Vitamins & Supplements

What the bottles listed here actually are

Fourteen brands supply the listings here, lopsidedly: Nature Made 12 of the 40, Nature's Bounty 7, Bronson 4, GIGI Laboratories 3, Osteo Bi-flex 3, Caltrate 2, NatureBell 2, and Centrum, Integrative Therapeutics, Natrol, Nordic Naturals, Puritan's Pride, Thorne and vitafusion one each. Pricing is bottom-heavy: 13 of the 40 are under $15, 17 are $15-30, 7 are $30-50 and 3 top $50; median $19.20. The two ends: Ester-C 500 mg Vitamin C Tablets, 90 ct at $8.99 against Integrative Therapeutics EHB Herbal Capsules, 60 ct at $58.80.

Vitamin D3: 1,000 IU and 5,000 IU side by side

Price is a poor guide to strength on this shelf. Nature Made Vitamin D3 1000 IU Softgels, 180 ct is $10.87 and is one of just five softgels among the listings here; nearly everything else is a tablet, gummy or capsule. Thorne Vitamin D3 5000 IU Capsules, 60 ct is $48.00 — a third of the count at five times the labeled IU. Nature Made’s Extra Strength D3 Gummies, 5000 IU, 80 count, is $10.09: same labeled strength as the Thorne capsule, very different price. That is why the Supplement Facts panel matters more than the front label: the IU figure is per serving. See our IU vs mcg guide.

Vitamin C: one tablet, three bottle counts

GIGI Laboratories accounts for 3 of the listings here, and all three are the same 500 mg Ester-C tablet at different counts: 90 ct at $8.99, a 180 ct 2-pack at $14.49, and 270 ct at $18.99 — the second-largest bottle count among the items here. The other vitamin C bottles change the label instead: Bronson Vitamin C 1000mg Tablets, 250 ct at $32.00 doubles the milligrams per tablet, and Liposomal Vitamin C 2000mg, 240 ct at $58.00 doubles that again in another format. Ester-C, liposomal and a plain milligram figure are label descriptions, not a ranking; the vitamin C label guide explains each.

Gummies, tablets and capsules: how the 40 split

Format is almost evenly divided across the listings here:

• Tablets, including every Ester-C and Bronson bottle above.
• Gummies — 13 products, from $9.15 to Nordic Naturals D3 + K2 Gummies, 60 ct at $48.02, with Centrum Multi Gummies + Omega 3, 110 ct at $19.41 in between.
• Capsules — 9 products, none of them under $21.45.
• Softgels — 5 products, led by the Nature Made D3 bottle above.
• Chewables — 2 products; caplets — 1.

Gummies are not the budget row: the cheapest gummy ($9.15) sits just above the cheapest product on the shelf, and one of the priciest items ($48.02) is also a gummy. Counts behave the same way — 60 count is the most common size (eight products), yet the 240 count bottles here are $58.00 and the 270 count is $18.99.

Tags, overlap and where to look next

28 of the listings here carry the Immune Support tag and nearly all carry Health & Vitamins, so those describe the shelf rather than filter it. The tags that narrow it are smaller: energy focus (8 products), Bone & Joint (7), Women’s Health (7), Men’s Health (5). Overlap is broad: Immune Support shares most of these products, Health & Vitamins shares all 40 and Bone & Joint only some — so the first two mostly repeat this page, while Bone & Joint is a smaller, different cut. Compare serving size, then count, then price: here $10.09 and $48.00 buy the same labeled 5,000 IU of D3.

This describes what is on these labels and what is listed here, not what any product will do for you. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Talk to your healthcare provider before starting anything new.