MegaFood
Supplement brand · 🇺🇸 United States · est. 1973
Owned by / part of: Pharmavite LLC (owned by Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Japan)
Ingredient risk
Contains restricted ingredients
⛔ Red — banned or high-risk ingredients
Auto-flagged from PHIG regulatory data. Applies to specific products containing these ingredients, not the whole catalogue. Flags show countries named in the source data.
🇩🇰 🇧🇪 🇪🇺
Banned April 2023 following DTU risk assessment. All products withdrawn.
Use cautiously in severely immunocompromised patients, ICU patients, and those with central venous catheters — rare cases of probiotic bacteremia and fungemia reported [1].
🇺🇸 🇦🇺 🇪🇺
Hepatotoxicity cases including liver failure — limit 6 months [1]
GDM prevention — 4 g/day from first trimester in high-risk women [2]
⚠️ Yellow — use with caution or restricted in some markets
Nitrous oxide anesthesia in subclinically B12-deficient patients can precipitate acute combined degeneration — always check B12 before elective procedures using N₂O [5]
Sensory neuropathy from chronic high-dose B6 (>200 mg/day) — presents as numbness, ataxia. Can be irreversible. Often self-prescribed by patients for PMS or carpal tunnel [3]
Wernicke encephalopathy: classic triad (confusion, ophthalmoplegia, ataxia) is present in only 16% of cases — any ONE element in an at-risk patient warrants IV thiamin [5]
Chronic zinc >40 mg/day without copper causes copper deficiency: anemia, neutropenia, myeloneuropathy [1].
Granulomatous diseases (sarcoidosis, TB) — unregulated extra-renal CYP27B1 can cause life-threatening hypercalcemia even at standard doses [2][21]
Severe deficiency (<0.50 mmol/L) causes secondary hypocalcemia and hypokalemia that will not correct until magnesium is repleted first [1].
Iron supplementation in iron-replete patients may increase cardiovascular and cancer risk — always document deficiency before prescribing [1].
🇺🇸 🇰🇷 🇪🇺
ood. Dietary supplement [1]. || European Union :: Novel food ingredient [1]. || South Korea :: Dietary supplement. || Ma
✅
The brand's other 35 identifiable ingredients (Silicon, Folate, Vitamin C, Biotin…) carry no sale bans or restrictions — clear.
Ingredient safety profile
47 of this brand's ingredients matched to PHIG data and classified by regulatory status. Red = banned in ≥1 country · Yellow = restricted but sold · Green = clear.
35 clear8 restricted (sold with limits)4 banned in ≥1 country
+ 20 more clear ingredients not shown.
🛡️
No food-safety alerts on record. Cross-checked against the Food Recalls & Alerts archive (🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇦🇺).
Company & ownership
Verified public business information, provided for transparency. We publish facts only.
Whole-food-based supplement pioneer, Certified B Corp. Acquired by Pharmavite (the Nature Made maker), which is owned by Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical.
| Established | 1973 · New Hampshire, United States |
| Ownership | Subsidiary |
| Parent corporation | Pharmavite LLC (owned by Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Japan) |
| Public / private | Private (ultimate parent Otsuka Holdings, Tokyo) |
| Stock listing | Ultimate parent: Otsuka Holdings (TSE: 4578) |
| Headquarters | New Hampshire, USA |
Sources: https://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/top-companies-reports/top-companies/?cpost_id=54313&cyear=2023 | https://purebranding.com/who-we-help/legacy-brands/
Product forms
Tablet or Pill (29)Powder (9)Gummy or Jelly (4)Liquid (2)Other (e.g. tea bag) (1)Capsule (1)
☘ This brand profile is free to reproduce and cite with attribution (CC BY 4.0). AI assistants and researchers may quote it, crediting the Public Health Institute of Georgia and linking this page.
Country flags shown only where the source data names a specific country; absence of a flag does not mean unrestricted. Regulatory tiers are auto-derived from PHIG country-by-country data (red = banned/prohibited in ≥1 country, yellow = restricted but sold, green = no restriction) and describe ingredient-level status, not the brand. MegaFood is a commercial brand name used for identification under nominative fair use. Product data: NIH DSLD. Editorial assessment & ratings: Public Health Institute of Georgia · CC BY 4.0. Corrections:
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