Analysis

Which forms of magnesium, B12, folate and other nutrients supplements use

The most-listed forms are magnesium oxide for magnesium (5,110 products), cyanocobalamin for vitamin B12 (7,144 products), methylfolate (5-MTHF) for folate (2,069 products) (DSLD version 9.4.0, January 2026). Across 12 nutrients, this page counts the products naming each form and the median amount they list.

Published by PlainVitamins on October 7, 2026; written with AI tools under the editorial policy, every figure computed from the label database.

Which forms does each nutrient come in?

How this was measured

A product counts for a form when DSLD records that compound as the form of the nutrient on its current label (for example magnesium as magnesium glycinate). A product naming two forms counts for both. Medians are of the nutrient amount per serving among products giving it.

Limits

Many labels name no form; they are in the nutrient total but not in any form row. The form says nothing here about absorption or effect; the ODS fact sheets discuss that.

Sources

• NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Dietary Supplement Label Database, version 9.4.0.

The data

One row per nutrient and form: products, median amount per serving, measure. Download the CSV. How the labels are grouped and read: methodology.

Other analyses

• Supplement labels above the adult upper limit, nutrient by nutrientWhich nutrients most often pass the adult Tolerable Upper Intake Level at the most servings a label allows, and on which products.
• How supplement amounts compare with the Daily ValueFor each nutrient with an FDA Daily Value: the amount the typical product lists per serving, and how many products give five times the DV or more.
• Proprietary blends: how many supplement labels do not disclose their amountsHow many products list a proprietary blend whose ingredient amounts are not disclosed, by product type and by brand.
• Vitamin D amounts on supplement labels, by yearHow the amount of vitamin D per serving has moved on labels entered into the NIH database each year since 2011.
• Gummies, tablets, capsules: how amounts differ by physical formThe median amount per serving of ten common nutrients in gummies, tablets, capsules, softgels, liquids and powders.
• One formula, many brand names: identical supplement labelsFormulas that appear with the same ingredients in the same amounts under several brand names in the label database: identical label formulas, which do not by themselves show a common maker.