Multi mayhem: if picking a vitamin has you stressed--and you still don't know if you need the stress formula or not--read on.(Cover Story)

Multivitamins exist because almost no one, not even the most vigilant health nut (and certainly not the average American eater), gets the optimal levels of vitamins and minerals. Multis offer an easy way to round out your intake of these key dietary elements in one shot. But today, there are so many different types of multivitamins that even individuals who are quite nutrition-savvy often can't figure out what to take. Here's how to sort the basic from the extra-beneficial.

the basics

We're guessing that you already know this, but taking a daily multivitamin is no replacement for eating the most nutritious, balanced and healthful diet you can manage. As Roberta Anding, MS, RD, an instructor in the department of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, says, "There's not a multivitamin out there that can make up for a poor diet." In fact, all of our experts repeatedly stressed the importance of focusing first on healthful eating, then supplementing with a multivitamin.

Still, even if you are eating well, you might not be getting a full host of vitamins and minerals. Janet Little, CN, lead nutritionist for Wild Oats Markets, cites a couple of issues as potential culprits: Some foods lose nutrients in processing, she explains. Others lose them because of "the distance that the food has to travel--some of the produce we're getting comes all the way from Chile." In addition, a review of existing research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002 concluded that most people don't consume sufficient amounts of vitamins from food alone, so all adults should be taking a multivitamin.

How to choose? There are a few factors you should consider.

quality

Even though vitamins (and other dietary supplements) are subject to the same United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations that food products are, you should still go for quality. "Buy from a company that's got a good track record," recommends Anding. "If it's a company you've never heard of or have never seen advertised before, maybe hold back." She also recommends looking for a United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) seal on the label, which means that the vitamin has been checked for things such as purity and dissolution (it will dissolve in your stomach) and that it has a safe manufacturing process. While not all companies participate in this review, they may participate in the Good Manufacturing Practices Certification Program (GMP) of the Natural Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA), NSF International or other organizations. If you don't see one or more of those seals, you may need to check into the company more.