Nutritional Products Are NOT Created Equal

 

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Have You Scrutinized Your Supplement Providers Lately?

 

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All Nutritional Products Are NOT Created Equal

Sure—they may look the same or even taste the same, and the labels are likely to contain similar (if not identical) lists of key ingredients. Does this mean that they are all the same? Certainly not! In fact, numerous manufacturers state that their products meet or exceed all GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) standards, but do they really? It appears that the only objective way to determine the credibility of a manufacturer’s GMP status is to see its certification. Why go through all that trouble? Because end-products from questionable, non-GMP-certified manufacturing processes may lead to less safe and less effective supplements for your patients. Therefore, be sure to distinguish the products made by GMP-certified manufacturers from the rest!

5 Markers of Quality in a Nutritional Supplement Company

Keep in mind that GMP deals with designing, building, and implementing advanced controls into the system to reduce the chance of:

• Product contamination
• Mix-ups
• Errors

Would you place your trust in any product—especially a nutritional supplement—that is made without these controls? Probably not. Listed below are the 5 markers of quality to look for in manufacturers of nutraceuticals:

(1) GMP-Certified Manufacturing Facilities.

High quality nutritional supplements are often manufactured in plants inspected and certified by organizations, such as:

• National Sanitation Foundation (NSF)
• National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA)
• Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

Please note that obtaining GMP certification is very expensive—which is why most nutritional supplement manufacturers are not officially GMP-certified. But make no mistake—no amount of funds can grant a GMP certification unless the company successfully meets the rigorous standards of all GMP requirements!

(2) Comprehensive Scientific Evaluation of Ingredients.

Ingredient selection makes the biggest difference in the quality of final product. Bargain nutritional supplements are often made with low-cost ingredients—forms or types of nutrients that may not be most efficacious. So, how do you VERIFY the quality of ingredients? The required comprehensive scientific evaluation of ingredients is available only through sophisticated scientific analysis performed at a hi-tech laboratory. Unfortunately, only few companies have invested the resources to implement such testing.

(3) Comprehensive Safety Reviews.

Simply selecting and utilizing ingredients based on potency are not enough. In fact, thorough safety reviews of ingredients are crucial to high quality nutritional supplements. Why? Because spending time and money to conduct adequate literature reviews for safety, or having qualified professionals perform safety reviews can have positive, long-term effects on the health of your patients.

(4) Human Clinical Evaluations.

Nothing compares to human clinical assessment for demonstrating the potential effectiveness of nutritional products. The ultimate measure of quality is safety and effectiveness, which can be evaluated in human clinical studies.

(5) Scientific Staff and Facilities.

True quality cannot be achieved without the expertise of truly qualified scientific staff. These dedicated individuals excel at what they do and help establish the safety and effectiveness of nutritional products for your patients.

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These Are the Best Supplements?

We have all heard this, “These are the best supplements.” I always find it interesting how so many different brands can all be the very best. Whenever I hear this, I ask myself, is this true?

What Makes a Good Product?

Purity, digestibility, ease of compliance, formulation and cost are the main factors I use to rate a nutritional supplement or product.

Purity

Since most of the hundreds of vitamin companies only get their raw materials from a handful of major suppliers, purity is most commonly affected by how those materials are transported, stored, processed, packaged and shipped. No matter how exotic or expensive the form of a given nutrient is, if it is not handled properly at every stage, it will not deliver as promised.

Digestibility and Bioavailability

If a representative or company brochure states that I should change products because theirs is more easily digested, I again request evidence proving the product I use or recommend is inferior. Those who advocate liquids and food concentrates often use this argument to support products.

Proponents of liquid supplements use digestion to sell their products. They typically show me literature that says close to 100 percent of their product is absorbed, compared to only 50 percent of the leading brand. What they do not say is that the amount of nutrient in liquid is much less than in a capsule or a tablet. Therefore, if only a fraction of a tablet or capsule is absorbed, the amount of nutrient the patient receives must be equal to or greater than the typical liquid dose. I am not opposed to liquids when marketed correctly.

There is no question I am biased toward the importance of getting micronutrients from a diet rich in unrefined whole foods. An unhealthy diet with supplements is still an unhealthy diet. Advocates of food concentrates claim their products are better digested because they are in whole-food form.

Unfortunately, we do not recommend pills in the place of whole foods. They are used to supplement additional amounts of a given nutrient that are required to alter a patient’s physiology due to a wide variety of causes, including disease, injury and deficiency. I have yet to see a study that shows small amounts of a vitamin or mineral naturally present in a food concentrate are better than normal supplements when one is therapeutically addressing a specific condition. And if pharmacological amounts of a nutrient are required, a handful of food concentrate pills is needed. For example, a food-based product that contains 50 mg of calcium or vitamin C would need to be dosed at 10 pills a day to get 500 mg provided by a typical vitamin C or calcium supplement.

Ease of Compliance

Compliance is a huge issue when I recommend supplements. The number of total products, the number of doses, the number of pills per dose, the size and shape of the pills, and aftertaste are important issues that will either improve or reduce compliance. I always try to recommend the fewest number of products with the lowest number of doses, and containing the smallest number of pills, that will resolve the problem or condition I am treating.

Formulation

Boiling down how to decide what a good formula is has been the hardest part of this article to write and will be the least satisfying to those who are interested in a quick, easy way to determine patient needs without spending additional time. When evaluating a product formula, the questions you want to ask are as follows:

• Why am I recommending this product?
• What is the purpose of this product?
• What amounts of this product are required to achieve a given result?
• Are those amounts backed by research?
• What products does the patient already eat?
• What kind of diet does the patient consume?

These will all influence your determination of whether a product is good for a specific person. When analyzing a product, look at the ingredients and the amounts recommended. If you have any questions, go to a reference text or the computer and look for human studies involving the forms of product and doses you are considering. Are the amounts per dose and the duration of dose similar to positive human studies? Could you find human studies? If the only evidence is a testimonial, the only thing you’ve confirmed is the power of placebo.

Cost

I was thinking about all the things I would say regarding cost. I had a long list of examples, but I used my editing pen because this can be boiled down to one simple sentence: Any time you can safely save a patient money, do it.

The Best Supplement

So, what is the best supplement? It is the most affordable product that fulfills the patient’s individual needs not met by their current diet and supplements, to correct a deficiency or treat a condition. The best supplement allows ease of compliance by providing a sensible number of total products, a realistic number of daily doses and a small number of total pills per dose.