If it’s a once-daily tablet then the product likely contains nutrients that can’t be absorbed. Simply look at the Supplements Facts label on the bottle. This is where each ingredient is listed in detail. Find magnesium, calcium, zinc and copper. If calcium is calcium carbonate, or if any of the other minerals are “oxides” (e.g., magnesium oxide, copper oxide), then it’s a poor quality formula and not worth your money.

The oxide forms of these minerals are poorly absorbed. In fact, you can only absorb about two percent of magnesium when it’s in the oxide form. So if the bottle lists one hundred milligrams magnesium (as magnesium oxide), then you’re actually only absorbing about two milligrams. The remaining ninety eight milligrams just pass right through you. Magnesium in an oxide form is so poorly absorbed that in higher doses it’s a laxative.

Companies use the oxide form of minerals because they’re cheap. But you’d be better off eating a few spinach leaves than wasting your money on a dietary supplement that contains minerals in their oxide forms.

Instead, the most absorbable form of minerals are the amino acid chelated forms. A chelate is a mineral combined with an amino acid such as citrate, malate or aspartate. Amino acid chelated minerals are easier for the body to absorb and can increase absorption to 75%. If you really want your money’s worth, only buy products that contain all their minerals as amino acid chelates (eg, magnesium amino acid chelate).

Calcium, found in all multivitamins and calcium supplements, is a little different. It doesn’t come in an oxide form. Instead, most products contain calcium carbonate (this includes coral calcium). It’s a large molecule with a lot of elemental calcium. But its size makes it difficult to absorb and can be constipating.

Stomach acid is required to absorb calcium carbonate. But as people age they tend to produce less stomach acid. Up to twenty-one percent of people sixty to sixty-nine years old, thirty-one percent of those seventy to seventy-nine years old, and thirty-seven percent of those above the age of eighty have hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid) or achlorhydria (no stomach acid).

Just when people need the calcium most as they age and take osteoporosis supplements to protect their bones they’re absorbing lessand less of this essential mineral.

In contrast, calcium citrate or malate is smaller, easier to absorb and doesn’t require stomach acid. The most absorbable forms of minerals are listed as an “amino acid chelate,” or as citrate, malate, aspartate or asporotate. Only buy supplements that contain these forms of minerals.

The dietary supplement aisle is confusing for most people, and manufacturers know this. That’s why people largely shop just on price. They buy the least expensive bottle possible. In doing so they’re flushing their money down the toilet. Be a savvy consumer. Look at your dietary supplement and ask these questions. You’ll be getting a better value for your money by buying quality. This is why NBI’s Supreme Multivitamin contains only amino acid chelated minerals and calcium citrate.

NBI also ensures each nutrient is tested for contaminants and shown to exceed FDA standards. Additionally, all NBI products are manufactured at a GMP-certified, FDA registered manufacturing company that also manufactures pharmaceuticals. This ensures that NBI products actually conform to pharmaceutical grade manufacturing standards.

Finally, NBI stands behind every one of its products with an unconditional money-back guarantee. No other company provides this level of quality and assurance.

But if you don’t mind taking more capsules (6 per day in Osteo-K versus 4 per day in Osteo-K Minis), doesn’t bother you and you like the idea of getting more calcium in your dietary supplement, then the original Osteo-K formula is for you.