Multivitamin Super Supplements – How Good Are They?
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010You’re probably using one of the market’s so-called super supplements since you’re reading this article!
If that’s the case then I guess you already know that the majority of the multi ingredient vitamin supplements out there are simply a waste of money.
They are contract manufactured, with the cheapest and sometimes useless ingredients of extremely low quality!
They are formulated by people who have no understanding of nutrition, nutritional science or health!
Unfortunately the regulations governing the manufacture of dietary supplements have allowed this to happen for years now. Even the recently revised (June 2007) Dietary Supplement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s) FAIL to prevent a company from manufacturing a BAD SUPPLEMENT.
So, if you’re using one of the super supplements:-
Congratulations and Well Done!
That handful of market leading multi ingredient nutritional health supplements (aka vitamin supplements) are an elite group formulated using genuine nutritional science, and most are manufactured by the company promoting and selling the product, using the best and safest quality materials available including many ingredients that are not in the “run-of-the-mill” supplements.
These supplements are VERY GOOD VALUE and are the only ones savvy health conscious consumers should use to support their health and longevity.
But are these elite supplements all equal?
Absolutely not!
Some are far better than others even at this level.
Because the companies who sell super supplements are usually very large corporations with HUGE capital at their disposal they are capable of putting together clever marketing presentations which masterfully bend the truth, hide weaknesses in their products and ultimately present them as being far better than they really are.
Sure, they’re still way better than the multitude of ‘average’ supplements in the market, not to mention the cheap supermarket multivitamins, but since you’re spending real money on these supplements and you know they’re a lifelong investment in your health, you have a right to know just how much value for money you are getting and whether you are indeed using the best supplement for your supplement budget!
So the time has come to find out just how super your super supplement really is!
- Is it all it claims to be?
- Have you been sucked in and ripped off by deceptive marketing?
- Are you wasting your money?
- Can you get better value for your supplement dollar?
SUPER SUPPLEMENTS NEED SUPER INGREDIENTS
What are the key ingredients that absolutely should be in your nutritional health supplement?
That’s the question that most supplement users would love to know!
There’s too many of them to list here so I’ll give you the names of the absolute best, key ingredients which are the first ones ones I hunt for when reviewing multi ingredient health supplements.
And this is the first thing you should do when sizing up and comparing supplements!
That’s because most of these ingredients I’m about to name are missing – even in super supplements.
And that’s because almost all nutritional supplements are manufactured to a price so the scientists and chemists formulating them do NOT have a free reign when it comes to including all the key ingredients that they know should be there.
And if they are allowed to use some, or even a few, they are forced to include them with lesser potencies, dose amounts and sometimes in cheaper biological forms (meaning less absorption potential aka bioavailability).
Here’s a list of 8 absolutely key ingredients – highly efficacious (and very expensive) – that are required for a supplement to be in the running as a true super supplement.
- L-Glutathione ( ‘Reduced’ form ONLY )
- L-Carnosine
- Bilberry ( not less than 25% potency )
- Polysaccharides
- Resveratrol (‘Trans’ form ONLY, high potency = 50% )
- Turmeric ( high potency = 95% )
- Zeaxanthin
- Tocotrienols ( look for the word ‘Tocomin’ )
- Chrysin ( For Men’s formula’s – not less than 95% potency )
Now we come to medicinal herbal extracts.
These are powerful disease busters and also perform a preventative role in guarding against the onset of degenerative disease.
The super supplement my family and I use has over 2 handfuls of the most effective and clinically proven medicinal herbs.
To discover the names of the most effective medicinal herbs follow this link: nutritional supplements and herbs
Now what about the most potent immunity enhancer available: POLYSACCHARIDES ?
It needs to be there and be backed up by several other IMMUNITY NUTRIENTS (like Beta Glucan, Black Cumin, Olive leaf, Quercetin, Zinc, Manganese, Beta Carotene, and vitamins C and E).
Super supplements need a FULL SPECTRUM FORMULA with ingredients from ALL nutrient categories. So in addition to what’s been mentioned above we want to see:
- Amino Acids
- Standardized Enzymes
- Key gender support nutrients
- Vitamins, minerals and cofactors of course
- And other specialty nutrients
To effectively tackle all organs and body systems a large number of ingredients is needed yet the supplement must still be affordable. My supplement has over 80 ingredients and retails for about $38 – no more expensive than all the other market leaders (with far less ingredients, potencies and dose amounts)
WHO MANUFACTURES SUPER SUPPLEMENTS?
You may already know that 95% of all US manufactured vitamin supplements are put together by contract manufacturers.
This is NOT what you want!
Supplement quality is not only dependent on the manufacturer INDEPENDENTLY testing that the raw ingredients are what the Certificate of Analysis (COA) claims they are (Note: many manufacturers don’t bother testing for compliance with COA’s so they can reduce expenses) but also that they adopt (costly) PROFESSIONAL manufacturing procedures to ensure the finished supplement contains the correct dose amounts for each and every ingredient.
The incentive is simply not there for most contract manufacturers to do this as they are producing for a third party and therefore they are in a very competitive bidding situation.
Whenever I am asked to review a supplement the very first thing I do is to find out who manufacturers it.
What I want to see is that the company selling the supplement is also the manufacturer and controls every aspect of the manufacturing process.
SUPER SUPPLEMENTS NEED SUPER SAFETY PROTOCOLS
With all the negative supplement reports that regularly appear you’re no doubt aware of the fact that contaminated ingredients find their way into supplements far too often!
There’s way too many disreputable supplement manufacturers out there taking all kinds of short-cuts to decrease their production costs and increase profits.
So it’s very important to check up on the quality assurance measures of a company whose supplement you are interested in using.
Search the company’s website first and if you can’t find a detailed explanation of their quality assurance program then send them an email and request it.
Otherwise you are gambling with your health and what you don’t know about your supplement could very well hurt you!
Contaminated ingredients can be toxic and even though the dose amounts are small, in some case they can store and build up in your body over years. 20 years later the effects may become apparent!
WHAT IF YOUR SUPPLEMENT’S MANUFACTURER DOESN’T CHECK FOR HARMFUL COMPONENTS OF AN INGREDIENT?
Did you know that too much of the wrong component of an ingredient can effect the neurochemistry in your brain?
That’s how serious things can get!
The dietary supplement regulations I mentioned above have allowed unqualified and inexperienced people to set up shop and churn out poor quality nutritional health supplements that can definitely hurt you!
I highly doubt that these types of people know things like:
Peak X, a component of the popular supplement ingredient 5-HTP, was implicated in an outbreak of Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome some years back!
Do they know to check for this and if so do they actually go to the extra expense to do it?
Or what about Ginkgo Biloba extract! An extremely popular medicinal herbal extract for supplements.
How many manufacturers know to check, and/or have a limit on, the level of Ginkgolic acids that affect neurochemistry in the brain?
Do you see what I mean?
Manufacturing a safe, professional grade super supplement is a highly specialized skill consisting of many complex tasks. It needs to be formulated only by a highly qualified bio-scientist or chemist (definitely NOT by doctors or marketers) and then manufactured by the supplement company itself using state of the art processes and equipment.
Can you see the important need to check up on the supplement company that sells any nutritional health supplement you are interested in?
DO SUPER SUPPLEMENTS GIVE HIGH VALUE FOR MONEY?
Some yes others no!
It all comes down to what you want from a nutritional supplement and then knowing what to check for and what questions to ask!
Genuine super supplements have to be highly effective AND be capable of preventing, treating and even reversing chronic disease while also maximizing your health and wellness.
In other words super supplements help do far more than just act as routine ‘nutritional insurance for poor diets’ which is what most people think is the reason for taking multi ingredient vitamin supplements.
So if this is what you want from a supplement you need one whose formula is not primarily based on just vitamins and minerals!
Rather it should predominately consist of high potency phytonutrients, antioxidants (beyond the well know vitamins), amino acids, gender specific support nutrients, medicinal herbal extracts and other specialty nutrients targeting particular organs and body systems.
When I want to evaluate the value for money component of a given supplement the first thing I do is to check what percentage of it is vitamins and minerals.
So many supplements, including some of the self claimed super supplements, contain too much vitamin C! That’s because it just happens to be one of the cheapest ingredients available (at around $15 a kilo).
Those manufacturers will argue with all kinds of ‘evidence’ that large amounts of vitamin C are necessary under the ‘optimal’ amount banner. They don’t mention of course that if you take in more than about 400mg of vitamin C it turns into a Pro-Oxidant in your body!
That’s the opposite of antioxidant (and you’re talking it in the first place for antioxidant benefits)!
I know of several market leading multi ingredient vitamin supplements whose formula is a whopping 40% just vitamin C. And when you add all the vitamin and mineral content together you’re looking at a grand total of between 70-80% of the entire formula!
That’s extremely poor value for money!
If you’re taking a market leading super supplement to just take in enough vitamins and minerals which may be lacking in your diet then why pay a super supplement price?
There are many quality multivitamins available with much lower price tags.
My supplements has vitamin and mineral content of just 14% but the dose amounts are sensible for the majority of supplement consumers.
THERE’S MORE TO CHECK
So, there we have just 5 key details which you need to check on to determine if you’re truly using a super supplement!
But there’s another 4 equally important details that are a part of the formula for evaluating the real quality of supplements.
To discover what they are just follow the link in the author information below.
Good health always
Author: Brett Seagrott
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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