Why did they take Green Viagra off the market?

January 8, 2009 2:12 AM

One-A-Day ACTIVE multi-vitamins are all gone, and the One-A-Day ENERGY lookalike replacements are just caffeine pills. Can anyone tell me what happened?

I'm talking about the green "One-A-Day" multi-vitamin bottles. I used to get the ACTIVE, and love them to death, cause they had a little Ginseng or Gingko or something magical in them (I can't get Cialis without a doctor prescription)

Now all they sell is One-A-Day ENERGY, which are just caffeine pills and do not do the same thing. What gives?!?

And while I'm asking the Hive Mind dumb questions, why are BANANA POWERBARS so hard to find?

posted by shipbreaker to health & fitness (7 comments total)

Centrum Performance is a one-a-day multivitamin with Ginseng, Ginko, etc.

You can buy it at your local CVS.
posted by Ryvar at 2:49 AM on January 8, 2009 [1 favorite]

Most bicycle shops should be able to order you any flavor powerbar you want.
posted by whoda at 6:21 AM on January 8, 2009

I have no real knowledge but I assume that the switch to the Energy formulation was due to the fact that energy products are so hot right now and they just wanted to get on the bandwagon.

You could turn to eBay to lay in a supply until you find a suitable replacement.
posted by cabingirl at 6:35 AM on January 8, 2009

"a little Ginseng or Gingko or something magical"

Why don't you find out what was really in the pills you were taking and compare that with all the other supplements that are on the market and take an extra supplement to fill out things that are missing?
posted by mmascolino at 7:22 AM on January 8, 2009

FURTHER UPDATE
==== ====

So I went to the store and looked at the Centrum Performance multivitamins.
Interesting!!

On the back of the box, the "Ingredients" list has a double-dagger (diesis), and the footnote says "Formula revised to remove Ginkgo".

Ah hah!??!! The same thing that made One-A-Day Active change into One-A-Day Energy!?!

So what the dealio?

Is Ginkgo bad for people?
Does it cause the multivitamin to expire faster?
Were there lawsuits?
Whut gives?

And I also did see that Ginkgo Biloba is available for purchase separately.

But I am trying to get to the bottom of the Great Vitamin Conspiracy.

==== ====

Note: Ask MetaFilter is as useful as you make it.
posted by shipbreaker at 9:48 PM on January 9, 2009

Wow. Sorry about that - I take one every day from a 90-pill bottle and my most recent bottle is about two months old. This must've been really recent.
posted by Ryvar at 11:07 AM on January 11, 2009

FWIW, it's ginseng that's known/believed/suspected to improved blood flow and sexual performance, not ginko. So your desired effect should still be pretty easy to obtain in anything that has ginseng, like centrum performance.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:44 AM on May 28, 2009