subject: Discount Vitamins: Why Pay More For The Same Ingredients? [print this page] Many supplement companies out there mark up their products quite high so that you end up spending a lot more money than necessary to get the exact same ingredients and potentially the exact same benefit that you would have by taking another brands product. Because you should be able to take supplements to maintain your health and wellness just like the next person, we will review some helpful, practical tips to help you make the smartest purchases possible.
First, do not get caught up in a pretty label. Many people make this mistake when it comes to purchasing just about anything. Whether they are buying designer jeans or a new electronic appliance or supplements for their health and well being, many people seem to think that spending more money equals getting a better product. To the contrary, often times, people fail to dig deep enough to see that what they are getting underneath the label is the same thing no matter what the packaging says! This is true with vitamins and herbs and minerals and all supplements.
Make sure you read the packaging and the nutrition label just as you would on your food purchases. While the labels are not regulated by the FDA like food is, they are required to list the ingredients, just as is required with food. Therefore, you can easily compare labels of an expensive supplement you are interested in with one that doesnt cost quite as much. If you are in the vitamin store and you are comparing two or more labels with two or three different price tags, look to see what the first ingredient is on the label, especially if it is a compound supplement. If the first ingredient is the same on all three, continue to scroll down the list in descending order and make sure that the supplements are all made the same way. More often than not, the labels will be identical except for the price tag! If this is the case, you can feel confident purchasing the least expensive of the three, so long as it is from a reputable manufacturer.
If the labels are not exactly the same, you want to make sure that the top ingredients are made up of exactly what it is you are trying to purchase. Be sure not to purchase a supplement that lists fillers as the primary or even secondary ingredient. In other words, if you are purchasing a specific vitamin, for example, be sure that the vitamin itself is listed first. Otherwise you will be paying good money for less product.
Another concern is whether or not the supplement or vitamin is standardized. Taking into consideration the order of ingredients listed and how good the manufacturers reputation is, you want next to look at whether the company standardizes their products. What this means is that all of their vitamin, herb, and supplement products are manufactured in exactly the same manner each time. If there is variation among different batches of their product, one can never know whether a stronger or weaker version of the product is being purchased at any given time. If you plan to supplement with the same regular combinations of vitamins and minerals and herbs, it is wise to make sure that you are going with a company that has the same set of standards for their manufacturing process each and every time.
It is probably more important when looking at combination supplements that you get the best mix possible than it is when you are looking at individual herbs or vitamins. Generally, for example, if you were to purchase a Vitamin C supplement, you would not be expecting to see many other ingredients in there than vitamin C. However, if you are purchasing a multivitamin, you would expect to see the various different vitamins listed in order of concentration, but you may also expect to see some fillers or herbal compounds in there as well.
Sometimes, you may find ingredients that you are unclear about. If you are unsure about any of the names of these ingredients, it can sometimes help to look at the ending or suffix of the word. If it ends in ose, such as glucose, dextrose, or fructose, these will probably be sugars. If it contains a color along with certain letters, they are sometimes simply food additives or preservatives. Here again, you want to be careful of the nature of these additives.
Once you become diligent about reading the labels, you will find it quite easy to get the most bang for your buck and make certain you are supplementing your health and well being with the best and most reasonably priced products possible. All it takes is a little careful reading and some practice.
