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Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Multivitamin Alternatives

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Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s multivitamin of choice is called Thorne Prenatal, which she used during her pregnancy, and is designed for expecting mothers.

In this post, I’d like to discuss a number of alternatives that contain very similar ingredients to

In order to accurately compare supplements, I created a spreadsheet that lists all the ingredients of

Warnings (don’t make the mistakes I did!)

  • I tried buying supplements from iHerb, and whilst they had a good selection, the import fees to the UK were super expensive! Unless you’re 100% confident the import fees in your country are low, avoid at all costs buying from foreign stores. Unfortunately, a lot of foreign stores hide/make it difficult to ascertain the fact that they’re shipping from outside your country, so be alert.
  • In particular, have noticed a lot of Canadian Amazon sellers ship from the USA. That could be easily overlooked! When buying on Amazon, click the link that says 1 new from (it may say a number other than 1, but that was just an example) – and check the table which shows who the sellers are and which geographical locations they are shipping from.
  • As part of my research, I came across another supplement by Pure Encapsulations called All-In-One. However, sadly, this multivitamin was not cut from the same cloth as O.N.E. and misses off a lot of the essential micronutrients that O.N.E has. Despite it having the same manufacturer.

Thorne Research – Basic Nutrients 2 / Day

Image of bottle of Thorne Research Basic Nutrients. Image of supplement facts from bottle of Thorne vitamins.

About

Availability: Thorne

Thorne Research brand is Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s favorite choice of supplements. She currently uses it for her magnesium citramate, vitamin D3, Meriva, and more.

This particular supplement is very nutritionally diverse and provides a good alternative to O.N.E. It contains folate as opposed to folic acid.

Weaknesses

  • Noticeably it doesn’t contain Iron or Potassium. However, for red meat eaters, the former may be acceptable.
  • It’s not cheap, coming in around $30 for a 1 month supply (each pack contains 60 capsules, and a daily serving is 2)

Now Foods Special Two

Image of bottle of Now Special Two multivitamin.Image of supplement facts of Now Foods multivitamin.

About

Availability: Amazon USA

Now is a reputable brand that Rhonda has discussed using (for other products) in the past.  This particular multivitamin by now covers a very broad spectrum of the essential micronutrients our body needs. Each serving is 4 pills, and a 120 capsule tub contains 30 days of servings.

It actually has the broadest coverage of any of the multivitamins I’ve compared. It even has copper, which O.N.E misses off (not sure why!)

In addition to the essential micronutrients, they have also included some popular plant and herb extracts, such as spirulina, chlorella, green tea extract, etc.

Weaknesses

  • Contains Folic acid rather than folate. A negative for those with the MTHFR polymorphism that leads to poor processing of folic acid (~60% of the population).
  • A potential negative is that it contains so many “extra” things on top of the micronutrients, purists (like myself) may prefer it just sticks to vitamins & minerals.
  • Reasonably high monthly cost – each tub is about $30 and lasts a month (although that is $1 a day, so not crazy!)

Product Comparison Table (Vitamin & Mineral Content)

The below table aims to list out all of the essential micronutrients, then compares Rhonda’s supplement with the two mentioned above. This should give a comprehensive picture of their strengths and weaknesses.

  Micronutrient Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA*), or where not available, Adequate Intake figures (AI†) Thorne Research – Basic Nutrients 2 / Day Now Foods, Special Two, Multi-Vitamin
1 Thiamin (vitamin B1) 1.1mg* 3mg 50mg 50mg
2 Riboflavin (vitamin B2) 1.1mg* 3mg 12mg 50mg
3 Niacin (vitamin B3) (nicotinic acid, nicotinamide) 14mg* 20mg 80mg 50mg
4 Pantothenic Acid 5mg† 10mg 45mg 50mg
5 Biotin 30mcg† 300mcg 500mcg 100mcg
6 Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine, pyridoxal, pyridoxamine) 1.3mg* 4mg 20mg 50mg
7 Folate or Folic Acid 400mcg* 8 Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) 2.4mcg* 500mcg 600mcg 100mcg
9 Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) 2.4 μg* 180mg 250mg 500mg
10 Vitamin A (retinol, retinal, retinoic acid) 900mcg RAE / 700mcg RAE 3,750iu 5,000iu 10,000iu
11 Vitamin D 15-20mcg 2,000iu 2,000iu 400iu
12 Vitamin E 12mg 30iu 20iu 200iu
13 Vitamin K 120mcg  X 400mcg X
14 Calcium 1,000mg  X 30mg 100mg
15 Magnesium 400mg males/310mg females  X 20mg 50mg
16 Chromium 35mcg males/25mcg females 200mcg 400mcg 100mcg
17 Copper 900mcg   750mcg 1mg
18 Iodine 150mcg 150mcg 75mcg 150mcg
19 Iron 8mg male/18mg female     10mg
20 Manganese 2.3 mg* male;/1.8 mg* female 2mg 3mg 5mg
21 Molybdenum 45mcg 75mcg 100mcg 50mcg
22 Selenium 55mcg 70mcg 200mcg 50mcg
23 Zinc 11mg male / 8mg female 25mg 15mg 15mg
I’ve included Omega 3 & 6 in this list, so that its a complete list of essential micronutrients (well, minus the essential amino acids) – but of course, multivitamin products generally don’t include omega 3+6, you’re expected to buy separately.
24 Omega 3 – EPA / DHA
500mg is minimum – no strict guidelines on intake though currently
 X X X
25 Omega 6
Ideally, daily intake wants to be a 1:1 ratio with Omega-3.
 X X X
The below 5 are rarely found in multivitamins, apart from Potassium. Perhaps because they’re relatively abundant in foods.
26 Phosphorus    X  X X
27 Sulfur    X X X
28 Sodium    X  X  X
29 Potassium 4700mg  X  X 50mg
30 Chloride    X  X  X
The below is not a problem for most people, if they consume meat & eggs, more an issue for vegetarians
31 Choline From 500mg/day  X  X 50mg
Essential micronutrients #32-#40 should cover the 9 essential amino acids. However, these only become an issue for vegetarians and vegans. For most people eating meat, dairy, fish, and eggs, they’re getting plenty.

Honorable Mention

Optimum Nutrition – Opti-Men

Availability: Amazon USA 

Image of Optimum Nutrition bottle of Opti-Men. Image of Supplement Facts of bottle of Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men.

Strengths
  • Comprehensive micronutrient coverage
  • Generally, a well-known brand so should be available in many locations
Weaknesses
  • Contains folic acid instead of folate
  • Includes a lot of additional herbs & plants, that may or may not be desirable

If you liked this article please visit this other article about Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s recommendations on supplements:

Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Supplements

If you want to learn about supplements other than those on Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s recommended list, then visit this article as well:

Tim Ferris Supplements

If you want to see more Top Supplements from Thorne, visit our article on their offerings:

Thorne’s Top Products

About the author

John

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