quality of vitamins and supplements

[fathead]

in your personal opinion how does the quality compare for things like vitamins and fish oil etc from a place such as costco vs a "athletic supplement company"? so say a multi vitamin from costco vs some sort of "bodybuilding" vitamin pack

my doctor claims vitamins are under FDA (or whatever the body is) and that whatever is stated should be true and spending extra money on "fancier" vitamins is a waste

thoughts?

[Praetorian]

When you purchase based on price ie bulk ie Costco the actual R&D and quality is not as high as say a reputable professional grade supplement company such as Douglas Labs or Metagenics. There have been many studies done on cheaper vitamins such as Jaimeson, Swiss etc and the bioavailability was approx 2%. If you are looking for quality I would suggest purchasing from a reputable health food store or go to iherb.com and check out the reviews to get a decent one.
Some good brands:
New Chapter
Carlson Labs
Life Extension
Source Natural
Natural Factors
Solgar
Douglas Labs
Metagenics
Garden of Life

P

[L3]

P,

your thoughts on Animal Pack?

thanks!

[MuSuLPhReAk]

Prae do you have any links to the studies that found Jamieson bioavailablity at 2%? I use some of their products and don't want to be wasting my money.

[Praetorian]

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/405307/Multivitamin-Guide

P

[Praetorian]

P,

your thoughts on Animal Pack?

thanks!

Not sure as it wasnt listed...ill check for more info.
P

[Talo]

I always thought that NOW had some very good products, thoughts ?

I'll have to go digging.

[Praetorian]

I have use them in the past...not bad.
P

[JonnyO]

ive heard a lot of good reviews on Carlson.

[ScorpioChiq]

A valuable extract from an article on vitamins by Dr. Natasha Turner. In general, here are the things that you should consider when selecting a product:

* Multivitamins and all other supplement products free of binders, fillers, artificial colourings, preservatives, yeast, sugar, starch or other additives are the best choices.

* Capsules are often more absorbable than tablets. If tablets are, however, made by a reputable company they can be just as absorbable as capsules; and in some cases can even be superior. Normally tablets that are superior are "cold pressed." Some companies make their tablets in such a way so that they dissolve at certain temperatures, rather than acidity, to ensure maximum absorption. I tend to recommend against timed-released pills because they can be difficult for some of us to break down, particularly if you have low levels of stomach acid.

* Higher quality multivitamins often have their vitamins and minerals in highly absorbable forms, like amino acid chelates, glycinates and citrates, rather than sulfates, carbonates or oxides. When purchasing calcium or magnesium, check labels for "calcium citrate," or "magnesium citrate" or "magnesium glycinate" and avoid those products with "magnesium oxide" or "calcium carbonate." Although these forms are more expensive, they can provide three to 10 times better assimilation. And while on the topic of calcium, I might add that it also best to take your last dose (approx 250 to 500mg) of calcium before bedtime to assist bone health and sleeping.

* Natural forms of vitamins are always better than synthetic forms. In fact, synthetic vitamins have been found to cause health problems rather than prevent them. There are also fewer toxic reactions or potential intestinal upsets with natural forms. Look for the word "natural" on the label. It is not always easy to tell if a product is natural but you can tell a lot by looking at the vitamin E. If it is listed as dl-alpha tocopherol it is the harmful, synthetic form. If listed as d-alpha tocopherol, it's natural and good for you.

* Particular vitamin forms are superior to others. For instance, vitamin B12 as methylcobalamin; selenium in the form of selenomethionine or organic selenium; vitamin D as vitamin D3 (rather than vitamin D2) are most bioavailable and beneficial. Multivitamins created in the base of a green food base are also tops.

[Sean Summers]

I have a subscription to Consumer Lab. It's an online website that actually test supps. Most of them are American but if you post up the actual brand and name I'll see if it was reviewed.

[ScorpioChiq]

We had a vendor that worked with consumer labs and they said that the company grabbed some really old product that had been sitting on the shelves for ages, tested it and then asked the company for a serious sum of cash not to post a poor review. I can't claim that they always do it, but I found it was a pretty sketchy thing to do ;-)

also if you go to http://www.docstoc.com/ and type in multivitamin guide - there is a pretty good comparison that pops up. Regardless of what you buy, it really pays to spring for a higher quality vitamin. You can test them out yourself but placing the vitamin in water and watching to see how long it takes to dissolve. If 24 hours later the vitamin is still hanging on to its original form, you really don't want that in your stomach :-)

[Sean Summers]

I highly doubt that is what happened with Consumer Lab.
Also, putting a vitamin in water is not a good test - your stomach's acidity is more that water. Get the correct pH (1.5-3.5) liquid and try that.

I am putting together an article now that will really open everyone's eyes. I'll let everyone know when it will be available.

[FitnessModel45]

Hey Praetorian were you able find out about the quality of Animal Pak vitamins?