Wholistic Medicine: are all supplements the same quality?

[East Sun]

Is there any really significant difference between the vitamins and minerals you get from different companies, those recommended by a Naturopathic Dr. for instance, (that will cost a lot more) or a Cardiologist or local Family Physician?

I know there are some differences depending on location (I'm in USA) State, City, Company etc. but some distributors cater to Drs. only or mostly.

Anyone know how they vary and how effective one is from the other.
Any info. is much appreciated.

E.S.

[Bill Ryan]

Is there any really significant difference between the vitamins and minerals you get from different companies, those recommended by a Naturopathic Dr. for instance, (that will cost a lot more) or a Cardiologist or local Family Physician?

I know there are some differences depending on location (I'm in USA) State, City, Company etc. but some cater to Drs. only or mostly.

Anyone know how they vary and how effective one is from the other.
Any info. is much appreciated.Yes, there sometimes is a major difference, and part of this is all about the person's individual biochemistry and metabolism.

A good kinesiologist can easily verify (e.g.) what brand of Vitamin C will strengthen yout system, as opposed to the opposite. (With some practice, one can actually do this solo as well.)

[Violet3]

yes there is huge variation in price and quality unfortunately. I have found the best quality is practitioner prescribed, but it is so annoying that you can't order this yourself when you know a product works for you. I guess there is a duty of care issue involved to prevent people buying stuff that is not going to help them much depending on current symptoms. I suspect there is also a kickback to prescribers thing going on as well, though I don't know for sure. I certainly would not take suggestions from a medical doctor unless trained in alternative modalities, as they really do not know much about supplements and even nutrition is not well covered if at all in medical training.

[East Sun]

yes there is huge variation in price and quality unfortunately. I have found the best quality is practitioner prescribed, but it is so annoying that you can't order this yourself when you know a product works for you. I guess there is a duty of care issue involved to prevent people buying stuff that is not going to help them much depending on current symptoms. I suspect there is also a kickback to prescribers thing going on as well, though I don't know for sure. I certainly would not take suggestions from a medical doctor unless trained in alternative modalities, as they really do not know much about supplements and even nutrition is not well covered if at all in medical training.

Violet3,
Awake this morning around 4 or 5 AM I realized that I should have added what you have said.
Except for Naturopathic Drs, in my experience, most others that I mentioned, only prescribe drugs and unfortunately did not learn much about nutrition.

[East Sun]

Is there any really significant difference between the vitamins and minerals you get from different companies, those recommended by a Naturopathic Dr. for instance, (that will cost a lot more) or a Cardiologist or local Family Physician?

I know there are some differences depending on location (I'm in USA) State, City, Company etc. but some cater to Drs. only or mostly.

Anyone know how they vary and how effective one is from the other.
Any info. is much appreciated.Yes, there sometimes is a major difference, and part of this is all about the person's individual biochemistry and metabolism.

A good kinesiologist can easily verify (e.g.) what brand of Vitamin C will strengthen yout system, as opposed to the opposite. (With some practice, one can actually do this solo as well.)

I am not familiar with Kinesiologists but will definitely check that out. Thanks!

[Feritciva]

ok, a pharmacist here with long experience in supplement production. :wave:

as others mentioned, yes there is huge difference. and these differences also differ within sub-categories also! :) here is a quick summary:

VITAMINS:
we have two options here, natural or synthetic vitamins. to be honest most vitamins do not show great difference in metabolism or absorption - with two significant exceptions: vitamin e & beta carotene. when it comes to these two, always try to choose natural ones (nat vit e is d-alpha tocopherol and synthetic is dl-alpha tocopherol, you can see this on labels). beta carotene is a very interesting case - synthetic version even showed some increase in cancers in some studies back in 90s. so again always try to choose beta carotene obtained from carrot or sea weed.

MINERALS:
now all the minerals are inorganic and comes from the soil - no difference in mineral structure. the difference is forms (or salts) here. chelated (organic) minerals always have higher absorption so these seem better choices with less side effects in gastrointestinal system. for example magnesium glycinate is always better than magnesium sulphate (in fact different magnesium forms can be used in different problems).

FATTY ACIDS:
we have to look for exact dosage of the fatty acids that we want to use here. for example if we want to use omega-3, the dosage on the label may not mean anything - the total amount of epa+dha is important. in most cases 1000 mg of fish oil gives you 300 mg epa+dha, so it comes short.

HERBALS:
here is sub-category with biggest difference: no two herbal supplement is the same! (ok, a bit exaggeration here). in herbal supplements the percentage of main active ingredient may vary big amounts. for example if you want to use quercetin, two different brands may have 500 mg of quercetin - and one may have %90 pure quercetin and the other may have %20. or if you want to use st. john's wort, one may have %0,9 hypericin which is desired for clinical results and one may not have any hypericin at all. unfortunately as these are not regulated, it mostly comes to the manufacturer's ethics. that's why you can see the same supplement for 1 $ or 10 $ with the same dosage on the label.

as a summary it is important to use a trusted brand or even if it's a new brand, it's better to look for clean & transparent label - which includes the exact dosages and percentage of standardizations.

[TomKat]

Is there any really significant difference between the vitamins and minerals you get from different companies, those recommended by a Naturopathic Dr. for instance, (that will cost a lot more) or a Cardiologist or local Family Physician?

I know there are some differences depending on location (I'm in USA) State, City, Company etc. but some distributors cater to Drs. only or mostly.

Anyone know how they vary and how effective one is from the other.
Any info. is much appreciated.

E.S.


the ones sold by network marketing companies like Amway are best, ha ha.
Seriously, someone who subscribed to CSPI (Science in the public interest) told me tCSPI tested various vitamins and found some of the best are the cheapest, available at any drug store. I tend to trust supplements sold by Trader Joe's because they used to (no longer) sell a probiotic that made my stools noticeably firmer.

[East Sun]

ok, a pharmacist here with long experience in supplement production. :wave:

as others mentioned, yes there is huge difference. and these differences also differ within sub-categories also! :) here is a quick summary:

MINERALS:
now all the minerals are inorganic and comes from the soil - no difference in mineral structure. the difference is forms (or salts) here. chelated (organic) minerals always have higher absorption so these seem better choices with less side effects in gastrointestinal system. for example magnesium glycinate is always better than magnesium sulphate (in fact different magnesium forms can be used in different problems).


Thanks, Feritciva

Magnesium Glycinate is what my Naturopath Dr. recommended, but they are kind of expensive for me and
I have to have them sent by mail from Fullscript. Is Magnesium Glycinate from a Health Foods store or a
Pharmacy just as good?
Thanks in advance.
E.S.

[Feritciva]

ok, a pharmacist here with long experience in supplement production. :wave:

as others mentioned, yes there is huge difference. and these differences also differ within sub-categories also! :) here is a quick summary:

MINERALS:
now all the minerals are inorganic and comes from the soil - no difference in mineral structure. the difference is forms (or salts) here. chelated (organic) minerals always have higher absorption so these seem better choices with less side effects in gastrointestinal system. for example magnesium glycinate is always better than magnesium sulphate (in fact different magnesium forms can be used in different problems).


Thanks, Feritciva

Magnesium Glycinate is what my Naturopath Dr. recommended, but they are kind of expensive for me and
I have to have them sent by mail from Fullscript. Is Magnesium Glycinate from a Health Foods store or a
Pharmacy just as good?
Thanks in advance.
E.S.

Hi East Sun

Mg-glycinate from pharmacies are always better - but this is the case in Turkey of course. But probably it's the same in US.

[superior88]

I was watching a documentary about "Dietary Supplements: the truth that they don't want you to know" (its in Arabic only unfortunately).

he was discussing about some facts which most of us are not aware about those called "Vitamins" and some scandals which has hit this business many times on many occasions.

my point of this thread is sharing experience and opinions or views about this business?

some people know that there is a difference between organic vitamins vs synthetic but I think there is much more beyond this.

Looking at how this business booming, while (if its what its supposed to be) its totally against elite's goal. and yet media and even medical communities keep promoting it.

PS : I will try to translate the main points of the video and post them here so we can discuss the criticism about them.

[Sunny-side-up]

Thanks' superior88,
try breaking down the main points as presented in that vid :)

[Pam]

I have certainly become suspicious of them. I do take a whole food vitamin along with vitamin d and K2 with iodine. I actually drink a concoction that is basically ground seaweed and rely on a good quality whole salt. The synthetic vitamin is something I gave up. I have mentioned on the forum before , while looking at the ingredients of a popular brand of B complex I was blown away at the crap in it. Now I take a bit of nutritional yeast. I also use mineral supplementation, particularly magnesium.

I really don't like feeling this cautious but check out any supplements you eat, and as always, food is the best medicine. And food needs to stay as close to natural as possible.

[superior88]

How effective vitamin D supplements are may hinge on one’s weight
(https://studyfinds.org/vitamin-d-supplements-weight-obesity/)