Nickel and Multivitamins

Flipping through a magazine this morning, I saw an ad for a popular multi-vitamin.  The advertisement was showcasing the idea that their multivitamin contains more vitamins and minerals than the other brands.  At the bottom of a bright, colorful pyramid of ingredients, there sat Nickel as one of the minerals in their multivitamin.  (The possiblity that Nickel is an essential mineral in our diet has been researched; however, results have been mostly inconclusive).  I’m reminded how careful we have to be to read the ingredients in everything, even those things that are “good for you”.  The other brands in the advertisement are in the background; small, nameless, and colorless, in an attempt to showcase their lacking. Lucky for me, what they lack happens to be nickel, so I can take those!  The advertisement was wonderful for me to see, but I think not in a way the colorful multivitamin intended!

It is vital that I remember to read the ingredients in everything I buy.

Multivitamins can contain nickel.

I considered naming names, as it were, and listing the multi-vitamins from the ad that don't contain nickel; however, I've also found that product ingredients change all the time.  I don't want to mislead anyone.  You cannot rely on brand alone; you have to read the ingredients of a product every single time you shop.  Ingredients change, and what is safe today may not be safe tomorrow. 

That ad was a reminder to me to never let my guard down.  How horrible would it have been to find out that my daily multi-vitamin was making me sick!  Keeping track off all the places nickel lurks is exhausting and unending... and absolutely necessary.