Disclaimer: Information is provided for educational purposes only. It is not intended as diagnosis or recommendation for treatment of disease. Please consult your physician for medical advice. No claim is made to the therapeutic benefits of any product or service listed on this web site

Glossary and U.S. RDA Listing

A glossary of important nutrition terms along with the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowances:

Time Release (Slow Release): When a vitamin or mineral has a time-release factor, it means that the ingredients have been scientifically coated and calibrated in timy "memory granules" that are released over a period of 2-6 hours. The advantage of time release is it gives the body the vitamin or mineral gradually instead of all at on time.

I.U.'s: International Units is a term for measuremnt of vitamins that are fat soluble (do not mix with water and need fat for proper absorption). Vitamins A, E, D and K are usually measured in I.U.'s.

MCG: A microgram is a metric measurement that is 1/1000 part of on milligram.

MG: A milligram is a metric measurement that is 1/1000 part of a gram.

R.D.A.: The Recommended Daily Dietary Allowance was started in the 1940's to safeguard the public's health. The R.D.A.'s set at the time were estimates of the nutritional needs of adults and children. These statistics were developed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used as the legal standards for labeling foods in regards to nutritional content.

U.S. RDA (Recommended Daily Allowances) Adults & Children (four years and over)

*These nutrients must appear on nutrition labels. The other nutrients may appear.

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Do You Know The Key Questions To Ask Yourself On Buying the Right Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs and Other Nutritional Supplements?

All nutritional supplements are made pretty much the same way. Right? Wrong! This is because not all supplement suppliers are alike. Many suppliers of nutritional products (from brand names, private labels, mail orders, direct marketing companies, all the way up to large pharmaceutical corporations and brand names), are not even manufacturers - they are simply brokers, distributors or repackers, so you don't even know who is making your supplements.

And if your supplier is actually making product, there are no strict rules governing the manufacture of nutritional formulas like there are for pharmaceutical products. Unlike pharmaceutical manufacturers in the U.S. and natural medicine manufacturers in Europe and other parts of the world, supplement manufacturers have no formal quality control regulations or inspections, except for the most basic cleanliness parameters (which also apply to your local fast food restaurant).

Making supplements is much more complicated than making food. So if you want the best quality products, you need to work with a company that can assure you of a higher level of quality control than just clean floors and a friendly smile.

For example, are you sure that the echinacea product you're taking is the correct species of the plant? The correct part of the plant? Processed to provide optimum bioavailablility? Are you sure those coenzyme Q10 capsules contain the real thing and not just a mixture of riboflavin and folic acid which looks just like coenzyme Q10 (this really happens).

The only way to be sure of quality is to use products made in a fully licensed, federally registered pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. These facilities are required (and are regularly inspected) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to follow very strict quality guidelines and the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) which are extremely important procedures which ensure quality in manufacturing.

There are many things that set a superior manufacturer apart from those who are not registered (this is for Drug GMPs that is pharmaceutically licensed) for the over-the-counter and prescription products verses suppliers who are simply distributors, repackers or brokers. The best way to discover these differences is to ask questions.

Are there quality control standards for nutritional supplement industry?

The role of nutrition in health and disease is no longer in question. What remains questionable is the purity, potency and efficacy of nutritional supplements. Few people realize the nutritional supplement industry is not under the purview of the Food and Drug Administration. In fact, few regulatory standards exist for nutritional supplements. Therefore, it is imperative the consumer knows that the products they are taking are of the highest standards of purity and potency.

One way of ensuring quality control is to affiliate with companies whose manufacturers elect to be licensed by the FDA and state pharmaceutical licenses. These facilities must meet or exceed the stringent protocols and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) established for the pharmaceutical industry. Remember, most companies meet Food GMPs and Dietary Supplement GMPs, but few companies for nutritional supplement manufacturing meet Drug GMPs (even though it's not necessary, it's definitely a huge benefit to consumers and health professionals to use and recommend pharmaceutical drug GMP quality control standards used for Over-The-Counter Drugs and Prescription Drugs over Food and Dietary Supplement GMPs). In addition, it is desirable for the products to be subjected to rigorous disintegration and dissolution testing. The best formulated product in the world is of little benefit if it cannot be made available for absorption at the cellular level. So, not only does it need to be absorbed in the blood, but now it has to be taken in by the cell receptor sites and then into the mitochondria.

Processing Techniques

It is well known that heat destroys many nutrients, particularly enzymes. Supplement manufacturers should guarantee all products are formulated in the cooler temperature ranges or "cold process" nutrients to preserve nutritional potency.

Although, chemical solvents are commonly utilized in both the nutritional supplement and pharmaceutical industries, some are mutagenic. There is little logic in recommending a product to enhance or preserve health if it is also a known carcinogen. Consumers and health professionals should question manufacturers as to whether chemical solvents are used in the processing of their nutritional supplements. A commonly used tablet coating in the nutritional supplement industry is pharmaceutical grade food glaze (or just "food glaze" on ingredient labels), better know as "shellac". One advantage of shellac coating on a supplement is it yields an attractive shiny appearance and renders the pills slightly slippery which may facilitate swallowing. However, this coating often results in the phenomenon known as "bedpan pills", products which transverse the gastrointestinal tract intact. Similarly, ethyl cellulose is an agent commonly used to "bind" nutritional formulations to facilitate the manufacturing process. In fact, ethyl cellulose is a binder so effective, the nutrients it coasts can be rendered unavailable for absorption. The amazing thing about these coatings and binders is that most of the nutritional supplement industry uses these techniques to mass manufacture vitamins to increase profit margins and reduce costs.

A safer alternative is to identify those products coated with a solution of water (usually called "aqueous coating") and vegetable proteins (a biopotentiation technique using bioflavonoids). This process allows for maximum disintegration and dispersion. Chemical binding agents are never used in a superior bioavailable product.

Is every batch of every ingredient tested to confirm that it is what it says it is when it comes in the door at the manufacturing plant?

The coenzyme Q10 story mentioned previously actually happened due to unscrupulous suppliers of raw materials (the starting ingredients of any supplement). It looked like the real thing and it even tested out to be the real thing on limited testing equipment, but only sophisticated chemistry equipment that is not even available to most supplement manufacturers was able to determine that it was not the real thing. Why did they do it? To make money unethically! The real coenzyme Q10 is very expensive, and selling a mixture of B vitamins at coenzyme Q10 prices brings a very high profit!

How to Choose Vitamins

Just as all nutritional supplements are not created equally, neither are the nutrients themselves. Wide disparity exists among the safety and effectiveness of specific nutrients. For example, selenium is a trace mineral that is shown to be effective in the prevention and treatment of many cancers. It is interesting to note that selenium may be derived from more than one source. One such source is sodium selenite, the inorganic form of selenium. However, it has a lower toxicity threshold than other forms of selenium and is rendered useless in the presence of vitamin C.

L-selenomethionine, on the other hand, is the organic form of selenium. It possesses a relatively high threshold for toxicity and retains it's beneficial actions even in the presence of vitamin C. L-selenomethionine is significantly more expensive than sodium selenite, but it is also significantly safer and more effective. Which form is most commonly included in nutritional supplements? The less expensive, less effective and higher risk form, sodium selenite. Health professionals and consumers should be extremely wary of any nutritional supplement that seems to have been designed by the company accountant rather than by those familiar with the scientific literature.

Selenium Difference: Sodium Selenite vs. L-Selenomethionine

Some distinctions between forms of vitamins are more subtle. Many supplements use the synthetic dl-alpha tocopherol as their vitamin E. Yet clinical studies show unequivocally, that the natural source form of vitamin E, d-alpha tocopherol, raises serum vitamin E levels 40% higher and red blood cell levels 300% higher than the synthetic form. The public does not know these things, but they should know this as consumers making an educated decision. Let's look at an example of natural versus synthetic vitamin E.

The word natural can, unfortunately, sometimes be misleading. In the case of vitamin E, a manufacturer can use a blend of 10% natural vitamin E and 90% synthetic vitamin E and still label the product natural vitamin E. Using synthetic Vitamin E which is 40% cheaper, a manufacturer can greatly reduce the quality of a product to reduce his manufacturing cost.

To protect the consumer, a manufacturer should properly list the chemical name in the contents description. Natural vitamin E begins with d; synthetic begins with dl.

Natural vitamin E is officially recognized as having 36% greater potency than its synthetic counterpart, however, recent studies of human subjects indicate that natural vitamin E is probably twice as effective (up to 50% more absorbable) as synthetic vitamin E. Some researchers feel that synthetic vitamin E can be toxic to the body since it's derived from petroleum. As low as 100 IU can be toxic to the cell while studies of natural vitamin E have shown to be safe as high as 1800 IU dosage levels.

The University of California, Berkeley discovered Vitamin E in 1922. The UC Berkeley Wellness Newsletter only recommends mixed tocopherols as the best source of vitamin E, but that it's very expensive; and if you can't afford or find mixed vitamin E, then use the natural form, but never the synthetic vitamin E.

More Wrong Ingredients

Let's look at magnesium oxide for example. Magnesium oxide is a common source of magnesium in a multi-vitamin/mineral pill, is only one-tenth as bioavailable as magnesium aspartate. But the aspartate form takes up far more room in a pill than the oxide form. You can't use nearly as much and still keep the pill to a size that can be swallowed. So on the label, the amount of magnesium you can put in a pill in the aspartate form is much less than you can put in the oxide form. Consequently, pill makers continue to use the oxide so that their label potency can be as high as possible. They know that consumers go for the biggest numbers, and have no understanding that 100 mg of magnesium aspartate is far better than 400 mg of cheap magnesium oxide.

What about so-called natural rose hip or acerola vitamin C? Look carefully at the label. If it is honest, it will state, "with rose hips" or "with acerola vitamin C". The best rose hip powder contains only a few milligrams of vitamin C per ounce. A 1,000 mg rose hip vitamin C tablet has to be 99% synthetic ascorbic acid because a 1,000 mg pill made of pure rose hip vitamin C would be the size of a baseball.

Acerola powder from the acerola cherry is the most potent and expensive commercial source of natural vitamin C. It contains about 200 mg of vitamin C per gram of powder. So a 1,000 mg tablet of vitamin C would weigh 5 grams of powder plus 1 gram of excipients, or 6 grams in all. Far too big to swallow. The biggest pill that most people can deal with is 1.5 to 2.0 grams. Consequently, an acceptable acerola vitamin C pill would be of very low potency, but a very effective form of vitamin C. Even then, few people would buy it because acerola is 12-20 times the cost of plain vitamin C in ascorbic acid form. Note that it is always preferred to take vitamin C and other vitamin anitioxidants with bioflavanoids to increase absorption at the cellular level.

Even Reading Labels May Not Help You If You Don't Understand What You're Reading

Reading a label carefully and understanding what the label actually means are important when purchasing any product. Calcium Example: The elemental amount of calcium refers to the exact weight or potency of calcium a formula provides. This is true for all minerals.

Some labels clearly list the elemental weight and are therefore simple to understand.

Example A: Elemental Calcium 250 mg
(Equivalent to 1,111 mg of Calcium Amino Acid Chelate)

In Example A, you are receiving 250 mg of actual calcium, and 1,111 mg refers to the combined weight of the calcium and amino acids. If the label does not clearly list the elemental amount, you must then have a further understanding to interpret the label information.

Example B: Two pills contain: Example C: Two pills contain:
Calcium (Gluconate) ........ 1,000 mg Calcium Gluconate ........ 1,000 mg

At first glance, Examples B and C appear to be the same formula, but they are not. In Example B, the word "Gluconate" appears in parentheses. Gluconate represents the "source" of the calcium in the formula. The potency of 1,000 mg listed is the actual amount of elemental calcium you are receiving. However, in Example C, when the chelating agent does not appear in parentheses, the 1,000 mg represents the weight of the calcium together with gluconic acid. Therefore, the amount of calcium you would be receiving in Example C would be 9.3% or 93 mg of actual calcium. You would have to take 22 pills to get the 1,000 mg of Calcium you needed! As you can see, this can be very misleading and confusing!

Let's look even deeper at calcium absorption and different types of calcium. The most popular source of calcium is calcium carbonate which is 40% elemental calcium. So if the above pills had used calcium carbonate, they would contain 400 mg of calcium, requiring 5 pills to get 1,000 mg.

Example D (part 1)
Here is a breakdown of different calcium sources. The calcium source would be the elemental part of the calcium that is bioavailable to the body for absorption.

When we calculate the elemental calcium that would benefit your body, it still is not the amount of calcium that gets absorbed. Example D (part 2) will show you the percent of elemental calcium actually absorbed by the body. Note that everybody's absorption rate is different and can be higher or lower, the percent absorbed shown is an average.

Example D (part 2) Here is a breakdown of different calcium sources of absorption:

Notice that from the "actual elemental weight" to the "actual absorbed weight" more calcium is excreted than ever gets into your tissues.

Notice that Calcium Carbonate is the most absorbable, but this can be misleading because it's relative to how much whole elemental calcium is used to start with and whether the calcium is chelated or not (and it depends on what type of chelation is done).

Different sources of calcium have widely different solubility in an acid-neutral environment. For example, calcium-citrate-malate is 11 times more soluble than calcium citrate; 82 times more soluble than tricalcium phosphate, 571 times more soluble than calcium carbonate, and 2,000 times more soluble than calcium oxalate.

More quality control questions to ask

Ask your supplier if all starting ingredients are held in quarantine until their quality control department physically and chemically tests the quality of each raw material for identity, strength, purity and safety. This is important, since most companies don't do this and simply accept the certificate of analysis (CofA) as being the only source of validation of raw materials. If there is no double or triple checking, you're taking everything for granted. Heck, you could order raw materials in your home, as long as you have a good drain in your garage, you to can make nutritional supplements and sell them into the open market with no quality control standards.

Ask if the company has a staff of chemists using the most modern analytical methodology such as atomic absorption, Argon Spectrospan, high pressure liquid chromatography, UV/visible spectrophotometry, capillary electrophoreses, and infrared spectrophotometry where rigorous pharmaceutical standards are maintained for ingredient component control.

Ask if they have a microbiology lab or a pharmaceutically licensed facility that can assure the absence of contaminants such as E. coli and salmonella, and the presence of micronutritents like vitamin B12 and folic acid.

Only after a material has been identified and assayed and the quality guaranteed, should it then be released from a quarantined area for use in production. If it doesn't meet standards, it should immediately be returned to the supplier (who will probably sell it elsewhere to less discriminating manufacturers!).

Does every batch of tablets go through a disintegration test?

Tablets have to "break down" in the digestive tract before the body can use them. If a supplement is not produced under strict quality control, it may be too "hard" to break down completely in the stomach. This means the patient does not receive the full benefit of that supplement because large amounts may be excreted. To ensure proper utilization, a disintegration time test should be performed on each batch of tablets. This test identifies how and when the product will break down in the body.

The disintegration time test consists of a laboratory apparatus that approximates a "normal" stomach to see how a tablet will behave when it gets in the body. It exposes the supplement to the temperature, biochemical environment and motions that actually occur in the stomach. The break down of the tablet is monitored over time, this is called dissolution testing. Different formulas have different ideal disintegration times. Most products should disintegrate (break down to powder) in about 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Timed or prolonged release products are specially designed to take longer to disintegrate in order to improve utilization of certain nutrients. They may even stay partially "intact" after releasing their nutrients, a normal situation for these products. If the disintegration time is not right for a particular product, the consumer will not receive maximum benefit.

Some folks have tried a home version of a "disintegration time" test by putting tablets into a glass of water or vinegar and waiting for them to dissolve. This test is totally inaccurate for 99.9% of supplements, with pure calcium carbonate being the only thing for which the test is appropriate! It's just not similar enough to a real stomach when determining how a complex nutritional formula will behave in the body. Anything more complex won't break down unless it is under the temperature, biochemical and motion conditions present in the stomach. After all, you can't dissolve a piece of steak in a glass of vinegar either!

Are the best forms of the nutrients being used and is the tablet or capsule being put together properly?

Many formulas look good on the label, but research and development are much more than putting a good formula down on paper. Take herbs for example. Most herbal products are simply cut and dried plants put into a capsule or tablet. That may be fine for very general use, but for therapeutic use most herbs must go through an "extraction" process to break open the plant cell walls and "release" the active ingredients for optimum bioavailability and digestibility. In fact, this is how herbs are traditionally prepared in China, Europe, and other parts of the world that successfully use herbs medicinally. Many people believe that you can only have an "extract" in a liquid form which usually has very low patient compliance due to poor taste (herbs are very bitter), excessive amounts of alcohol, and the inconvenience of dropper bottles. Now, new technology allows the power of a liquid extract to be put into the convenience of a capsule or tablet. Ask your supplier or company if they are using these advanced delivery systems in their products.

There are also many other issues relating to "delivery systems" that determine whether the patient will receive the optimum benefits from their supplements - all of which occur at the research and development level. These include precoating nutrients to prevent interaction within the tablet, granulating or chilsonating ingredients for even ingredient distribution throughout the tablet or capsule, high technology controlled release beadlet delivery systems to optimize bioavailabiltiy of water soluble nutrients and enteric coating of enzymes to maximize their activity. These and other special processes make formulas developed at a sophisticated facility very different indeed from those made in a warehouse with a blender and a tableting machine! Yes, that's right, you too can make nutritional supplements in your gargage with a good drain and sell them to the open market!

Quality Really Does Cost More

Finally, you really do get what you pay for. Yes, a staff of full time chemists, pharmacists and technicians, millions of dollars of capital equipment for manufacturing and advanced laboratory equipment, and a high-tech research and development lab are going to result in a more expensive product than one made in facilities like your local fast food restaurant.

In fact, that small extra cost upfront can actually mean more economy for the consumer in the long run. For example, being able to use less capsules per day of a highly potent herbal extract compared to the cut and dried products; or when high potency water soluble nutrients are supplied more efficiently throughout the entire day through the use of controlled release beadlet delivery systems, not simply excreted in the urine. And when you're recommending nutritional supplements to other, it's worth the extra "insurance" to know that you are not misleading people and that you are providing them with the best quality supplements possible.

We need to stop focusing on price rather than quality because we all know that we get what we pay for. However, the issue of price goes much futher than this. It is frustrating when cost conscious consumers are disappointed in their results after taking a vitamin or herb after they read somewhere about the the miraculous health benefits only to be more tainted about the industry. For example, a bottle of St. John's Wort can be found in a general discount market for $4.00. Once educated on what dosage and how to take the St. John's Wort for mild depression you will find out it is physically impossible to manufacture a quality St. John's wort standardized extract at 0.3% hypericin at 900 mg/day for $4.00 per bottle. When companies market these low-quality, inferior, sometimes fraudulent products, it reflects poorly on the entire natural health industry. If you buy a cheap bottle of St. John's wort and don't get results, chances are you will think poorly of the entire industry. People who are quick to say nutritional supplements don't work and are a waste of money, may be the same people who are not educated consumers who opt for the $4.00 bottle of St. John's wort rather than the $12.00 bottle that you need to take for at least 2-3 months at the correct dosage and potency to get results. You will learn that in order to get the results you deserve, you need to look for much more than a low price. Here are some very valuable comments on price from some of the world's leading experts on the nutritional sciences and orthomolecular medicine:

"In general, very inexpensive products are made from poor-quality starting material. Good herbal manufacturing companies inspect and test their raw material. If the material does not meet their criteria, they will reject this material. The suppliers then sell this rejected material to other buyers who do not have quality control measures in place. These manufacturers are then able to make herbal products and sell them at a lower price because they don't pay for the quality control measures and the re-sold herbs are often sold at a lower price. Thus, a cheaper product is usually not the best quality product"

- Lise Alschuler, N.D.

"Most of the national brands price their products within 15 to 25 percent of each other. If I see a price for something, other than a sale or promotion, that is more than 25 percent lower than the more expensive brands, I get concerned. You see that a lot in these big mail order catalogs at discount prices."

- Schuyler W. Liniger, Jr., D.C.

"While price should be an issue when buying nutritional supplements, I encourage people not to buy the cheapest vitamins. As in many aspects of life, you usually get what you pay for. I find poor quality supplements are often manufactured and tableted under high heat and great pressure, thus reducing the amount of nutrients available. Sometimes ingredients are added in 'token' amounts, merely to have them on the label for marketing purposes. When looking for the best buy, look for a combination of quality manufacturing along with reasonable pricings."

- Patrick Quillan, Ph.D., R.D., C.N.S.

"Pharmaceutical Grade nutritonal supplements are the only ones I can recommend and use with my patients. Food Grade and Industrial Grade nutritional supplements do not meet my quality standards, and it's very hard to find pharmaceutical grade supplements; there are only a handful of them out of the thousands of brands out there. Be careful of companies that say they're pharmaceutical grade, but only have one ingredient that is on the label that meets that requirement and everything else does not. I personally believe if health professionals are recommending nutritional supplements for the prevention, treatment, cure or mitigation of disease, that they only use pharmaceutical grade supplements, otherwise, there's no way to know if the product has what the company even states on the label. It would be unethical of the physician to use or recommend anything else other than pharmaceutical grade nutriceuticals. Heck, a medical doctor would never use non-pharmaceutical grade drugs with a patient, so why should he lower his quality standards for nutraceuticals?"

- Glen Luepnitz, Ph.D., Nutritional Research Scientist

Look for an open door policy for inspection

Does the company actually manufacture the products or are they simply a marketing company? If the answer is the latter, that company may have little or no control over the quality of the products or the methods used to produce them. If the company is also the manufacturer, do the fully disclose their policies and procedures and invite you to tour their facility? If a supplement manufacturer does not allow you to personally inspect their facility, perhaps it's because they have something to hide.

Why the Recommended Daily Allowances Are Not Enough

Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for vitamins and minerals have been prepared by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council since 1941. These guidelines were originally developed to reduce the rates of severe nutritional deficiency diseases such as scurvy, pellagra and beriberi. Another critical point is that the RDAs were designed to serve as the basis for evaluating the adequacy of diets of groups of people, not individuals. Individuals simply vary too widely in their nutritional requirements. As stated by the Food and Nutrition Board, "Individuals with special nutritional needs are not covered by the RDAs." Unfortunately, the values have been heavily influenced by the food industry, economic considerations and politics, not just by science.

What the experts say about the RDA's

Many researchers question the value of the RDAs. They make the highly processed American food supply look more nutritious than it is, and they appear to be influenced by the food industry. The RDAs are not useful in establishing optimal health. Our modern problems are not deficiency diseases but degenerative diseases. Nutrients play an important role in preventing these conditions. The RDAs cannot be used in evaluating the therapeutic and preventive value of large doses of dietary supplements.

"The sad truth is, if you look around, you will see many people who do manage to get the RDA levels of most nutrients, but they still go on to develop early heart disease, cancer, arthritis and diabetes. They have frequent viral infections (colds, flu, herpes), they are overweight, and they lose their teeth to decay and gum disease. In terms of life expectancy, infant mortality and health care costs, Americans are not in the most favorable position in world statistics. Average Americans have a lower life expectancy than citizens of some third world countries. In this regard, it is not good to be average-the average American will die early of heart disease, stroke, diabetes or cancer. You can do many things to improve your health and reduce your risk of developing the health problems of the rest of the population. Taking dietary supplements is one of them. And it is an important one."

- Janson, Michael M.D., "The Vitamin Revolution In Health Care"

"The RDA values may have nothing to do with maintaining vitality for a given individual. Nor is it likely that they are the amounts needed during recovery from serious disease or even minor sicknesses. And what about possible increased needs during times of extra stress or if we smoke cigarettes, drink a lot of alcohol or coffee, or eat sugar, all of which could deplete some vitamins or create extra needs? And what are our requirements if we are on a special diet or are planning surgery? We recognize RDA's as the minimum, not the optimum. And even these minimum levels may not be provided by diet alone, so many people take additional supplements for insurance against deficiency problems. Consumers must be very aware of this and gain knowledge to make healthy choices."

- Haas, Elson M., M.D., "Staying Healthy with Nutrition, The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine"

The RDA and the Role of Nutrients

The RDAs don't reflect modern scientific understanding of what levels promote optimum health. The RDAs were designed for groups, and we know that individuals vary widely in their nutritional requirements. The Food and Nutritional Board has stated simply: "Individuals with special nutritional need are not covered by RDAs."

In truth, a growing percentage of people fall into a "special nutritional needs" category-smokers, for instance, and drinkers; individuals who work or live in conditions where they are exposed to toxic chemicals; people whose lives are full of stress. Progressive thinkers are looking at the role of diets that are full of highly processed foods and food additives. The ambient chemicals in our industrialized society are also known to interfere with nutrient function. How many of us find ourselves in at least one of these categories?

'"The Food and Nutrition Board is only now slowly acknowledging these realities. Their recommendations were created 40 to 60 years ago; RDAs do not adequately take into consideration modern environmental and lifestyle factors, typical of most lives, which are known to destroy vitamins and bind minerals."

- Whitaker, Julian, M.D., "Dr. Whitaker's Guide to Natural Healing"

Here are some guidelines on choosing a good multi-vitamin/mineral product

1. There is no such thing as a quality "one-a-day" multi-vitamin/mineral supplement. If you think you can take just one pill and get everything you need, you have been fooled by the "one-a-day" marketing campaign. Physically, it is just not possible to get all the minerals and vitamins you need, in the dosages you need, into one pill - unless, of course, the pill were the size of a golf ball! Typically, you need to take at least three tablets each day as a minimum, depending on the product.
     
   
2. Never buy a multi that does not clearly list the amount of each ingredient. A "laundry list" of ingredients without the mg, IU or mcg amounts identified is a red flag. Avoid those, because there are too many other good products to choose from.
     
   
3. Be sure the product does not contain potential allergens such as corn, wheat, milk, yeast, or fillers, additives, and artificial flavors and colors (especially in children's vitamins). These types of products indicate cost-cutting for profit and in the case of non-food grade fillers, such as talc and silicon, may lead to digestive and absorption problems.
     
   
4. Stick with manufacturers who have a reputation for high quality. Do they make other products? Have other people you've talked to gotten good results from that specific company's products?
     
   
5. Look for a balance of important vitamins and minerals. Recognize that many of them will be in a higher dosage than the RDAs or MDRs (Minimum Daily Requirements) - some, much higher. Although your multi can't replace a healthful diet, you do want it to be strong enough to provide you with the "nutritional insurance" you need. In the book, "Help Yourself: The Beginner's Guide to Natural Medicine" by Judy Christianson, N.D., gave this sound advice, " Because most people are looking for more than just the prevention of vitamin deficiency disease, a multi-vitamin/mineral product that only contains 100 percent of the RDA may not be enough to support optimal health".
     
   
6. Because a multi will become a staple in your health regimen, take time with your decision to be sure you get the most comprehensive multi. Don't shop for price, buy for quality. Most high quality multi-vitamin/mineral products go for $25 to $50 for a one month adult supply. A cheap multi is a red flag. Remember, it costs money to make quality and not skimp on key ingredients. Even though you may pay more, it will be well worth it to get a superior multi.
     
   
7. Buy products from manufacturers and distributors who focus on education and accurate information. The information provided should be scientific, unbiased literature, not just sales information. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell what information is reliable and what is "marketing hype".

You Deserve The Best

In a well-known hair color commercial, a beautiful blond model brushes her hair back, confidently proclaiming "because I'm worth it!" When it comes to your health, you deserve the best. Ask yourself when budgeting for nutritional supplements, "What is my health worth?" Remember, you're worth it.

There is no question that it takes a certain amount of "wisdom" to buy the right products. Now that you have gained the wisdom from this position article, you should feel more confident and comfortable in making your supplement purchases and recommendations. But remember, it's a never-ending process of continual education and information to become and educated consumer. Enjoy the journey.

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References

Ames, Margaret VonBardeleben Wideman, Ph.D., et al.: "Developing a Wellness Component in the Healthcare Practice". International Journal of Integrative Medicine, pp 6-8, Vol. 1, No. 2, Mar/Apr 1999.

Ames, Margaret VonBardeleben Wideman, Ph.D., et al.: "16 Components to Develop a Leading Wellness Center". Chiropractic Economics, pp 29-33, Vol. 40, No. 6, Mar/Apr 1998.
Andon, Mark, Ph.D., "Super Calcium Miracle - The Calcium Citrate Malate Breakthrough". Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA. 1998

Chamberlain, Ph.D., "What the labels won't tell you". Loveland, CO. Interweave Press, Inc. 1998.

Colgan, Micheal, Ph.D.,"Optimum Sports Nutrition-Your Competitive Edge".Advanced Research Press, New York, NY. 1993.

Firshein, Richard, D.O., "The Nutraceutical Revolution". Riverside Books, New York, N.Y., 1998.

Gaby, Alan R., M.D., "Preventing and Reversing Osteoporosis". Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA. 1994.

Gazella, Karolyn A., "Buyer-Be Wise!" The Consumer's Guide to Buying Quality Nutritional Supplements. Green Bay, WI. IMPAKT Communications, Inc. 1998.

Haas, Elson M., M.D., "Staying Healthy with Nutrition, The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine", Celestial Arts, Berkeley, CA. 1992.

Hendler, Sheldon Saul, M.D., Ph.D., "The Doctor's Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia". Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y., 1991.

Hennessy, Georgiana, et al.: "Ten Ways to Really Know What's in Your Patients' Supplements", Chiropractic Economics, pp 10-15, Vol. 40, No. 6, Mar/Apr 1998.

Janson, Michael M.D., "The Vitamin Revolution In Health Care", Arcadia Press, Greenville, N.H. 1996.

Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter: November 1997.

Whitaker, Julian, M.D., "Dr.Whitaker's Guide to Natural Healing", Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA 1995.

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