Dr Rhonda Patrick’s Multivitamin Alternatives – For Non-USA Residents

Dr Rhonda Patrick currently takes a multivitamin called Pure Encapsulations O.N.E. It’s a supplement that is easy to get hold of in the USA, and for some reason, quite difficult outside of the USA.

Rhonda has only publicly discussed using one other multivitamin; and that’s 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 Pure Encapsulations O.N.E – such that hopefully you can find these in your home country. Whether its the UK, Canada, Australia or elsewhere.

In order to accurately compare supplements, I created a spreadsheet that lists all the ingredients of O.N.E, then I compared the ingredients of others until I came up with a list of product that are very similar. You can view the spreadsheet here.

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 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 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

About

Availability: Amazon USA | Amazon UK | Amazon ES (España)

Thorne Research brand is a favourite choice of supplements from Rhonda. 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, which is great for those with the MTHFR im

Weaknesses

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

Now Foods Special Two

About

Availability: Amazon USA | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE

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 looked 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 population).
• 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.

Honorable Mention

Optimum Nutrition – Opti-Men

Availability: Amazon USA | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon ES

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