My husband, Len, has 3 chronic illnesses.  They are insulin dependent diabetes, coronary heart failure, and kidney failure.  He has had 2 heart attacks this year, and 2 surgeries.  He is on insulin, and around 21 pills a day, so I keep looking for supplements that will give him a boost.

Walgreen's drugstore recently had 'New Alive! Men's Energy Multivitamin - Multimineral Dietary Supplement on sale, down from $11.99 to $10, and then I received a $10 coupon to spend on my next visit.  This was a deal I couldn't pass up on.

The box they come in is bright and colorful.  On the top it states that it is a Nature's Way product, and a complete multivitamin - high potency - whole food energizer.

I could live on salad, vegetables, and fruits, but Len will only eat iceberg lettuce, tomato, and beetroot.  He will eat most vegetables, but not the amount that I want him to eat.  He has to limit his fruit content, because of his sugar diabetes.

Len already takes a multivitamin, and I normally buy him the Senior one that has lutein as well.  So when he had finished them, I changed them for the Alive ones.

The first thing he noticed was that they are larger than the regular multivitamin.  They are yellow, have ALIVE written on them,  and measure almost an inch in length.  I told Len that he would need a good size glass of water to get it down him.

There are 50 tablets in the bottle.  They do have a smell to them, and I can only describe it as a yeast/flour smell.

Len wanted to know why these were any different to the ones he normally takes, me being his caregiver, and always setting up his pills for him wanted to explain what I hoped they would achieve.

They provide regular vitamins, minerals, fruits, vegetable, and antioxidants.  These have been designed for the guy in our lives.  They are supposed to help with, 'energy, heart health, bones, colon health, eyes, immunity, and prostate health'.

So I continued looking at the box and the lycopene, saw palmetto, selenium and zinc, are for prostate health.  The boron, calcium, folic acid, magnesium, manganese, Vitamins D & K are for bone health. Magnesium, niacin, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, thiamin, Vitamin B6, are to help with daily energy.  The folic acid, pomegranate, reservatrol, Vitamins B6, C & E, are to keep the heart healthy.

Continuing on, calcium, folic acid, selenium, and Vitamin D, are for colon health.  The lutein, selenium, Vitamin A (beta caroene), Vitamins C & E, and zinc are for healthy eyes.  The antioxidants, selenium, Vitamins A, C, & D, and zinc, are for the immune defense.

Although none of these statements have been checked by the F.D.A., with Len's health issues it is certainly worth giving them a try.  This dietary supplement will not cure, or treat any of the above health issues.

Len would have heart surgery every 2 years, then 1 year, and now after 6 months.  If I can give him a 'better' multivitamin than he is already taking, then I feel that I might be improving, or as best, giving him a tablet that will give him half a chance.

As well as the regular Vitamins in this pill, there is copper, manganese, chromium, molybdenum,  and chloride.  It has less than 1% of the daily amount of sodium, and 2% of potassium.  This is good, as Len has high blood pressure, and high potassium.  I would hate to give him anything to make either higher.

It also contains saw palmetto (berry), orchid fruits blend, which are pomegranate, acai, plum, cranberry, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, bilberry, cherry, apricot, papaya, orange, grape, and pineapple.  Then the garden fruits are, parsley kale, spinach, wheat grass, Brussels sprout, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, beet, carrot, cabbag, and garlic.

These are all fruits, and vegetables that I love.  However, Len is really limited to the amount of fruit per day he can have, because it has natural sugar, and will put his blood glucose readings up. 

I did check with the pharmacy to see if he could take them, but again looking at the box, it states that there are no sugar, wheat grain, corn, dairy products, artificial flavoring or preservatives.  I could be on a winner here.

These are caffeine-free with no stimulants.

Len has been taking them for over a month now.  The only complaints I get from him, is the size of the tablets.  Regular multivitamins can be hard to get down, but these are even worse.

He did say that he has been going to the bathroom more, and I am putting that down to all the fruits and vegetables, in these tablets.

Neither Len or I have seen any improvement in his overall health, so when the 50 tablets are used up, I will make a decision whether or not to purchase more.  I wouldn't mind paying a couple of dollars more than regular multivitamins, but you are getting a smaller amount (only 50) and paying a lot more money for them.

For questions or comments go to www.naturesway.com, or telephone 1-800-9NATURE.

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