How To Choose a High Quality Nutritional Supplement

Everything you feed or don’t feed your cells, affects your health and will either make you sicker or make you healthier.  Unless you are already taking a high quality nutritional supplement, odds are that your cells are crying out for proper nutrition.

Being physicians, my husband and I are often approached by different “health” companies.  Every company has stories but few have credible science behind their products.  The nutritional industry is often based more on what sells rather than what your body really needs.

Here are 3 criteria to look for when choosing the right supplement:

1.  Is the product scientifically formulated, complete and balanced with the right ingredients?

Find out who’s behind the development of the products.  Is it PhD scientists and nutritionists or is individuals with PhD’s in marketing and sales.   Unfortunately, many nutritional products are more about what sells rather than what your body needs.

2.  Is the product pharmaceutical grade?

Let me explain what this means.  Products than are pharmaceutical grade are manufactured to the same high standards as your medications.  This means that what it says on the label is exactly what is in each tablet and nothing else.

Most nutritional products are manufactured by food grade and there can be a wide variance between what is written on the bottle and what is in each pill, so you don’t really know what you’re getting.  Not only that but the products may contain substances that you don’t want.  Studies have shown supplements to contain steroids, stimulants, heavy metals and other contaminants. A recent article in Consumer Reports shows just how common this is.

3.  Are the products certified and tested by other third party reputable agencies?

Anyone can say that their products are the best but how can you know for sure.  The best way to verify that what the company is saying it true is to find out if the products have been independently tested.  NSF (National Science Foundation) and Consumer Lab are two agencies that do this kind of testing on nutritional products.  Check your product out on one of their websites.