I love debunking scam, you can see that from my reviews on weight loss ( Debunking the Scam), on credit cards (Orchard Bank - a scam on a global scale with at least 44% APR) and more. In fact you may see that I also like the word "SCAM". Which is what the vitamins are!

What’s Wrong with Vitamins Now?
You may ask what could possibly go wrong with them? They are sold everywhere and well-controlled and inspected, they are well-tested and we know they have no threat to our health, right? W-R-O-N-G! As I wrote earlier, vitamins are classified as food supplements and not as drugs and are NOT regulated by the FDA. Neither are they tested as a whole or by their components.

Let’s put it straight: we have no clue if they work at all and, if they do, to what extent. This claim has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration(c), but is a fact.

Does That Mean They Are Harmful?
Not necessarily. What? What? Do you want to say vitamins may HARM me? Yeh, dude, they can! In fact the newest study conducted over few years has shown that extensive overuse of vitamins leads to… CANCER. No, like that:C-A-N-C-E-R. Here is a link from 2004 http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/vitamin_supplements.html

"Dude, it says on the pack they help prevent cancer!" – you will say. No, they do not. Here is an article from 2004 with title "Vitamins pills do not stop cancer " http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3703498.stm Can’t be more clear than that, eh? Want more? http://www.chemocare.com/eatingwell/vitamins_and_cancer.asp " the preferred choice to meet nutritional needs is from the diet. The vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (a variety of compounds produced by plants) needed to help our bodies fight cancer are found in a well-balanced diet emphasizing plant-based foods".

You may say, these are some weird exotic vitamin supplements not available on shelf. WRONG again! Vitamin C has been shown to increase odds of cancer http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070312151951.htm " Cancer-causing Compound Can Be Triggered By Vitamin C". Well, multivitamin is not a vitamin C, you will say. WRONG! Centrum Supplement contains 200% of Vitamin C daily norm! We also tend to buy additional Vitamin C pack with 500 mg tablets as if 200% is not enough and this brings total to… 1033% of daily norm!

Vitamin Overuse
We know people overuse alcohol, drugs, credit line and their telephone, but vitamins are not in that list, right? WRONG! In general, people who buy some vitamins also buy other supplements. That is: if you bought Centrum Multivitamin, chances are that you also bought fish oil, vitamin C, and all that other antioxydant-anticancer-antiprostate-antilife stuff. Basically we think the more we get the better! If one tablet a day helps a bit, five will help A LOT. The fact is that vitamins are great for our body when they are at the level necessary for the body. When you put in 10X dose, they are no longer helpful. You still feel stronger, you feel energized, and ready to work, so you think this should be good for you. Not at all – you only need 100%. Period. No more. Not 200, not 300, not even 400 and of course not 1033%!

What Does This Has To Do With Centrum?
Centrum is the best-selling drug in the world; it is the best out there, right? Well, the best in what? What is good and what is bad? They certainly have the best advertisement campaign, but would you buy a Ford just because they have best ads our there? There has to be some other criterion, right? What about the best… content? Let’s look at Centrum and the Multivitamin from Walgreens (which costs half the price if Centrum).

Face to Face
Vitamin A: Centrum 100%, Walgreens 100%.
Vitamin C: C 200%, W 100% (why would you need 200% in addition to what you already consumed?)
Vitamin D: 100%, 100%
Vitamin E: 200%, 100%
Vitamin K: 31%, 31%
………
Potassium: 2%, 2%.

You may start question yourself: are they the same? YES, THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME! Centrum added some more stuff somewhere, but since NOONE done ANY testing, we have no idea if it is for better of for worse. It's like eating a chicken: you ate one and you liked it, you ate two… well, still ok, but you ate three and you feel bad.

But Centrum Is Better-Formulated, Right?
You aren't so sure anymore? You should not be! Since noone has tested these all ingredients, noone has any idea how they act separately or all together! They do not even know how they are absorbed and how good or bad that is. Since this is the case, we have NO idea what is better and what is worse. It is the same with calories – you burn the cake down and you burn a bottle of gas and, guess what? GAS HAS MORE CALORIES IN IT! Yep, if you could have "burnt" plutonium in the reactor, that would have been more than both of those taken together and multiplied by… you age in the power of the number of times you've been called loser at school! And even then, it would still be greater!

It is INCORRECT to compare these three. Same with vitamins – we have no idea how they work, whether they work and how much do we need. Thus we cannot say which one is better or worse and just because someone says on TV that they are the best, you should not believe that.

But What About That Guy Who Used Centrum and Told Me It Was The Best Vitamin Ever?
Well how about that: cognitive dissonance. If you bought a Ferrari and discovered that its top speed is less than that for Porsche and you paid THREE TIMES MORE for it, what are you going to say? I am stupid and this is my fault? No way, you gonna say it is cool, stylish, it is amazing, it is … whatever you say it is. You will try to find explanation for the fact that you paid $300K for junk. Same here: for $19.99 for 120 tablets, you have to find a good reason! The truth is that NOONE will tell the difference between Centrum and no-name multivitamin since there is NO DIFFERENCE.

Conclusion
Centrum Multivitamin is a great source of over 30 different vitamins and nutrients that you can get from a good diet. Noone knows how much of these will actually end up in your body and how much of them will help you or harm you. Most likely some of that will somehow help you somewhat (!), but what is the point of getting that somehow somewhat for two times the price of generic Multi? I recommend getting a generic Multivitamin and hope for the best.

UPDATE:
In the comments I was asked to check if Centrum dissolves in water and vinegar as a way to check if it will actually be internalized by the body. I checked that and the results are: ~5-7 min full dissolution in 37'C water (human body temperature) of both Centrum and Walgreens MV. This proves nothing though as my concern is that the particles formed AFTER dissolution will not be used by the cells of the body to make any better use than those extracted from, say, tomato or apple. This cannot be tested by dissolution.

I continue to maintain that since there is no difference between the two that I could observe, quantify, feel or find, there is no reason to claim any superiority of one over the other. Thus there is no point of focusing specifically on the Centrum as it is no different than any other generic and there is no way I can tell you something specific about it other than the price tag.

Recommended: No