 8-week randomized trial of 264 stressed healthy adults with low magnesium, magnesium plus vitamin B6 and magnesium alone reduced perceived stress about equally overall. In the prespecified subgroup that started with severe stress, the combination improved stress scores 24% more than magnesium alone.
Research strength. Research strength says how much work stands behind the combination. It is never a product score.
Fail closed. Where actives were studied on their own rather than together, each shows on its own evidence, never a combined effect no trial measured.
Independent record. Every finding is cited to a named trial, dated, and never written by the brand.
Findings from trials that studied these actives as a combination. Context for how the actives were tested together, not a statement about any individual and not a claim about this product.
Where a trial measured an actual number, we show it next to the claim. It is the average across the trials, never a promise about one person.
About 52 percent lower risk of developing a cold, in trials of people undergoing brief periods of severe physical exertion.
Read at the source. The magnitude sits beside the same trial the claim already cites. It describes what the trials measured, never what any one person will feel.
Time-to-effect windows the engine read from the trial record. Each is a window a named study measured, cited and dated, never written by the brand.
In a randomised crossover trial, 12 healthy adults consumed 101.7 mg of vitamin C as a powder, as raw fruits and vegetables, or as juice, and plasma vitamin C rose after every intake form, with plasma and urinary levels tracked over the 24 hours following the single dose.
In the trial record, blood vitamin D rises for about 3 months of daily vitamin D3 and then holds at a plateau, near 69 nmol/L at 1,000 IU a day, from a starting level near 41 nmol/L.
In a 3-phase crossover using two deuterium-labelled forms of alpha-tocopherol, healthy women absorbed about 55 percent of an oral dose taken with a 40 percent fat meal and about 64 percent with a fat-free meal, with samples tracked over 72 hours. The authors conclude absorption is not limited by absent fat or fasting, and that vitamin E leaves the intestine by a prolonged process.
In the controlled depletion study the EFSA reference opinion reviews, restricting thiamin intake to 0.009 to 0.015 mg/MJ for 30 days brought urinary free thiamin excretion from a mean of 0.283 mg/24 h down to undetectable levels by day 18 of the depletion period.
In the same depletion and repletion record the EFSA reference opinion reviews, erythrocyte transketolase activity fell progressively to about 75% of baseline during the 30-day depletion period and returned to its baseline value after 1 week of thiamin repletion.
In an intervention the EFSA reference opinion reviews, adults whose baseline riboflavin intake and status were unknown received 5 mg/day of riboflavin for 8 weeks, and haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit and erythrocyte count all rose significantly over that period.
An expert consensus on vitamin B6 use, developed by a six-member Delphi panel with a structured evidence-quality assessment, calculated from pharmacokinetic parameters that complete clearance of vitamin B6 from the body takes a washout period of about 20 to 40 days after intake stops.
A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis drew on 108 articles from 14,002 screened records and modelled blood folate against folic acid intake using one-compartment pharmacokinetic models. Red blood cell folate rose 1.78 fold from baseline to steady state at 375 to 570 ug folic acid per day, and reaching that steady state took a median of 36 weeks, 95% credible interval 27 to 52 weeks. Serum or plasma folate rose 11.6% for every 100 ug per day of folic acid intake, 95% credible interval 8.4 to 14.9.
A kinetic study in six healthy men aged 22 to 31 gave 3.6 umol per day, 1.6 mg, of deuterium-labelled folic acid for four weeks, with folate tracked in serum, erythrocytes and urine by microbiological assay and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Serum folate reached its maximum concentration in about 18 days, while isotopic labelling of erythrocyte folate kept rising across the whole four weeks. After supplementation stopped, red blood cell folate and urinary folate excretion declined linearly, and serum folate fell with a slow-phase half-life of 18.7 days. One study, six men, no control group.
In an open trial with no placebo arm, 71 patients with brittle or splitting fingernails took 2.5 mg of biotin a day. Of the 45 cases that could be evaluated, 41 were rated as having firmer and harder nails after an average of 5.5 months of treatment, standard deviation 2.3 months. The rating was clinical judgement rather than an instrument reading, and there was no control group, so the window describes when the raters recorded change, not a placebo adjusted effect.
In a 24 week randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial in 112 mildly iodine-deficient New Zealand adults aged 18 to 40, 150 micrograms of iodine a day as potassium iodate lowered thyroglobulin, a blood marker of iodine status, by 12 percent at 8 weeks, 20 percent at 16 weeks and 27 percent at 24 weeks compared with placebo. Median urinary iodine reached 168 micrograms per litre against 79 on placebo. TSH and free T4 stayed within normal range and did not change significantly.
Across three randomised placebo-controlled trials pooled as individual patient data (199 adults with naturally acquired colds, 80 to 92 mg of elemental zinc a day as acetate lozenges), 70 percent of the zinc group had recovered by day 5 against 27 percent on placebo, and colds ran 2.73 days shorter against a 7 day average duration. A separate meta-analysis of seven lozenge trials (575 participants, doses above 75 mg a day, zinc acetate or zinc gluconate) measured cold duration 33 percent shorter, with no significant difference between the two salts.
In a controlled feeding study in nine healthy men, six weeks of restricted zinc intake raised DNA strand breaks in peripheral blood cells, and four weeks of repletion at 11 mg a day, with 20 mg of supplemental zinc for the first seven days, reversed the rise. In a separate randomised placebo-controlled trial in 40 Ethiopian women eating a high-phytate diet, 20 mg a day of zinc sulfate for 17 days lowered mean comet tail moment from 39.7 to 30.0 while plasma zinc did not change significantly. Both windows were measured on a DNA damage marker in blood cells, not on a symptom.
In a 12 week randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial in 119 healthy UK adults aged 50 to 64, mean plasma selenium rose from 95.7 ng/mL at baseline to steady state by week 10, reaching 118.3, 152.0 and 177.4 ng/mL on 50, 100 and 200 micrograms a day of selenium-enriched yeast. Plasma selenoprotein P rose in every selenium arm. Platelet glutathione peroxidase activity did not change significantly at any dose or form.
In a randomised controlled pilot trial, pregnant women taking 2 g myo-inositol with folic acid twice daily showed lower serum asprosin and a lower HOMA-IR index, a marker of insulin sensitivity, after 20 to 22 weeks of supplementation, while the folic acid only group did not.
In an open-label randomized crossover study, 24 healthy adults took single 600 mg doses of racemic alpha-lipoic acid in different oral forms, and both enantiomers were absorbed rapidly, with median time to peak plasma concentration between 0.33 and 0.5 hours and blood sampling complete by 8 hours.
In a randomised controlled trial in 75 healthy adults, daily tomato juice providing 15.0 or 26.7 mg of lycopene raised serum lycopene concentrations and, at week 12 of daily intake with measurements every 4 weeks, flow-mediated dilation, a measure of normal vascular endothelial function, was higher than with a low-lycopene placebo juice.
Windows measured in the cited trials. Context for how the active behaves over time, not a statement about any individual and not a claim about this product.
12 ingredients, from each one's own page.
Weeks to months. Liver stores buffer intake, so vitamin A status moves slowly and shows up on a blood panel rather than as a sensation.
Blood levels rise within hours and tissue pools fill over days. Collagen-linked changes in skin and gums build over weeks and show as tissue quality, not as a sensation.
25-hydroxyvitamin D climbs over roughly six to twelve weeks of daily dosing before it plateaus. It's a blood level you watch rather than a feeling.
Plasma alpha-tocopherol climbs within days of daily intake, and anything you'd notice in skin condition is a slow change across a couple of months.
Where intake has been low, markers of energy metabolism respond within days to a couple of weeks. Where intake is adequate, the change shows in blood levels.
Urine turns bright yellow within hours of the first dose. Status itself, read as red cell glutathione reductase activity, shifts across two to eight weeks.
Nothing to wait for at everyday amounts. Niacin status shows up on blood work rather than as a sensation. The flush from the nicotinic acid form arrives within 30 minutes.
Nothing quick. Conversion to the active coenzyme happens within hours, but plasma pyridoxal 5-phosphate takes a couple of weeks to settle at a new level.
Red cell folate climbs over roughly four to eight weeks. It's a blood panel change rather than a sensation.
Fingernails grow around 3mm a month, so it takes roughly 8 to 12 weeks before enough new plate has grown out to judge the difference by eye.
Thyroid hormone turns over slowly, so the change lands on a urinary iodine measure and a thyroid panel before it lands anywhere in your day.
A looser stool can turn up the same day at the higher end. Sleep and cramp changes usually settle in across two to four weeks, because it is refilling a body-wide store.
How each ingredient usually behaves over time, from its own page on IngredientMD. General timing for the ingredient, not a measurement of this product.
What each form is, and where it fits in a formula. Measured findings carry the study that reported them.
The animal-sourced form of vitamin D, made in skin under UVB light and produced commercially from lanolin. Fat-soluble, so it travels with dietary fat and is stored in body fat.
In a 12-week double-blind randomised controlled trial in 108 young women in urban Bangalore, most of whom began vitamin D-deficient, daily vitamin D3 at 400, 600 or 800 IU in a fortified wafer raised serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, parathyroid hormone fell over time, and effects on bone-turnover markers were modest and not dose specific. The 800 IU dose brought 65 percent of participants to sufficiency.
The free vitamin B2 molecule, an isoalloxazine ring joined to a ribitol sugar chain, supplied as the unmodified crystalline compound with no added salt or phosphate group.
The free-acid form of vitamin B3, pyridine-3-carboxylic acid. It is the reference form of niacin, a small water-soluble molecule carrying a bare carboxylic acid group on the pyridine ring.
The most common naturally occurring stereoisomer of inositol, a six-carbon sugar alcohol (cyclohexanehexol). It is the form found in most foods and in the body's own inositol pool, and is supplied as a free white crystalline powder.
A 50:50 mixture of the R and S enantiomers of lipoic acid, sold as the free acid. The same molecule is also labelled thioctic acid.
In an open-label four-way crossover in 24 adults, a racemic solution produced higher peak plasma concentrations of both enantiomers than the 200, 300, and 600 mg tablet forms.
A blend of all four naturally occurring tocopherol homologues in the RRR configuration, typically gamma-dominant when recovered from soybean oil distillate
Quercetin combined with food-grade phospholipids from sunflower or soy lecithin into a phytosome complex, where the flavonol sits within a phospholipid matrix rather than being bonded as a salt.
In a randomised six-sequence, three-period crossover pharmacokinetic trial in twelve healthy fasting adults, a single oral dose of quercetin phytosome produced higher plasma quercetin exposure and peak concentration over 24 hours than unformulated quercetin.
Descriptions of the form itself, read from the cited studies. Not a comparison between products and not a statement about any individual.
It is a capsule, so the amount per serving is fixed and travels without measuring.
Put an earned verification on your own product page.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This record is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before starting any supplement regimen.