Navigating the supplement aisle and Choosing the right Supplement for your needs

Do you ever get confused and or overwhelmed with healthy food choices, specifically vitamin supplements?  Nutrition plays a huge role in our overall health, and supplementation can help give our body the nutrients it needs that it can’t get from food alone.  Supplementation can also help different different body systems with the right nutrients to support healing.

The American Medical Association acknowledges the role of vitamins for chronic disease prevention in adults. In the scientific review article, the researchers wrote that the North American diet is generally sufficient to prevent overt vitamin deficiency diseases such as pellagra, scurvy, and beriberi. However, they explain, “recent evidence has shown that suboptimal levels of vitamins, even well above those causing deficiency syndromes, are associated with increased risk of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis.” In a clinical commentary, they note that “a large proportion of the general population” has less-than-optimal intakes of a number of vitamins, exposing them to increased disease risk. In addition, they counsel that, “it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”

While it is important to take nutritional products as part of a health and wellness regiment, it is important to know what to look for in a product that will best meet your body and its needs.  Many nutritional products on the market are formulated to RDA (recommended daily allowance,) the recommended daily allowance of vitamins and minerals was set forth in the 1940s. The RDA is the lowest level set to prevent deficiency diseases such as scurvy, rickets, malaria and beriberi.  More advanced and higher quality nutritional products are formulated to much higher levels to help protect against oxidative damage and support cellular health. According to Dr Ray Strand, cellular nutrition means providing nutrients to the cell at optimal levels, level that have been shown to provide a benefit in medical literature(1).

What form should you choose? Tablet?  Gummy? Liquid? Patch?

Their are a variety of different forms and ways you can take nutritional supplements and each of them come with benefits and drawbacks.

Chewable Tablets

Like other tablets, chewable tablets are best used for ingredients that are only taken in smaller (< 2 grams) doses. They also share the benefit of a long shelf-life. Chewables may be the best supplement, for those who have trouble swallowing whole tablets or capsules.

Because the tablets are chewed up, bad tasting ingredients must be masked with sweeteners and flavorings. This limitation means that chewable tablets typically have some sugar in them. Some chewable multi-vitamin, multi-mineral products are also missing essential minerals like selenium, chromium, magnesium, and zinc, because it is hard to mask their flavors.

Chewable Tablet Pros:

• Easy to consume
• Long shelf-life

Chewable Tablet Cons:

• Added sweeteners (although typically very small amounts)
• Not as concentrated as swallowed tablets
• May be missing key ingredients

Gummy Vitamins

Gummy vitamins are another common form of nutritional product, and often found on the shelves of many retail and health stores.  While gummy vitamins may taste good and look good, they aren’t always the best for our health and well being. Gummy vitamins often contain ingredients such as sugar, red 40, and other troublesome ingredients.  Gummies are very limited in the ingredients that they may contain and minimal amounts of essential minerals and vitamins.

Pros:

• Easy to consume
• Tastes great

Cons:

• Sweeteners and artificial ingredients
• Minimal and low doses of ingredients.
• Not compatible with many ingredients.  

Tablets and Capsules:

Often, a well made tablet provides a very effective delivery system, which is why it is the chosen form for most pharmaceutical medications.  Many years of carefully controlled clinical studies have confirmed their reliability and how they provide an efficient delivery system for medications.  They also provide an increased amount of active ingredients being used, this allows for less inactive ingredients to be used. Generally, the stability and shelf life of tablets is superior to liquids of gummy vitamins.  

Pros

• Long shelf life
• Concentrated delivery of active ingredients, which allows for less excipients to be used.

Cons

• May be difficult for some to swallow
• Not appropriate for large active dosages of vitaimins and or minerals.  

Where to buy?

The first thought when purchasing many items is to go to the local store that sells such product and find what you are looking for.  When it comes to vitamins and supplements there are a multitude of places to choose a product and hundreds of not thousands of products to choose from in the stores.  

Walking down the vitamins and supplement aisle can be an overwhelming and daunting task for many, even after learning about the differences between tablets, capsules, gummy’s and liquid vitamins.  Each brand on the shelf claims to use to be the best for one reason or another, but which vitamin/supplement is the best for you and your own needs?

An associate at the register or in the aisles can answer your questions in the store, but are you confident they will have the time and attention to get to know you and your goals? Will they even be there the next time you visit the store? Can they consistently give you the customer service you need?

Who can you turn to?

Their is no substitute for experience.  I have worked in the wellness and nutrition field for over 14 years and have been coaching people towards better health ever since.  I have learned from many of the top doctors, wellness professionals about the importance and benefits of high quality nutritional products to support and promote overall health while giving the body the nutrients it needs that it can’t get from food alone.  I take a personalized and customized approach when working with clients to meet and exceed their individual goals.

Additionally, being educated and informed on the newest advances in nutrition and supplementation are important to me. I pride myself on staying up to date on the current research about cellular nutrition in order to best optimize my health, and that of my clients and those around me.

(1 https://askthescientists.com/qa/why-do-i-need-nutritional-supplements/

(2)https://www.raystrand.com/cellular-nutrition.asp