I was watching TV today and saw that Berocca advert, you know the one with the two lumberjacks dancing on a log? Cool dance but it got me thinking - does Berocca actually work?
I'm not an expert in supplements or vitamins or anything like that. I'm as ignorant as most people are so I did a Google search on what other people thought and found. Personally I find Berocca to have no effect on me unless it's in the late evening; I do find myself a bit more awake but then again it could just be a placebo effect. Someone I know finds no change either and he's a good 20 years older than me so, at least for us two it's not an age difference thing.
On Wikipedia, it apparently won the Boots Vitamin Award for 2004 to 2009 but it could be Wikipedia fibbing or people voting for Berocca because it's the easiest one to think of (availability heuristic anyone?). You can see it here if you want.
Wired have an interesting article on what each ingredient does here and seems to conclude that actually Berocca does nothing for you unless your body cannot make its own supply of Vitamin B12 or Biotin etc.
Someone else asked this question on Yahoo Answers (a questionable source of information, I know but have a look) and the highest voted answer was completely against Berocca and its supplier, Bayer. It did seem to spend a bit of time ranting about the company rather than the actual product though.
So in conclusion ... I have no conclusion. People seem to think that what Berocca claims to give is actually not required but you could say the placebo effect is worth it. If you want to spend an average of £5 on a tube of the stuff for a placebo effect, that is.
Remember, I have no knowledge of Berocca at all and the information I found is merely from different sources from a quick search on Google. Do take this with a pinch of salt and look into it more yourself if you really want to know what it does and if you should take it.
