Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
The NutriSearch Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements is your roadmap to understanding the remarkable protective powers of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Packed with the latest findings on inflammation, oxidative stress, and degenerative disease, this guide is the definitive resource for anyone serious about optimal nutrition and anti-aging defence. Inside, you will find over 1,500 US and Canadian supplements scientifically rated and compared, 18 critical Health Support Criteria required to evaluate supplements, 300 full-colour graphs so you can easily compare top-rated products. Discover recent scientific evidence that shows supplements can optimize health and retard the aging process. Determine which supplement is best for you and your family, using a scientifically-based approach. Now in its 4th edition and representing thousands of hours of research, the NutriSearch Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements is the way for you to find a quality nutritional supplement that best suits your needs. For those interested in optimizing their health and warding off the aging process, this guide is a must!

Rating : - In the right direction, but ultimately fails
The problem with the nutritional supplement industry is that it is a deregulated island in the middle of a sea of FDA incompetence. While this is in itself a good thing, consumers are used to being protected by the arm of the Federal Government, and don't think to check for third party certification. The result is a lot of garbage: many multivitamins don't contain sufficient quantities of their ingredients, or in an very low biologically available form, or worse yet don't even match their labels. Thus there is a definite market for a book like this, but unfortunately this particular attempt fails badly, mainly owing to a lack of scholarship.

First, MacWilliams measures the nominal quantities of vitamins against the "Blended Standard", which consists of the arbitrary recommendations of a few more or less respected nutritionists. For example, if Dr. X recommends 1000mg of Vitamin C per day, what benefit will I get if take a multivitamin with 500? 50%? 90%? 10%? This could be answered by the scientific literature, but that would require a bit more work.

Second, the most important issue is the lack of regulation. MacWilliams almost completely punts on this: they identified about 10 multivitamins that more or less satisfied their criteria and asked them to provide proof from a few regulatory agencies. Those that did were awarded the "Gold Star". Nothing was mentioned about the other 200 products.

The result is basically an advertisement for about 5 premium multivitamins, most of which cost about 2$ per day, which is rather like a car magazine which tells you the solution to your problems is to buy a Ferrari. The point is that the book does not live up to its title: it is not a comparative guide, because it only offers the "super premium" recommendation and not the "budget" recommendation and the "athlete" recommendation and so on.