dietary supplement brands

There is no need to blindly pursue big-name imported brands, and don’t pay for the conceptual premiums of Internet celebrity hits. Give priority to brands that have formal compliance endorsements, adapt to your actual needs, and have core ingredients supported by real data. Brands that promote “cure all diseases” and “alternative medicines” are directly excluded.

Last year, my mother had a knee pain, and her short video was used to post a certain imported "god-level amino sugar". One bottle sold for 399, and it was said that after three months of consumption, she would not need to replace her joints. I bought three bottles without much thought at the time, but after two months of consumption, my mother said that the pain was not relieved, and she always suffered from acid reflux. Later, I found out that this This brand is produced by a small OEM in the country of origin. It has not even obtained the Jianjin qualification to enter the Chinese market. It is an illegally circulated product. The amino sugar content is less than 60% of the label. The rest is all microcrystalline cellulose and sweeteners. You are lucky if you don't have any side effects.

In fact, there is no unified standard for judging "good brands" in the industry, and there is no need to compete with each other. Friends who work in clinical nutrition only choose brands based on the background of pharmaceutical companies. For example, the nutritional supplements they recommend for post-operative patients are all brands approved by the Food and Drug Administration and supported by RCT clinical trial data. The ingredient content and impurity residues of each batch have public test reports. The fault tolerance rate is extremely low. It is suitable for people with clear nutrient deficiencies or basic diseases who need to supplement according to doctor's orders. Without fancy marketing, they can be sold for many years through hospital and pharmacy channels alone. My friends who are involved in fitness and healthy lifestyles prefer to look for niche brands, such as those that make organic plant protein powder. The ingredient list only contains soy protein isolate and natural vanilla powder, without sugar substitutes, flavors, or preservatives. Although there is no clinical data, the traceability of the raw materials is clear, and it is not burdensome to eat. It is suitable for ordinary people who just want to supplement their daily nutrition and have no clear illness. The price-performance ratio is also high.

A while ago, I had dinner with Lao Zhou, who is responsible for quality control of dietary supplements. He said that many people now accuse supplements of being an IQ tax. In fact, they are not criticizing the product itself, but those bad brands that speculate on concepts. For example, the "whitening pills" that became popular in the past two years have core ingredients such as ordinary vitamin C and L-cysteine. They cost a few yuan, but can be sold for hundreds of yuan if they are packaged as "blackening factor". Some even add tranexamic acid in violation of regulations. If you eat too much, it will affect menstruation. But don’t kill all small brands at once. He tried a small brand that makes children’s DHA a while ago. The founder is a pediatric nutritionist in a tertiary hospital. He has been doing it for 6 years just by relying on his circle of friends and repeat customers. The raw materials are certified by DSM. The purity of algae oil and DHA is higher than that of many big brands. Each bottle comes with a third-party test report. The price is half of that of imported big brands. They never advertise in short videos and spend all their marketing expenses on raw materials. In fact, they have survived longer than many Internet celebrity brands.

Many people say that "supplements are all IQ tax, just eat well", which is actually not true. If you can eat one kilogram of vegetables and half a kilogram of fruits every day, a complete set of eggs, milk and meat, and have a regular schedule and don't stay up late, then you really don't need to take any supplements, and buying them is a waste of money. But if you are like me and work 996 every day, eat a lot of takeaways, and get mouth ulcers and bleeding gums when the seasons change, then supplementing with B complex and vitamin C of compliant brands is indeed more comfortable than carrying it on. I have personally tested this to be effective.

To be honest, ordinary consumers don’t need to remember the raw material standards and content thresholds. When choosing a brand, they just need to spend an extra 30 seconds to look at two places: First, whether there is a blue hat with the national food health label on the package, and whether the imported product has a health sign. This is the bottom line. If it doesn’t even have this, don’t touch it no matter how brilliant it is.； The second is to turn to the ingredient list to see if the core ingredients you want to supplement are in the top three. If the top three ingredients are all sweeteners, dextrin, and flavorings, then it is better to save the money and buy two more kilograms of fruit. If the brand dares to put the third-party testing report of each batch on the product details page, it will basically not cause any big surprises.

There are two brands that I always keep at home. One is the B vitamins produced by Sinopharm. If I take one pill when I work a lot of overtime, I will reduce the risk of oral ulcers a lot. A bottle only costs a dozen yuan.； The other is a niche iron supplement recommended by a friend. Vitamin C is added to the formula to promote absorption. It is much better than the imported iron supplement I bought for hundreds of yuan before, and it will not cause constipation. I never stick to a certain brand, nor do I think that imported products are necessarily better and suitable for my current needs. It is enough that I really have a positive feeling after eating them and the qualifications are in compliance with the regulations. By the way, if you have underlying diseases or are taking other medicines, be sure to ask your doctor before buying. Don’t make up for it yourself. This is more important than any brand you choose.