Cheap Vitamin Supplements?

Ok, so I have some issues…some may agree! LOL

My beef is cheap vitamin supplements.

Let’s face it, there’s alot to be said about today’s vitamin supplement market.  You can walk into any large department store or pharmacy and be dazzled by the sheer amounts of choices.  Often times it can also leave you scratching your head buying purely by price, not by the value it will bring to you.

Bright color labels, ingredients no one can pronounce, tablets, gel caps, chelated, non chelated are just some of the terms swooshing around in your head and your expected to make a decision based on the fact that regardless of the cost we expect the product to perform and perform well. 

Oh but hold on…I can get that on sale you say!

Being in the health and wellness industry is a struggle at times.  Knowing that there are many brands of cheap vitamin supplements out there my job becomes one of getting folks to see the value in the product that I recommend based on the ones that are in the store. When it comes down to buying a sale item rather than ones that are filled with benefits and people are seeing the benefits of, well it’s a constant pulling of teeth to make other see what I do.

There are some buzz words that have been around lately like resveratrol, antioxidants, leutine, carotenoids, whole food supplements just to name a few.  Of course the “old” ones are still around like vitamin C, D, E but how do you know the amounts to take and does natural really mean just that and is more better.

It can be hard to compete with those store bought brands, however the first thing I normally ask people are, do you feel any different taking those supplements?  Often people will stop and think and say no.  Well in all honesty, if your not feeling some sort of benefits then why would you continue to take the product.

The reality is, people know that they should do something.  People are a lot more savvy then they used to be where prevention is concerned and in some cases it’s a matter of knowing that they should do something but not knowing where to get the correct information from.

I made mention of the natural factor.  There are numerous products that have the label natural on it.  But did you know that in order for a product to be “natural” it just means the ingredients have come from the earth.  Algae (pond scum) is natural and so is petroleum and both these are used in our supplements. Leutine is taken from a weed and used in a well known product that my eye doctor promotes.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t sit down to a bowl of pond scum and I gave up eating weeds a long time ago. 🙂

These items are used because of the cost factor involved.  If and item is on sale for $4.99 how much do you really think they’ve invested in the ingredients…$10.00.  I think not!  Companies are not in the business of losing money for your health.

 If I want supplements that are whole food then I want them to come from things that are from the human food chain.  After all, that’s what I eat.  Fruits, vegetables, fish, wheat, soy, whole foods.

Ask yourself this, if what you’re taking is not doing what you hoped for then how much money are you wasting?  We take for granted that these products are the best and we also have no issues giving our children cheap vitamin supplements and don’t question what’s on the label or if what they say is on the label is genuinely on the label.  We do all that on an honor system.

A few years back there was an article in the newspaper called Blind Trust.  The University of Guelph took well known supplements and tested them.  What they found was astounding.  Ingredients that weren’t there and in some cases ingredients that were in the item and shouldn’t have been or weren’t listed on the label.  Warnings were also missing.

So, when I say I have issues with cheap vitamin supplements I feel I am justified in doing so and take very seriously the fact that we really don’t know what we’re getting when we make a purchase.

Avoid this by doing your homework or find someone like me who can help you make the right choices and guide you in the right direction.