Supplements 101: Does the Brand Make a Difference?

Many people take supplements and they don’t even know why they’re taking them! Typically, when I ask people why they started taking a certain supplement, I get 1 of 3 reasons:

1. They read about it in a magazine article
2. Their friend is taking it
3. They heard about it on TV

What is that supplement in your cupboard actually doing? And how do you know if you need to be taking it?

Supplements Aren’t One-Size Fits All

It’s important to know exactly what supplements your body actually needs. If you’re consuming an herb or vitamin that your body doesn’t need, that you can’t process, or that goes in opposition to your healing process it can cause long-term damage to your body.

Supplements can be as powerful as medications—don’t be fooled into thinking they’re harmless!

A good friend of mine almost lost her mentor because he just decided to start taking a thyroid supplement that he read was good for you, but it turned out to be so bad for him that he ended up in the hospital in a coma.

Why You Should Choose Quality Over Quantity

Choosing professional brand supplements makes a difference in whether or not the supplement is actually effective. You may also find that you need less of a certain supplement when the quality is better, which definitely saves you money in the long run.

Freshness

The brands and bottles of supplements you find at big wholesale stores or discount markets are not the same quality as the ones you can find through a nutritionist or naturopath. In fact often times those supplements are not stored properly to maintain freshness and can lose their effectiveness while they’re in the warehouse waiting to be shipped out.

Even if the expiration date doesn’t indicate it, if the supplements are stored under the wrong conditions any healthy properties they had are lost.

Source

And that doesn’t even take into consideration the source of the materials they use to make the supplements—just like it’s important to eat organic and high-quality food, it’s important that the supplements you take come from high-quality sources. This has a huge impact on how effective and helpful the supplements can be.

Did you know that the supplements nutritionist or naturopaths use actually come from farms? Yes, they grow the food and then make the supplements from that food – you can check out one of my favorite companies here just to see what I mean.

Sensitivities

Another consideration when taking food-based supplements is that the supplement may contain a food you have an unknown sensitivity too. In this case the supplement can actually promote inflammation within your body unintentionally!

So moral of the story?

Test first, or talk to your doctor to make sure that the supplements you’re taking are actually good for you! Then, once you’ve got the ok, go for quality supplements and you’ll save money and reap more benefits in the long run!