Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Multi is a women’s multivitamin that is made by NOW Health Group Inc, which is a brand you may have heard of— they sell natural foods and teas in addition to supplements. This women’s multivitamins, claims, as its name suggests, to be “superior” and “softer” (on the stomach) to the other women’s multivitamins on the market, of which there are many.
The bottle boasts that it is “gentler and easier to ,”swallow & absorb,” “formulated for better GI tolerability”and that it contains “evening primrose, cranberry, green tea, horsetail silica, and CoQ10”. Add those claims to an orange, matte-finish label, and you have our attention. That’s why we decided to take a closer look.
Note: Multivitamins shouldn’t be seen as replacements for a healthy diet or medication. It’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor before beginning a new fitness, nutritional, and/or supplement routine. Individual needs for vitamins and minerals will vary. The list below simply includes our favorite brands and shouldn’t be taken as medical advice.
NOW Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Ingredients
Of Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Multi’s ~35 ingredients, the supplement offers 100% or more of your recommended daily values for 19 vitamins and minerals, and 200%+ of your recommended daily values for 10.
Below, we highlight the ingredients in NOW Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Multi that we deemed as being particularly important to or uncommon for a women’s multivitamin.
[Check out our full list of the best reviewed women’s multivitamins!]
Biotin 300 mcg
Biotin is good for luscious locks and it has been shown to potentially boost nail and hair health. While good dietary sources of biotin include tomatoes, romaine lettuce, carrots, onions, cabbage, cucumber, cauliflower, and mushrooms, getting enough may be tough for picky eaters.
Evening Primrose Oil 500 mg
It sounds like it might be related to the uber-romantic rose we all know and love, but evening primrose is actually a small, yellow wildflower found in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia that’s sought out for its oil. Many studies have evaluated evening primrose oil for eczema, PMS, or breast pain, but National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says that the studies haven’t been conclusive. That said, some believe that EPO may have healing properties thanks to its gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) content, which is an omega-6 fatty acid found in plant oils.
Alpha Lipoic Acid 25 mg
We naturally produce ALA in our body, but (like collagen) our levels of it begin to dip as we age. Found in every cell in our body, alpha-lipoic acid is an antioxidant that may help with inflammation. And a slew of studies suggests alpha-lipoic acid safeguards mitochondria, which may delay cognitive decline. Brain health FTW.
[ALA isn’t uncommon in fat burners — if they interest you, check out our picks for the best female fat burner!]
Molybdenum 75 Mcg
Molybdenum isn’t often included in multivitamins because humans don’t need much of it, and what we do need we usually get from food. Its basic role is to help us break down fats and carbs for energy. But it’s also abundant in human tooth enamel and may have a role in lowering the risk of tooth decay (which is NBD for women in their 20’s, but might be important for women 50+).
CoQ10 10 mg
Anytime CoQ10 shows up in a multi, we consider it a win. It’s a substance similar to a vitamin and is found in every cell of the body. Your body makes CoQ10, and then your cells use it to produce the energy needed for cell growth and maintenance. Because levels of it decrease as we age, some seek supplementation.
Lycopene 500 mcg
This is almost double the amount of lycopene than what’s typically found in a multi. Why should you care? Quick science lesson: some athletes are turning towards tomato juice as pre-workout. That’s because one study found that drinking 5 ounces of tomato juice for five weeks reduced free-radical damage from an intense cycling ride. Researchers credit that to lycopene, which is an antioxidant (sensing a trend?) known for soaking up tissue-damaging compounds. The result? The women in the study recovered more quickly.
Grape Seed Extract 25 mg
Grape seed extract is an adaptogenic herb that is rich in polyphenols, which may enhance brain function. And there’s a belief is that grape seed extract improves the connections between our neurotransmitters. Like we said, we’re here for brain health.
Green Tea Extract 25 mg
Mice are not humans (duh), but scientists found that when mice consumed green tea extract, their endurance increased by up to 24%. The scientists concluded that “Although the clinical efficacy of GTE has not yet been confirmed in human studies, our results suggest that GTE may be a useful tool for improving endurance capacity,” which is why it’s potentially interesting to some athletes.
Horsetail Extract 50 mg
Horsetail grass is an herbal supplement that is sometimes suggested for brittle hair and nails.
Cranberry Concentrate 100 mg
Yep, like in the juice. Cranberry juice, is a popularly known UTI remedy, includes antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, and while it lacks sufficient statistic backing for being effective, it may support urinary tract health.
Other ingredients include:
- Vitamin A 5000 IU
- Vitamin C 200 mg
- Vitamin D-3 1000IU
- Vitamin E 150 IU
- Vitamin K 80 mcg
- Thiamin 25 mg
- Riboflavin 25 mg
- Niacin 25 mg
- Vitamin B6 25 mg
- Folate 800 mcg
- Vitamin B12 120 mcg
- Pantothenic Acid 50 mg
- Calcium 140 mg
- Iron 6 mg
- Iodine 225 mcg
- Magnesium 100 mg
- Zinc 15 mg
- Selenium 200 mcg
- Copper 1 mg
- Manganese 2 mg
- Chromium 120 mcg
- Potassium 25 mg
- Choline 25 mg
- Inositol 25 mg
- Lutein 500 mcg
It’s also worth noting that the vitamin contains gelatin, glycerin, water, carob, flax seed oil, soy lecithin and beeswax. Additionally, while this product is not manufactured with wheat, gluten, milk, egg, fish or shellfish ingredients. It is produced in a GMP facility that processes other ingredients containing these allergens, so if you have a severe allergy take caution.
Another thing on the ingredient list that is caught my eye, is that unlike the other multivitamins I have tried, this label includes a nutrition information about the calories, calories from fat, total fat, and protein per serving. Supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA, which means that the claims on multivitamin bottles do not have to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration and that supplements are not required to list calorie, fat, or protein content.
So do multivitamins have calories? Like, is that even a thing? The answer is (generally, usually) no, multivitamins do not provide calories for energy. (Gummy vitamins may carry calories from the carbs they are packaged with but not from the vitamins themselves.)
NOW Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Multi-Vitamin Benefits and Effectiveness
As an active, CrossFitting woman in my mid-twenties, I’m always experimenting with new supplements, gadgets, and schedules to boost my health and fitness levels. After reading that CoQ10 and lycopene may be beneficial to athletes, I was excited to try a multi that contains both: NOW Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Multi.
If this pill walked into a bar and sat next to me, I’d immediately go and sit on the opposite side of the bar. Which is to say, my sense of smell is incredible, and this multivitamin doesn’t smell great. It has that classic multivitamin smell… but worse. It doesn’t smell like fish (the way some multivitamins do). It smells like garbage. In fact, I left the cap off the bottle while I was writing this review and my roommate walked in and said, “What’s that smell?”. And no, she wasn’t referring to my feet or my sweaty shoes.
And I’ll be honest, they don’t taste great (though, they do taste better if I remember to plug my nose and don’t smell them first).
The fact that the actual pill seemed larger than pill size depicted on the bottle that says “softgel size”, and this made my first-time experience worse. The pills are about an inch in length. Think: the size of your middle toe, the height of a iPhone charger plug in, the size of your thumb knuckle? Seriously, when I poured 3 into my hand the first morning my roommate exclaimed, “Those are freaking massive, Gabby”. She’s right. Good news is that swallowing pills has never been an issue for me, so the size didn’t bother me but it could be an issue for you if you have a hyperactive (or even mildly active) gag reflex. Though, I will say that I found that the softgel cap went down easier than veggie caps which can get sticky.
Given that the bottle claims “These multivitamin softgels are easier to swallow, and are formulated for better GI tolerability,” I was curious how and if they’d effect my easily upset tummy. While online, the company says “take 3 softgels daily with food,” the label does not. So the first day I took them on an empty stomach. And no tummy gurgles or burps to speak of! Woot! (That said, I did begin taking them with food to help mask the smell and taste).
Seriously, these pills didn’t upset my digestive system at all. And that’s saying something because my stomach has reacted poorly to supplements containing iron in the past. It’s likely because the pill only contains 6 Mg of iron, which is 33% of daily values and low for a multivitamin. But I eat a diet rich in meat, spinach, and legumes which are all loaded with iron, so I’ll choose lower iron content and no stomach issues over high iron content and stomach issues any day.
I’ve never had a single supplement change my life before, but after reading reviews of NOW Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Multi, I was hopeful this one might. One woman said, “Amazing, the first week I took it my hair just exploded with growth it was almost freaky. Now after about a year of use I can say this is the best multivitamin on the market. It’s energizing, makes your skin look fantastic, has eliminated my constant anemia, intensely helped with my IBS symptoms, and strengthened my hair and nails.”
Another said, “I have taken vitamins for 40 years. This is the first vitamin that I have taken that I actually noticed a huge difference. Within two days I did not feel tired all day, I had the energy to clean, I have felt tired and sluggish for years. It is wonderful to feel energetic again. Thank you Eve!” And a third wrote, “ Makes me feel great! My hair and nails grow at the speed of lightning, skin looks awesome with smaller pores and lighter circles under my eyes.”
My hair and nails have always grown pretty quickly and I didn’t notice a surge in growth when I started taking NOW Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Multi. And my previously impure-complexion, remained impure, so I can’t say that my skin suddenly looks awesome (though, I do plan to continue taking this multi at least until my two-month supply runs out, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed).
But, I did notice a slight increase in energy. Not the way a cup of coffee does, but closer to the way a square of dark chocolate or extra 30 minutes of sleep might. Given that there are so many ingredients in these buggers, I’m not sure what to credit this boost to. But I am happy for it.
I was also thrilled that I didn’t feel like I was flushing all the nutrients in the pills down the drain. If we can’t absorb the nutrients we consume, we end up excreting them in a puddle of bright yellow or orange urine. But according to my pee-color which did not change, my body was actually able to absorb the vitamins in Eve™. Though, I will admit that the smell of my urine did become a bit sour. A few reviews on Amazon mentioned that the multi made their pee more yellow, so this may not be your experience.
A downfall of this product is that it includes a few blends of ingredients which are not well researched. However, many products in the supplemental market are not well researched, so this should not come as a surprise.
NOW Eve™ Softgels Superior Women’s Multi-Vitamin Price
About 14 cents per softgel. 3 softgels serving. 42 cents a day.
That’s $2.94 a week, $12.30 per month, or $149.65 per year. Let’s repeat that: $149.65 a year. That’s the cost of 43 cups of coffee, or 12 designer salads, or 2 sports bras, or 1 pair of metcons. And that’s for an entire year’s worth of “health boosters”…not bad.
The Takeaway
This multivitamin is a great deal: it’s among the least expensive multi’s I’ve seen on the market and it contains more than 30 ingredients. Plus, I actually did notice a slight boost in my energy levels. Given the price and ingredient content, I don’t see any draw I don’t see many drawbacks in incorporating this vitamin into your wellness routine.
The downside is the size and smell which may or may not be tolerable to you, depending on your ability to swallow pills. My recommendation: take it with food. (Not because this multi will upset your stomach, it didn’t for me. But because it will help mask the smell and taste). Also, if you have severe food allergies, take a peek at the label, the multi is made in the same factory containing some common allergens.
NOW Eve™ Softgels Superior Women's Multi
$0.42 per Serving
Pros
- Price
- Variety of ingredients
- Athlete-specific ingredients
- Trusted brand
Cons
- Potentially hard to swallow
- Taste & smell
- 1 serving is 3 pills
