Q: I've heard a lot lately about "designer vitamins." What are they?

Companies that sell designer vitamins say that if you're not getting the right nutrients in the right amounts, you're not as healthy as you could be. When you buy these products online, you complete a questionnaire covering your age, gender, diet, and health. Using your answers, they design a supplement program specifically for you--at a premium, of course. Ballpark, it'll cost you $40 to $80 a month. But paying Porsche prices for pills doesn't make sense when VW vitamins will do the job, says Tod Cooperman, M.D, president of ConsumerLab.com, a leading independent tester of nutritional products. For most of us, a good-quality multivitamin provides insurance for those times when our diets fall short of nutrition goals. Some house brand vitamins like Wal-Mart's Spring Valley line deliver excellent value, Dr. Cooperman says. Test reports on brand name multivitamins and other supplements are available on ConsumerLab.com's home page.