Why Supplement Quality Matters

 You know the saying, if I had a million dollars? Well if I had a million dollars for every time someone questioned why I recommend certain supplement brands, I’d be a millionaire. The answer is simple. I want my clients using high-quality products that I know will get results. At Nutrition Dynamic, we do not recommend supplements that we haven’t vetted and 100% trust. Clients should know that their products are safe, they work, and are worth the cost.

When paired with whole foods, proper training, and lifestyle, the right supplements can help achieve the outcome you’re looking for. If you want results, this is not an area to cut corners. There’s a big difference when it comes to the quality of that $8 bottle of prenatal gummies on Amazon vs the $50 bottle from your healthcare practitioner. When you choose to buy your supplements from Wal-Mart, Amazon, or CVS, you are flat out taking a gamble. You’re choosing price and convenience over your health. A choice like this puts you at risk for:

Counterfeit Product – I’m sure you didn’t imagine your supplement could be fake. This is something Amazon has had trouble with for years. A quick Google search will show all the times Amazon has put out warnings. They’ve been known to receive counterfeit products. This means you have no idea what you’re putting in your body. Best case scenario, you got a product filled with corn starch for 10 bucks. Worst case scenario, you end up really sick with something contaminated with heavy metals or pharmaceuticals. ⁠

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Diluted Ingredients – Regulation of over-the-counter supplements is pretty bleak. Many of these products go through limited testing to ensure quality. Did you know that these supplements are allowed to have +/- 20% of the nutrients or herbs listed on the label? That means if your doctor sends you to buy 5,000 IU of vitamin D, you may only be getting 4,000 IU. Since they aren’t often tested, the variances can be even worse. Meaning you won’t get the therapeutic effects as quickly. ⁠

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Lack of Disclosure – Consumer grade products also lack ingredient disclosure, because well, they don’t have to list any ingredients that make up <1% active ingredients. ⁠This is a nightmare for those with food sensitivities.

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Fillers – Those over the counter supplements will often contain fillers and proprietary blends. Fillers are generally used to fill-out a capsule or stretch a product further. They contain anything from starch, calcium, salts, sugars, silicon dioxide, or maltodextrin. ⁠Proprietary blends are created by the manufacturer. The blend will disclose the ingredients used, but not how much. This protects the manufacturer, but not you. You can see what’s in it, but it’s difficult to assess how much of each ingredient you are getting.

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Bioavailability – Bioavailability is how well your body can breakdown, assimilate, and absorb a nutrient. The bioavailability can be affected by numerous things like the type of coating used and how compacted the pill is. Over the counter brands tend to over fill products and use the wrong type of coating which renders the pill undigested.

Degradation – Have you ever received a supplement shipment with a cold pack? This is to protect the quality of certain supplements. While that’s a more extreme example, I can almost guarantee many of your drugstore supplements are not temperature controlled. Many supplements require a stable temperature to prevent degradation. If your product is spending weeks or months on a hot warehouse shelf, the product won’t be as potent as you hoped. ⁠

When you lay it all out, it’s crazy and scary to think you don’t know what you’re getting in some cases. This is why we always vet our supplements at Nutrition Dynamic.  We will always choose quality. Aside from being effective, there are a few qualities we look for in our supplements:

• GMP-certified by third party testing
• Verified, quality ingredients
• Safety reviews
• Human clinical evaluations
• Dedicated scientific staff/facility. 

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Now that you understand why supplement quality should override convenience, you can make an educated decision when it comes to your supplements. If you’re still not sure where to start, our team at Nutrition Dynamic can help guide you. To find out how we can help, hop on a free discovery call with our team.