I'm trying to pick a good multivitamin for my children and husband, and for myself. Any suggestions based on your research?

Answer:

If you're not sure that you are eating a balanced diet, the right multivitamin can safely help you reach the daily requirements for vitamins and minerals for a person of your age and gender. Our Multivitamin/Multimineral Review includes our suggestions of specific multivitamins that 1) have passed our testing, 2) are well priced, and 3) can meet the specific needs of children, teens, women, pregnant women, and men, as well as the special needs of senior men and women (typically identified as 50+ on vitamin labels). You can also see our Top Pick for each category.

The biggest differences among multivitamins for people of different ages will be in iron (children and women up to age 50 need much more than men and older adults), vitamins D and B6 (older adults need more than younger adults), and calcium (children/teens and older adults — specifically women over 50 and men over 70 -- need more than younger adults).

For the minerals chromium, fluoride, magnesium, and zinc, men's requirements are about 30% to 40% greater than those of women. For vitamins A, C, and K, men need about 20% to 33% more than women.