Is Your Vitamin Pill Worth It or Worthless? Six Rules to Guarantee Quality
The debate gets heated when people talk about vitamins because some people really believe they work, while others really believe they just make expensive urine. But a recent study looked over thirty years of supplement studies and decided that multivitamins really can help us prevent many serious diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
Wow, did we need to spend all that money on a study to learn that nutrients improve wellness? Of course, eating well is the best way to get your nutrients, because lab-created supplements do not capture the essence of what nature made – although some companies do a better job than others, like USANA Vitamins manufactured by USANA Health Sciences. Supplanting with vitamins is not a substitute for eating well – but it is still a good idea.
A multivitamin should be your first daily supplement. Make sure that you select the highest quality brands that you can afford. Also, there are certain things on the label that may help you decide if these products are right for you. Here are some guidelines that can streamline your decision-making:
Rule #1: Don’t buy a thousand tablets of anything for $6.99.
What exactly do you think you’ll get for that price? I hate to say it, but sometimes you do get what you pay for.
Rule #2: Choose capsules over tablets whenever you can.
Capsules are easier for your body to absorb.
Rule #3: If you have any chronic medical conditions take a lot of medications, or have gastrointestinal difficulties, choose liquids or powdered supplements.
Again, these are more easily absorbed. Of the two – liquids and powders – I think powders are better because many liquids contain preservatives.
Rule # 4: Don’t buy anything that promises to cure seventeen conditions.
Unless you’re also interested in this bridge I’d like to sell you …
Rule #5: When it comes to multivitamins, taking something is better than nothing – but multiple does are better than one.
That’s why the best multivitamins tell you on the label to take them two or three times a day. If you take a multivitamin just once a day, the effect washes out after a few hours. This is frustrating for some people, who like to just take multivitamins once in the morning – but your cells are constantly regenerating, so body really will benefit from multiple doses.
Rule #6: It’s great to buy supplements that have certification.
You can be sure that a nutraceutical company is better than the competition if they have GMP certification – that’s Good Manufacturing Practices – or even better, full certification by a governmental agency such as the Australian TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration). Check out nutrition company, like USANA Health Sciences – for USANA Vitamins certification and guarantee.
GMP is something that quality companies will pay for, but TGA certification is independent of the manufacturer and you can’t just buy it.
What adds to the confusion is USP certification. USP stands for U.S. Pharmacopeia and USP certification is fine, as are other certifying organizations, but they have a limited number of validated quality-assurance tests. In other words, testing is not necessarily comprehensive so a USP certified company many only have a few of their products actually tested. Some companies paste pretty labels onto their bottles – but the tablets inside come up short. A GMP logo to a TGA certification means a superior company by most standards.
