Three Questions I Ask Before Considering The Use Of A Supplement (Part Three)

If you’re just jumping in, please see Part One and Part Two of this series.

Okay, first question I ask before even thinking about making an investment in a nutritional supplement is “do I need it?”.

Second question is, “does it work?”.

The third and typically last question I ask is:

Is the supplement cost effective?

Earlier in this series I harped on the fact that in the supplement world, you usually get what you pay for.  Cheap supplements are usually cheap because the manufacturer doesn’t maintain the quality control standards necessary to ensure the resulting supplement product is as effective as advertised in terms of the underlying quality of it’s ingredients and/or it’s ability to deliver the intended benefits (efficacy).So, that everything-in-one multi vitamin that also contains miracle anti aging antioxidants and amazing green power herbs that only costs $15 / bottle?  Chances are it’s just not going to contain or deliver all those beneficial ingredients.  I remember trying a relatively inexpensive line of multi-vitamins without doing my homework.  Without getting too graphic, my urine became the brightest, almost blinding, shade of yellow and appeared to be glowing.

Well, that was a pretty good indicator that I was, umm, “ejecting” all the ingredients, whatever they were, before they could ever reach my bloodstream.  Not a good use of supplement budget dollars.

Now let me throw a wrench into all this.  There are inexpensive supplements that do work.  These are made by manufacturers that buy their raw ingredients in bulk, but do not scimp on the quality control procedures that ensure the purchased ingredients are pure and that the formulation process is efficient and effective.

Again, it comes down to research.  There is plenty of information out there on all the supplement manufacturers, at least those that are reputable.  Even the quality discount supplement makers can provide evidence of their manufacturing process, including ingredient testing, formulation processing, and human test trials.

So, do your homework before you jump on that $20 bottle of miracle pills.

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Supplements That Just Can’t Stick Together

You see advertisements all over the web for “cheap supplements”. I’m not sure why supposed marketing professionals use a word that implies something is of substandard quality to advertise their health pills and powders. Actually, there are many “cheap” supplements that are inexpensive and of reasonably good quality. This is because many quality manufacturers can sell at lower prices due to cost savings from volume-driven production efficiencies. In my mind, these supplements are not cheap. They are inexpensive.

But, sometimes a cheap supplement really is cheap. As in poor quality. Sometimes even an expensive supplement can be cheap.

What is a cheap supplement?

Well, first let’s review what a nutritional supplement is supposed to do. A supplement is supposed to provide the body with some combination of specific nutritional ingredients. And by “provide the body”, I mean that the body should be able to absorb and use these nutrients and gain whatever benefit(s) they are designed to supply.

Cheap supplements are typically manufactured using cheap ingredients. This can include the excipients included in the supplement. Excipients are the components that hold the ingredients together. They bind all the nutritional components together to form the delivery system of the supplement.

Cheap supplements can have cheap excipients. Once they are swallowed, these supplements will hit the stomach where stomach acid will quickly dissolve the excipients releasing all the nutritious goodness into the acid. This will destroy many of the substances that typically come in supplement form. SAMe, for example, completely breaks down once it is released in the stomach.

In order for the body to efficiently absorb the supplement’s nutritional components, these components must survive intact until they reach the upper intestine. This occurs through the normal digestion process. Once a supplement reaches this stage, it is broken down and releases it’s goodies through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream. And it’s only then that the body can reap the benefits.

Enteric coating is now being used in many of the higher quality supplements. This coating, which is sort of like plastic wrap, protects a supplement from stomach acid ensuring that it makes it to the upper intestine.

The key questions you need to ask are:

1) What is the delivery system of the supplement I am taking? Is it enteric coated?

2) If it’s not enteric coated, will the nutritional substances contained in my supplement survive exposure to stomach acid long enough to make it through the digestive process? In other words, will my body ever have the chance to absorb and use these substances, or will I eventually be excreting out their destroyed remnants.

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