Does
the product label state the specific ingredients or
plant compounds from which the product was formulated/standardized?
Or does the product simply generalize by stating vitamin
E, calcium, ginseng or say "standarized" without additional
information? Without quality of ingredients, inferior,
inexpensive ingredients are used in place of high quality
ingredients such as poorly absorbed mineral salts in
place of true amino acid chelates (e.g. magnesium oxide
in place of magnesium glycinate), synthetic vitamin
E in place of natural vitamin E or mixed vitamin E (e.g.
dl alpha tocopherol or dl alpha tocopherol succinate
in place of d alpha tocopherol, beta, gamma, and delta
tocopherol), etc. You can't build a high-quality nutritional
supplement without high-quality ingredients. And good
ingredients are not cheap!
Are
the ingredients in the formula the most important compounds
for the product's application? In other words, are there
any proven clinical studies that show the ingredients
have a benefit for the condition under consideration?
Why include minimal levels of an ingredient with no
clinical purpose other than as an inexpensive filler
or to catch your eye because you've read an article
or heard from someone that a specific compound may be
helpful to your health? It's easy for a company to throw
everything into a multiple vitamin and call it complete.
But if quality ingredients, supplied in the proper ratio
and balance, are not considered in formulation, effectiveness
will be sacrificed.
Is
the product backed by research and clinical experience
as being helpful to patients using the product? Many
companies copy formulas already in the market but the
true test of a quality formula is whether or not the
product was researched, designed and tested by scientists
and licensed health care providers experienced in the
nutritional sciences area. A quality manufacturer and
distributor has clinicians formulating, researching
and testing its products to ensure that they are efficacious.
Leading edge companies continue to innovate and offer
the latest scientifically validated products to ensure
the best products in the market.
In
what form is the product available? Is it liquid, capsule,
tablet, powdered-food beverage? Although many consider
liquid as the favored delivery system and capsule second
because of supposed ease of digestion and assimilation,
tableting can be efficacious as long as the product
is formulated with high quality tableting ingredients
to ensure complete dissolution and absorption. Some
companies add fillers, binders, artificial colors, flavors,
sweeteners or preservatives and synthetic compounds
to their formulas to ease manufacturing challenges.
However, these ingredients may cause gas, bloating,
worsen irritable bowel or digestive symptoms and interfere
with proper absorption and assimilation. Why take a
product that is poorly absorbed, uses common allergens
or causes digestive complaints?
Are
the products tested for safety and are they guaranteed
free of pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and PCBs?
With the growing concern over the safety of our food
supply, the last place you need to obtain environmental
contaminants is in your supplements. So consider only
products that undergo rigorous third party assay of
product raw materials and finished formulations, offer
high quality manufacturing standards, and guarantee
safety, purity, potency and bioavailability.
