UPDATED: December 21st, 2023
What are the best multivitamin for men products available on the market today? What is the top brand for men in the world? What are the top 20 multivitamin products for men? Why do I need a quality multivitamin product or products so as to augment my health?
Let’s answer those questions in this short article.
It seems counter intuitive that modern-day man needs to supplement their diet with a good multivitamin. Significant diminution of the nutritional value of our core foods, i.e., fruits, veggies, and grains have occurred. Our staple food stuffs have become devalued due to over farming and and other farming practices. Our water as well is more polluted, which pollution (and additives) have caused a new industry to emerge, the bottled or purified water industry.
It has perhaps more important than ever for a person to augment their diet with carefully chosen supplements — especially multivitamin supplements.
Why Does One Need The Best Multivitamin for Men?
According to the article, “Malnourished…With Fruit & Veges!” (2002), our core foods, vegetables and fruits, have become more nutritionally devalued than ever before.
Western medicine trained doctors concur. In the preceding, the previous article quoted from says “… mainstream physicians are beginning to recognize this problem as evidenced by a recent article in JAMA which advocated people take quality supplements for preventative measures” (para. 16).
It’s interesting they emphasized “preventative measures” (ibid.). The truth is one can supplement and augment and even fortify one’s nutritional balance, and even create a nutritional surplus.
How to Read The Chart
Let’s now discuss the meaning and purpose of the table grid below. This simple grid or table allows one to see at a glance what multivitamins designed for males are, in my opinion, are the best. In order to sort the information in a way useful to you, all you have to do is click on the column headers. They are scaled on a 0 to 100 scoring system. So, for example 80 out of 100 or as represented on the grid, 80/100.
The column headers should be self-explanatory, except perhaps for the cGMP compliant column. For an in-depth discussion of that, scroll past the table to the content below it. For now, basically a score 75 out of a 100 or above is good. The score of 90 or above is highly desirable. Continuing, a score of 90 out of 100 or above and above when combined with the cGMP certified facilities column is highly indicative of that product being among the best.
As to how these many multivitamins were scored, the methodology and process is here. There, it goes over it in detail.
The Top 20 Best Multivitamins for Men
Company | MultiVitamin Product | Potency | Rank | cGMP Compliant |
---|---|---|---|---|
Douglas Laboratories | Ultra Preventive X | 93/100 | 1 | Yes |
Optimum Nutrition | Opti Performance Pack | 91/100 | 2 | Yes |
Optimum Nutrition | Opti Opti-Men | 91/100 | 3 | Yes |
Shaklee® | Vitalizer® Gold | 92/100 | 4 | Yes |
USANA Health Sciences | Essentials | 90/100 | 5 | Yes |
The People’s Chemist | Daily Dose | 88/100 | 6 | Yes |
Mountain Naturals | Daily Best MultiVitamin | 88/100 | 7 | Yes |
Mountain Naturals | Men’s Superior | 88/100 | 8 | Yes |
Mountain Naturals | Nutrilite (Amway/Quixtar) | 86/100 | 9 | Yes |
Source Naturals | Men’s Life Force Multiple | 85/100 | 10 | Yes |
Nature Made | Multi Complete Tablets | 87/100 | 11 | Yes |
Berkeley & Jensen | VitAdvance Advanced Formula MultiVitamins & Minerals | 83/100 | 12 | Yes |
FreeLife | Reverse! | 83/100 | 13 | No |
Kirkland Signature | Premium Performance Multi Vitamin | 82/100 | 14 | Yes |
Kirkland Signature | Daily Multi Vitamin/Mineral | 82/100 | 15 | Yes |
Life Extension Foundation | Life Extension Mix | 81/100 | 16 | Yes |
LifeForce | Men’s Life Force Multiple | 81/100 | 17 | Yes |
Equaline | Daily Multi Vitamins | 81/100 | 18 | Yes |
Vitamin Research Products | Extended Plus | 78/100 | 19 | No |
Sunmark | MultiVitamin Essential | 74/100 | 20 | Yes |
As indicated from the table above, a preponderance of the multivitamin for men products are actually very lackluster with only a few of the products being exceptional. Popular and well known vitamin brands like GNC, TwinLab, Maleucca, Avon, Walgreens, Centrum, and and others didn’t score very well.
“cGMP”? What Does That Have to Do with Rating The Best Multivitamin for Men?
What does this “cGMP” compliant acronym mean? Well, “GMP” means “Good Manufacturing Practices.” (It’s sometimes written as “cGMP” with the “c” meaning “current.”) So, why is this designation such a mark of distinction? That indicates the product meets rigorous standards of quality both as to the purity of the raw ingredients all the way to the encapsulation process. As seen from the table above, the vast majority of supplement companies don’t adhere to the United States FDA (Food & Drug Administration) GMP code for nutritional supplements.
On June 28, 2010, a law went in effect that says any companies wishing to sell products in US markets, must be GMP compliant. Most are now seeking to meet these standards for NSF for Sport GMP complaince. However, as of late 2011, a whopping 70% are still not compliant with the mandate (Matthews, An Insider’s View of The Supplement Manufacturing Process, para 13).
Currently, that figure has crept upward to around the 80% mark.
The interesting irony is that while it is now law to have a good manufacturing practices (GMP) compliant facility, they do not enforce. There are six agencies that offer GMP certification audits. They are:
- NNFA (Nаtіоnаl Nutritional Food Aѕѕосіаtіоn)
- NPA (Natural Products Association)
- USP (United States Pharmacopoeia)
- NSF International (National Sanitation Foundation)
- WHO (World Health Organization)
- TGA (Therapeutic Goods Association)
The USP is one of them. Their website says the following, “The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is a scientific nonprofit organization that sets standards for the identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines, food ingredients, and dietary supplements manufactured, distributed and consumed worldwide.”
USP’s drug standards are enforceable in the United States by the FDA, and these standards are developed and relied upon in more than 130 countries” (About USP, para. 1).
To date, very few supplement organizations have verified GMP products by USP (there are five other organizations that provide the yearly GMP audits as outlined above). They are SunMark, Nature Made, Safeway, Kirkland, Equaline, and TruNature. Does this mean they are superior? Not necessarily.
There are a few nutritional supplement companies not on this list include Xtend-Life, USANA Health Sciences. Mountain Naturals, Optimum Nutrition (or ON) and Douglas Laboratories. However, those companies have GMP compliance.
Moreover, even the USP certification can be somewhat deceiving although not intentionally. Xtend-Life is headquartered in New Zealand whose government requires cGMP level certification. In other words, supplement companies in New Zealand must adhere to strict pharmaceutical grade quality standards as laid out by British Pharmacopeia regulations or mandates. Specifically, supplement companies are overseen by the New Zealand Ministry of Health and are audited by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, which is an auxiliary organization of the NZ Ministry of Health.
Douglas Laboratories is headquartered in Pennsylvania, USA and while not on the USP list is a cGMP compliant supplement manufacturer and is highly regarded by doctors and other healthcare professionals.
Best Multivitamin for Men Rankings Conclusion
Getting back to Xtend Life, as part of their product certification program, they initiate a hazard analysis critical control point program (HACCP) that is audited by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority. Supplements are required to meet the same rigorous standards as the USP and FDA requires. So, Xtend-Life’s omission on the USP verification list is an understandable one as mentioned above.
There you have it. This table should be a very good place for you to start as to what is the best multivitamin for men available on the market today.