I just wanted to write down a few quick thoughts about multivitamins and other specialized nutraceuticals. First realize as a consumer that the FDA does not truly regulate anything from a “natural source.” In addition, the FDA has to respect the privacy of the company’s formulas and blends as “corporate formulas.” Often a vitamin company will label things as “proprietary blends” – this allows them to keep the exact composition of their pills a secret, and only lists the ingredients in the pills but no amounts “*”. The integrity and professionalism of the company is really the driving force for their products. What I mean by that is literally – no one is making natural vitamin and supplement companies accountable for the things they produce. So is your vitamin really full of all those things, and does it really add up to 50mg or 5000 units – or any of the other things promised?
I have done side by side comparisons with many of the things available over the counter(OTC) with the brands I carry in my office. Often the OTC supplements have sugar, fillers and inferior ingredients – and they have a lot of them. The cost of these OTC supplements can be higher than truly reputable companies, and are often from a short lived company looking to make a quick buck or a mass producer looking to fill every shelf at a chain retail store. Once again the old saying,”You get what you pay for,” is so true. The quality nutraceuticals can cost a little more, but you will need less of them and get better results. Why skimp on the most important person you know – YOU.
There is no single magic supplement, I wish it were that easy. We often end up with 5-10 supplements for our daily needs. I have taken nutraceuticals for more than 20 years, and obviously am a huge believer in them. With our American diet of processed foods and things stored in plastic containers, proteins injected with hormones, etc. – we find ourselves defending our health against chemicals that drain, leech and bind our minerals and nutrients. I encourage you to look into Orthomolecular, Life Extensions and Standard Process. These companies have you in mind and strive to provide the best for my patients. They also quality test and publish research in credible journals of nutrition as verification of their science driven products. I would be pleased to do a consult for you to clean up the bag of supplements and streamline it into the best and most cost effective regimen. God bless.