Anvil Nutrition - Daily Multivitamin

Most multivitamins use folic acid for B9 and cyanocobalamin for B12, and the B6 is usually pyridoxine HCL. These are the cheapest forms. They work for some people, but they all require your body to convert them into their active forms before they can be used. If that conversion is slow or incomplete, the vitamin is on the label but it's not doing what you think it's doing.

This formula uses L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate (the calcium salt of 5-MTHF) instead of folic acid, methylcobalamin instead of cyanocobalamin, pyridoxal-5-phosphate instead of pyridoxine, and riboflavin-5-phosphate instead of standard riboflavin. These are the forms your body actually uses at the cellular level. No conversion required.

This matters especially for people who carry the MTHFR polymorphism. The review linked below reports that naturally occurring 5-MTHF stays well absorbed even when gut pH is altered, with its bioavailability unaffected by metabolic defects, and that using it instead of folic acid overcomes the defects caused by that polymorphism while also preventing the effects of unconverted folic acid left circulating in the blood.

Vitamin D is included as D3 (cholecalciferol), not D2 (ergocalciferol). A systematic review and meta-analysis of 20 randomized comparative studies found D3 raised total 25-hydroxyvitamin D more than D2, with the change 40% lower in the D2 group across daily-dosed comparisons, though the difference lost significance mostly in people with a BMI over 25. D3 is the form your skin produces from sunlight, and in a review of 20 studies, D3 raised total 25(OH)D more than D2 even when the comparison was limited to studies using daily dosing.

Vitamin K comes in two forms here, 60 mcg of K1 as phytonadione and 60 mcg of K2 as MK-7 (menaquinone-7) rather than MK-4. A clinical trial comparing MK-7 and MK-4 bioavailability found that MK-7 reached peak serum levels at 6 hours and remained detectable for 48 hours after a single dose. MK-4 at the same dose produced no detectable serum levels at any time point across all subjects. The review linked below reports that vitamin K2 promotes osteoblast differentiation and osteocalcin carboxylation to support bone formation, and in blood vessels it reduces hydroxyapatite formation through the carboxylation of matrix Gla protein and Gla rich protein.

Vitamin E is included as natural mixed tocopherols. Most cheap multivitamins use dl-alpha tocopherol, the synthetic version, which includes molecular forms your body doesn't preferentially use.

The mineral forms in most multivitamins are oxides and carbonates. Magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, chromium chloride. These are inexpensive to manufacture but have lower absorption rates because your body has to work harder to break them down and pull the mineral out.

Here the zinc and copper are bisglycinate chelates, and so is the boron. The manganese is a glycinate. In every case the mineral is bound to the amino acid glycine instead of sitting in an oxide or a carbonate. Calcium and magnesium come from Aquamin marine algae, a whole-food mineral matrix harvested from red algae. Selenium is included as L-selenomethionine, the organic form that integrates into proteins the same way dietary selenium from food does. Chromium is included as chromium picolinate, bound to picolinic acid for improved uptake. Potassium is potassium citrate, and the sodium and chloride come from mineral salt.

The difference between a mineral on the label and a mineral your body absorbs comes down to the form. That's why the form is printed right next to every mineral on the supplement facts panel.

Beyond the vitamin and mineral foundation, this formula includes targeted compounds that most basic multivitamins leave out entirely.

Choline is delivered as Alpha GPC, a phospholipid form that crosses the blood-brain barrier and supports acetylcholine production for cognitive function and memory. Lutein and zeaxanthin are the two carotenoids that accumulate in the macula of the eye and support long-term visual health, especially under blue light exposure from screens. The lutein comes as 100 mg of extract standardized to 10%, which is 10 mg of lutein, and the zeaxanthin as 20 mg of marigold extract standardized to 10%, which is 2 mg of zeaxanthin. Astaxanthin is one of the most potent naturally occurring antioxidants, with a molecular structure that spans the full width of the cell membrane for protection against oxidative stress, and it comes as 12.5 mg of a 10% powder, which is 1.25 mg of astaxanthin.

Every ingredient in this formula was chosen for its bioactive form, but form alone doesn't guarantee absorption, so the formula also carries 50 mg of AstraGin®, a standardized extract of Astragalus membranaceus and Panax notoginseng, to support the uptake of the nutrients around it.

You should know the human evidence on this extract is still early. The published trial so far is a small randomized crossover study in 30 healthy adults, where the same Astragalus and Panax notoginseng saponin extract raised absorption of the amino acids valine and leucine from whey protein by 14% and 8% after four weeks. That study measured amino acids, which is why the label lists AstraGin with its amount and this page doesn't promise you a percentage for every vitamin and mineral on it.