Vitamin quality

[ashtown]

I've been reading that vitamin D3 is something we should all be considering and it isn't expensive, however digging a little deeper I've just discovered that some of the tablets are nothing more than capsules with a couple drops of olive oil inside. I've also heard it said that cheap fish oil tablets can do more harm than good.


In Britain recently we've had a horse meat scandal where it was discovered that numerous products marketed as 100% beef were actually partly or wholly horse meat, so if the supermarkets are prepared to lie through their teeth on items like this how can we trust them on vitamins and supplements? This is a major reason why I'm trying to get my vitamins now through simple raw foods like nuts and vegetables but I really wonder how many of us are throwing away good money on useless products.  

[George999]

ashtown,  You really CAN NOT gain ANYTHING useful from simply taking Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is NOT a vitamin.  It is a PRO-HORMONE that becomes a hormone when processed by the body.  Therefore, any useful therapy with Vitamin D involves blood tests to DETERMINE what is happening with Vitamin D blood levels.  So those of us following this protocol know IMMEDIATELY whether our Vitamin D is fake or the real thing.  So far I have taken multiple brands of Vitamin D and ALL of them have been the real thing as reflected in dynamic blood chemistry.  Consumer Lab has also tested a number of brands and found a very small number of scowflaws.  So don't believe everything you read in the newspaper.  But if you want to avoid fakes, buy reputable brands from reputable health food and supplement vendors and AVOID mass market outlets.  The ONLY mass market outlet that I trust to some degree is Costco.  Cheap store brand supplements are notorious for being ripoffs when it comes to quality.  BUT ... with Vitamin D, DON'T take chances.  Get your blood tested and make sure you are getting your blood levels at an optimal level.  Meaningful quantities of Vitamin D are NOT available from food.  However, the sun IS an option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cq1t9WqOD-0

I might ALSO add, that I have stopped buying my food from regular grocery stores and now get most of my food from a local cooperative that VERIFIES the source and quality of every food product.  I also try to make sure that every food product I buy is CERTIFIED organic.  And even with this one has to take care to avoid organic products that are produced by untrustworthy giant food product corporations.  Only certified organic products from known producers are free of the sort of contamination and adulteration that commonly affects food products these days.  And most major food markets buy their wares from around the world and don't ask any questions.  They ONLY care about finding a given product at the lowest possible price.  When it comes to food I am extremely cynical and untrusting.  The only safe food is from local producers you know or local producers far away that are known and trusted by local food cooperatives in their local market area.  It is absolutely amazing that people fret to no end over what might or what might not be in their supplements but they NEVER question what is in the food they eat.  That is largely due to the marketing power of the food industry which is closely tied to the agribusiness and pharmaceutical industries.

[Hawk]

I don't know we can trust grocery stores but there are independent labs that test vitamin brands for potency and common contaminants.  Also the sun has a steller reputation for delivering pure vitamin D.  

I use Puritan Pride extensively for most vitamins.  Their quality is rated very high.  Their prices cannot be beaten, and their customer service is excellent.  There are some specialty items they do not carry like Zyflamend and a few L-Arginine specialty products I use from time to time.  We intended to make a good supplier list up but I think it still remains undone.  

[ashtown]

If I was living in LA I'd probably just stand outside for 10 minutes to get enough vitamin D but here in the UK it's not so easy, especially in winter. My recent experience suggests that getting the basic diet right is far more useful than filling a cupboard with vitamins from the supermarket so I'll keep going in that direction but possibly look for vendors like farm cooperatives supplying local produce. If I had a bigger garden I'd probably grow my own vegetables as well.

I kept reading reports about people seeing results with CoQ10 and ALC etc so when it only got worse for month after month I started to question the quality of the supplements, since most of these items came through 3rd party suppliers selling via Amazon. In a world where you can walk into an Apple store in China and find it's not even an Apple store I think it's reasonable to start questioning the origins of products when so many items are sourced by sellers purely on price.  

[MattFoley]

IMHO, the best quality ALCAR powder is made by PrimaForce. This company makes a number of high-quality products that I love, including Citrulline Malate.

I know Solaray makes great stuff as well.

[Jonbinspain]

I'm trying Cutruline Malate instead of L-Arginine. I bought 1kg, which comes with a certificate of conformity, from these guys in the UK.  Price in $ works out to be approx $58 at current  f/x rates.

Inositol | Creatine Monohydrate | L-Glutamine | Arginine | Acetyl L Carnitine