One-A-Day Weight Smart

One-A-Day WeightSmart (TM) is a "Complete Multivitamin specifically designed to provide general nutritional support while you work to manage your weight." It accomplishes this, or claims to, with high levels of Chronium, B Vitamins, and EGCG.

So, what's the real deal with this stuff?

I know three people who have taken this product during times of dieting, myself included, and I was the only one who was not smart enough to realize that it was, in fact, making me horrible nauseous right away-- unlike my friends, I was taking this vitamin at the same time as I took thermogenic-style diet pills, and I blamed the majority of the adverse effects on the other pills, reasoning that since the WeightSmart was only a vitamin, it couldn't possibly be to blame for the feeling of imminent vomit. However, having taken these pills by themselves the other day on a whim, I can now officially told you I was wrong.

These vitamins scored a three out of five rating on epinions.com, where a variety of users confirmed the two things I suspected to be true about the product: it is effective for weight loss, but it causes stomach problems in a large percentage of those who take it.

On the bright side, nausea and diarrhea aren't nessecarily a bad thing if you're desperate enough to lose weight. But if you are that desperate, what you need more than pills is, well, therapy.


Aside from the tiny detail of torturing your digestive system by taking these, many vitamin experts (vitamin snobs?) say that the average store bought one-a-day multivitamin (One-a-Day, Centrum, etc.) is pretty bottom-of-the-barrel as far as supplements are concerned, claiming they are too dense to dissolve in your stomach and release the needed nutrition. There's much controversy over whether multivitamins accomplish anything at all, as well as some theories that they can do more harm than good, as broad-spectrum supplements can throw unbalanced bodies with very specific needs even more out of whack.

The final word on vitamins in general? There is none, really, and their probably never will be. This is an argument that's gone on for years, and you'll get different answers from every expert you think to ask: don't put too much trust in the opinion of your doctor, nutrionist, or overly-talkative, secretly-commissioned GNC salesman Or me, for that matter.

The final word on One-A-Day WeightSmart? Probably better to get the EGCG they're so proud of from a food source like Green Tea, and the chronium from, well, I get mine from delicious Slim Mints (an acquired taste, to be sure.)

Should you buy it? Probably not. If you're interested, and you have the five to ten bucks to spare, go for it-- you'll know it one or two pills whether or not your stomach agrees with your decision.