Most multivitamins fill the label with the cheapest form that passes: folic acid instead of folate, cyanocobalamin instead of methylcobalamin, magnesium oxide instead of a chelate. The label line reads the same — the margin reads better.
Foundation 01 wrote one rule and applied it everywhere: if a better-absorbed or active form exists and the evidence supports it, we use it.
Where the rule decided
- Folate as Quatrefolic® — the glucosamine salt of (6S)-5-methyltetrahydrofolate, the form the body actually uses. Roughly 40% of the population carries MTHFR gene variants that slow the conversion of folic acid; 5-MTHF skips that step entirely.
- B12 as methylcobalamin, not cyanocobalamin.
- B2 as riboflavin-5′-phosphate — the active coenzyme form.
- Magnesium, zinc and copper as bisglycinate chelates — fully reacted forms with meaningful absorption, instead of oxides that work more like a laxative.
And where it didn't
The same rule cuts the other way: when a pricier form has no evidence behind it, we don't buy it for the marketing. That is why vitamin C is plain L-ascorbic acid and B6 is pyridoxine hydrochloride — forms that are well studied and reliable at everyday doses.
Active and chelated forms cost more per kilogram. But a label where every line discloses its form and its dose is the whole story of "in forms your body can use".