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Why should one purchase supplements through a licensed health care professional instead of the health food store? Most people expect all nutritional supplements, such as vitamins, minerals, and herbs to be exactly the same from company to company. With this assumption in mind, it makes perfect sense to buy the cheapest possible products. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Unbeknownst to many, supplement quality can vary tremendously from company to company. This can not only determine how well a supplement works, but whether it creates side effects that can range form minor annoyances to major inconveniences.
How can quality or lack of quality be determined in a supplement?
In answering this question, it's important to know that nutritional
supplements are similar to processed foods, just like a bag of potato
chips or a can of beans that you might buy in a supermarket. Many supplements,
nutrients, herbs, or phyto-chemicals have been packaged for purchase
weeks, to months after being manufactured. What concerns would you have
when purchasing of a bag of potato chips or a can of beans? Most likely,
they would be these:
How fresh is the product? No matter how carefully a processed food is packaged, eventually oxygen and age will take their toll, causing food to oxidize, or, in simpler terms, rot. Therefore, most people would like to consume food that has only spent a short time on the shelf or in a warehouse.
Can your body use the nutrients well? Has the food been processed to the point where the body regards it as a foreign substance and can no longer absorb the nutrients it contains? Do the actual nutritional products match what is on the label? Has the processing company knowingly or unknowingly added substances to the product that may not be listed on the label, or are listed inaccurate?
Has the product been analyzed for microbial contamination? Given recent concerns about E. Coli contamination, this point is particularly important.
If there is a problem, can you talk to a manufacturer's representative? If concerns are present, we all want to talk to someone "in the know" who can address these concerns. This point is particularly important since it is very difficult for the consumer to determine any of the above points before the food is ingested. It is also comforting to know that a trusted, highly reliable person stands behind the product.
How do the above points relate to nutritional supplements? Let's examine them one at a time:
Freshness. Most nutrients (especially B and C vitamins) and herbs oxidize quickly over time, no matter how carefully they are processed and packaged. Therefore, it's important that nutrient and herbal manufacturers buy small lots that are quickly processed and made available to the consumer as soon as possible. Unfortunately, because it is more cost effective to buy large lots that are stored in warehouses for several months at a time, most manufacturers do not do this. The companies with which we deal make freshness a top priority, therefore the base cost is generally a few dollars above standard store bought products.
Nutrient availability. Because it is more cost effective, many nutrient or herbal companies highly compress the constituents into small, very hard tablets or cram them tightly into capsules. Moreover, because the companies very often lack the equipment, they do not check and see how readily these tablets or capsules break down in the digestive tract. As a result, the saying, "Americans have the world's healthiest toilets, " may more often than not be true. The companies Healing Quest deals with manufacture their supplements with digestibility in mind, which is constantly determined by on-site testing.
Contents of the supplements. Because the nutrient and herbal industries are poorly regulated from a manufacturing standpoint, many instances exist where an unknown substance was added, an important nutrient was not included, or a combination of the two happens. The companies supplying our products provide 100% assurance that what is on the label is exactly what is in the bottle. They back up this claim without in-site testing of each batch.
Microbial contamination. The companies with which we deal analyze both the raw materials and the finished product for microbial contamination. Sadly, it is a known fact that many supplements available in health food stores are manufactured by different companies at different times, depending on which company offers the lowest price or has the cheapest product available. Therefore, even though the labels may look the same, the quality of the product may vary greatly from batch to batch. While this manufacturing method assures the cheapest price it makes it very difficult to track down a responsible manufacturer for any particular batch. Furthermore, as you might expect, manufacturers know this and may relax their standards on the above mentioned points. The companies we deal with maintain a staff of highly trained professionals both locally and at the point of manufacturing that not only take accountability but can quickly and expertly answer any concerns that may arise.
In light of this analysis, it is wiser to spend a little a bit more on products that are backed by reliable, trustworthy professionals and give consistent, satisfying results.