Zipvit Project ZV Sports Multivitamin for men

This Zipvit Sports Multivitamin Formula for Men has an important caveat on the 60-tablet bottle: 'Food supplements must not replace a varied and balanced diet'. Quite.

I took two of these bright blue, liquorice comfit sized, yeasty smelling tablets every day, as directed, and noticed exactly no difference in my general health or cycling performance. I guess the rationale behind multivitamins is that they're health insurance in case something is missing from your diet. But then you'd be better off sorting your diet out first. That's true whatever your diet is – for the record, mine's vegetarian with very little dairy.

Having said that, if you are going to take a multivitamin, you may as well take one that ticks all the boxes. This does. It's not just iron and A, C and E. It contains, for example, 100% of your recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin D, 5000% (!) of your RDA of B12, and 150% of your RDA of zinc. It even has 40% of your RDA of calcium, plus a host of things that there aren't RDAs for, including citrus bioflavinoids and ginseng. There are 40 nutrients and antioxidants all told.

Given that you're not, for example, going to poison yourself with vitamin D, given the amount in each dose, the only disadvantages I can see from taking these tablets are: one, the £9.99 per month cost; and two, the possibility that you might subconsciously (or consciously) neglect your diet, having guaranteed an intake of certain vitamins and minerals.

Whether you want diet insurance from supplements like these, only you can answer. Like any insurance, you never really know if you'll collect. If you are in the market for multivitamins, however, Zipvit's Formula for Men is as complete as they come. There is a Multivitamin Formula for Women, in case you were wondering. It's the same price but the mix is slightly different – more iron, for example.

Verdict

A one-stop pill pop for all the vitamins and minerals you know you should ingest, and maybe some you didn't know about.