Advice on supplements is popping up like mushrooms, so we rush to the local drugstore and stock up on all kinds of jars. Because if it doesn't help, it doesn't hurt. Right?
Unfortunately! Taking the wrong or poor quality supplements can damage your health.
If you go to a drugstore or pharmacy, you will find a wide range of nutritional supplements. Prices range from a few dollars to pricey. While it may be tempting to just grab a jar, to "just try it out to see if it does anything," the chances of this working are slim. In fact, it may actually backfire. Low-quality supplements can contain many harmful substances that actually lead to imbalance. But how do you distinguish the good products from the bad?
Natural vs. synthetic
Dietary supplements that are synthetic have been produced in an artificial way. In this case, the nutrients do not come directly from their original, natural source (such as herbs and plants), but are factory-imitated. This is a lot cheaper than producing natural supplements, which is why about 90 percent of all supplements you find in stores are synthetic.
Inorganic vs. organic
Another important sign of quality nutritional supplements is the way minerals are bound in supplements. Plants take minerals from the soil and convert them to an easily absorbable, organic form. Scientists can mimic this process; ActiVmins has this. This is more labor intensive and therefore more expensive than adding inorganic minerals in a supplement, though. Inorganic literally stands for "not organic," or "not belonging to the plant or animal kingdom. In short, the artificial version. We digest this form much worse and therefore don't do their job as well.
Inorganic compounds can be recognized on a label by the terms oxide, sulfate and carbonate.
Organic compounds can be recognized on a label by the terms amino acid chelate, citrate, gluconate or plant-based ActiVmins.
Emulsions
In the case of fat-soluble vitamins, it is important that the supplement be an emulsion. Because our blood is a water-like liquid, and you cannot mix water with fat, fat-soluble vitamins are not easy to absorb. In order for it to be absorbed, it is made into an emulsion. The advantage of an emulsion is that the substances are absorbed well without burdening the liver and bile. This also makes them efficient and safe for people who have a weak digestive system, for example.
Natural emulsifier
An emulsion is obtained when you mix two substances that normally would not mix well using an emulsifier. And with that emulsifier, it is important to see what form is used. There are natural emulsifiers, like gum arabic. And there are synthetic emulsifiers, such as polysorbate 80. Those are harmful to your health and are best avoided.
Synergy
Just now I already briefly explained what synergy stands for. It means that a specific combination of certain nutrients and herbs is more absorbable together, than when all the ingredients are taken separately. Sometimes a certain nutrient cannot be absorbed at all without its synergistic ingredient, also called co-factor.
So a high-quality supplement will always go for the synergistic combinations, in order to develop a product that has the strongest possible effect and is absorbed as easily as possible.
Some common synergistic collaborations are:
Collagen & vitamin C
Turmeric & black pepper
Vitamin D3 & vitamin K2
Elemental quantities
The elemental amount of a mineral is the effective amount of the mineral, without the excipient to which it is bound. For example, there is a difference between something containing 500 grams of zinc, and 500 grams of pure zinc. The former probably includes the substance to which zinc is bound, and the amount of zinc you take in falls lower.
Also make sure that the main ingredient has not been diluted with fillers, such as fish oil with sunflower or olive oil. A good quality fish oil contains only 100 percent fish oil.
Labels
There are many signs on the label of dietary supplements that can indicate whether a product is high or low quality. You can look out for these points:
- Make sure the product is free of additives (E numbers). These include sugar, lactose, soy and chemical colors, flavors and fragrances.
- Make sure there are no unhealthy fillers in the product. Healthy fillers are peas, lentils and rice, which you can recognize by the names Pisum sativum, Lens esculenta and Natural Nu-Flow.
- Make sure the product is free of ballast substances such as nickel, tin (titanium dioxide) and fluorine.
- Pay attention to the dosage: you often have to take much more of a poor quality supplement than a good quality supplement.
- Look for a lot number or batch number on the packaging. Reliable companies use these to track their product.
- Make sure that allergens are indicated on the packaging.
- In the case of fish oil: see if it has been extensively checked for the presence of plastic, toxins and heavy metals. The total TOTOX value (oxidation value) should be as low as possible (below 26).