Multivitamin Labels Not Always Accurate, Study Finds

Multivitamin supplement labels may not be telling the whole truth, a new report shows.

ConsumerLab.com, an independent tester of health and nutrition products, tested 38 different multivitamins sold in the United States and Canada and found that one-third of them had too much or too little of the key ingredient, weren't labeled properly, were contaminated or didn't break apart properly when consumed.

The findings of the report were initially reported by MSNBC and the full report can be found on ConsumerLab.com (by subscription only).

Researchers found that eight of the multivitamins contained less of the key ingredient than claimed, and two contained more of the key ingredient than claimed.

Vitamin Crusade, for example, only contained 58.8 percent of the international units of vitamin A that it listed on its label, while Centrum Chewables contained 173 percent of the vitamin A that it claimed on its label, according to the report.

One multivitamins sold for pets contained lead. Another didn't properly disintegrate, the report said. Some of the multivitamins also contained levels of vitamins that exceed daily recommended intake levels.

Interestingly, researchers also found that price had little bearing on the quality of the multivitamin. Many of the inexpensive multivitamins, which range in price from 3 to 14 cents per day, passed ConsumerLab.com's tests, while some of the more expensive multivitamins -- costing more than 50 cents to a dollar a day -- didn't pass the review.