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How to Pick a Great Supplement

My husband and I are both involved in health care. I am a writer and pharmacist who is passionate about natural medicine. Sam is a chiropractic physician. Between us, we have 40 years of clinical experience. We are both holistic practitioners and feel that drugs are overused and prescribed indiscriminately. Future generations may look back on this medicine-crazed time as barbaric.

As I was writing Drug Muggers, we both agreed that the number one health question we each receive in our respective professions is “How do I pick a great multivitamin?” Let’s face it: The role of good nutrition and healthy supplements in health cannot be overemphasized, and the need for authentic and pure supplements is at an all-time high. So we decided to include a chapter that will help you navigate the aisles of pharmacies and health food stores and pick the best top-quality supplements for your needs.

Confronting the dizzying array of dietary supplements and vitamins is daunting and confusing to our patients and readers. Both my husband and I are Internet savvy and have seen a plethora of Web sites that propagate false information and sell supplements that are of poor quality. We’ve also examined Web sites that purport to do consumer testing and post reports deeming certain proprietary brands to be better than others. Then we’ve found out that these supposedly “better” companies have paid to have their brand name products included on the lists. So how do you really know whom to trust and what companies are reliable?

I will help you sift through all the information and deception in the dietary supplement industry. In this chapter, you will become aware of the worst tricks in the industry so you can steer clear of—no, run from—poor-quality nutraceuticals. My goal is to teach you what to look for when you read vitamin labels.

Do You Need to Supplement?

Choices have consequences. For example, making the choice to smoke, drink, or lie on the couch watching TV every day rather than exercising eventually takes its toll. What about people who eat too many sweets, fried foods, and greasy burgers? An unhealthy diet does increase your need for supplementation. Let’s get something clear, though. Even the best multivitamin supplement in the world can’t make up for a lousy diet. It is a supplement, after all, not a remedy for bad habits. You have a choice, and you can choose to eat fewer processed and fattening foods and more “rabbit food.”

Vitamins are present in fresh raw vegetables and fruits, to be sure. But in my opinion they aren’t present in sufficient quantities to promote good health, reverse disease, or counteract all the toxins that surround us in the industrialized world we live in. Why is that? Our foods today are grown in mineral-devoid soils and riddled with pesticides and chemicals.

Many groups have special needs when it comes to nutrients. Women who are pregnant, nursing, or trying to conceive, for example, require larger amounts of certain nutrients to make sure their babies get the best start. And then there are senior citizens. Because levels of healthy nutrients and hormones decline in the elderly, they especially require added nutritional supplementation.

We all get vaccinated at birth and then take a slew of drugs throughout our lives, exposing ourselves to a continuous onslaught of unnatural chemicals. Many medications are drug muggers, often with the potential to slowly steal the life out of us. So the question isn’t “Should I supplement?” Of course you should! The real question is “What are the best supplements to take to meet my individual needs?”

Why Do We Need Vitamins Anyway?

A common myth has it that if you eat well, you will automatically get all the vitamins and minerals you need solely from your food. Naturally I think you should eat a healthy diet. But even if you eat fresh fruits and vegetables every hour, you still get only a fraction of the essential nutrients you need from those foods. Remember, those “fresh” fruits and veggies are often grown in mineral-deficient soils that contain a lot of pesticides. Then the produce sits for days at the grocery store. Then more time passes while it sits in your fridge. Then you microwave it or boil it too long. The bottom line is that the vitamins and minerals in today’s food supply have been greatly diminished by the time you eat them.

And let’s not forget the impact of sweets. People who eat processed foods containing refined white sugar (as opposed to stevia or agave sweeteners) will lose some B vitamins, zinc, chromium, magnesium, and other minerals. Yep, that’s right. White processed sugar is a drug mugger of minerals. And guess what? When you’re chronically low in certain minerals, you develop blood sugar problems. Hello, diabetes. Supplementing with trace minerals is smart if you have an insatiable sweet tooth. Conversely, sugar cravings can actually be caused by mineral and B vitamin deficiencies.

Let’s get back to vitamins. What exactly are they?

By themselves, vitamins don’t give you energy. They merely participate in the chemical reactions in the body that produce energy. They also boost your immune system; help you grow; and allow you to think, move, and stay alive. Thanks to vitamins you can see the world in color instead of in black and white. You can read thanks to the power of vitamins. It takes certain vitamins and minerals to keep your skeleton and your teeth strong. Vitamins help determine your mood, your attention span, even how well you ward off major illnesses like cancer.

Certain vitamins can determine what color your hair is and may play a part in premature graying. Some vitamins keep you from bleeding to death when you get a small cut. Vitamins and minerals are also cofactors, which means that they assist enzymes in their job of digesting your food. Think of a cofactor as your good buddy.

The list goes on and on. If you think you can put just any old vitamin into your body and get good results, then I’m glad you’re reading my book. Not all vitamins are created equal, as you will see. Think of a car: It needs gas to run well. Without enough fuel, it conks out. If you take cheap or second-rate vitamins, your body will conk out, too.

Think of banking, too. If you don’t put away some money now, you won’t have it to rely on later when you need it. It’s the same with vitamins. If you don’t store up a good nutritional stash that allows your cells to run optimally, how will you stay healthy in the long run? However, many vitamins—especially the water-soluble ones—are not stored in the body long-term. So you really do need to keep replenishing certain nutrients. In the case of calcium, for example, you need to bank enough of this mineral to help you maintain strong bones and teeth for a lifetime.

I’m not saying that vitamins and minerals are a cure-all, or that they prevent disease. But they are certainly a good place to start. They offer some insurance against the poor state of our food supply and the many drug muggers out there. Nutritional supplements should be considered one big piece of the health puzzle.

Apparently, I’m not alone in my thinking, because an estimated 50 to 60 percent of Americans take dietary supplements. If you’ve already recognized the importance of nutraceuticals, let me teach you how to pick high-quality supplements (and herbs, too).

Selecting a multivitamin presents a particular challenge. What makes the process so difficult and confusing is that many multivitamins are basically the same at their core. They all seem to contain a wide range of the B vitamins, some A, D, C, and E, and a few minerals. Brand after brand, you see the same basic stuff. But you can’t read what’s not printed on the label. You may not know that some nutrients—zinc and copper, for example—need to stay in balance with each other in a specific ratio. They are both extremely beneficial to the body, but they need to be taken properly. Taking a poorly formulated multivitamin could tilt your body chemistry in the wrong direction.

Of course, quality issues come up with all supplements, not just multivitamins. Just one example: You couldn’t possibly know that some fish oils are taken from fish caught in contaminated waters, waters that contain PCBs, heavy metals, radioactive waste, and other toxins. This will not be on the label.

I feel a responsibility to share some of the secrets of this industry with you to help you get more supplement savvy. If you’re going to spend the money and bother to take a supplement, you need to take a good one.

Making an Educated Choice

You need a well-rounded multivitamin to fuel your body and provide it with the nutrition it needs to carry out hundreds of chemical reactions every minute. You need a trustworthy supplement, and you may need to take it several times a day for the same reason that you eat several times a day. This is news to many people who take their multivitamins once daily. The reason is that your body takes what it needs of certain nutrients—the water-soluble vitamins—then you excrete the rest. With fat-soluble vitamins (like E, D, A, and K), it’s a different story. You can store these for a while. So having a high-quality nutritional supplement on board is incredibly important to your general health and well-being.

The ideas that follow are going to raise some eyebrows because it’s likely that they will raise some issues with your current multivitamin formula. I’m willing to bet there’s a good chance that you’re taking products that will not meet the standards outlined here. While most of these points are deal breakers for me, you may be willing to accept a lower-quality product because the price is lower, too. Just make sure that you don’t fall for any of the worst tricks in the industry, which I’ll get to after we look at some of the fairly common and less serious issues.

These Tricks Are Fairly Common

Here’s an overview of vitamin industry negatives that you should know about and how to deal with them.

Don’t take just 1 pill. Does your vitamin formula deliver all of its nutrition in a single dose? Multivitamins sometimes offer comprehensive once-daily tablets or softgels. Supplements and multivitamins that promise dozens of nutrients in one single dose can’t possibly have the potency needed for good health or they would be humongous horse pills. You are being duped if you think you’re getting the right amounts of all the essential nutrients needed for optimal health in a single pill. High-quality multivitamins may require 3 to 6 capsules a day to give you top protection 24/7.

Expect to pay. If you can get 1,000 pills for $9.99, how good can they be? Are you getting a great deal or a great deal of junk? I get especially irked when I see companies preying on the most vulnerable and sickly segment of our population, the elderly. They produce vitamins of poor quality and sell them very inexpensively. The elderly are the very group of people who need the best supplements, not the cheapest ones!

Remember, the cost to produce vitamin supplements includes the bottle, label, shipping, marketing, and distribution. I’m not a mathematical genius, but how much money was left to invest in the quality of those vitamins if they only cost $10?

Watch for additives. Many vitamins contain magnesium stearate, an inactive plant- or animal-based substance that is used widely in the manufacture of supplements. It has been used for decades, but it is usually not disclosed on the label if the level does not reach 1 percent of the total content. Let me just say up front that practically all supplements contain this, and I take supplements with this almost every day.

Magnesium stearate (a combination of magnesium and stearic acid) is often added to the formula to make it flow better during the manufacturing process. Some companies insist that stearates ensure proper encapsulation, although I disagree. I think you can have proper encapsulation without this additive. Some companies offer stearate-free supplements. But, stearates increase profits for manufacturers because the company can generate more products in less time.

Even the best in the scientific field debate this issue as if it were politics. Some scientists insist that the magnesium stearate breaks down in the stomach, along with the rest of your supplement, when it meets strong acid and gets churned up for a while during digestion. Other scientists feel that magnesium stearate actually prevents proper breakdown and absorption of nutrients in your body. I’m undecided.

A study published in Immunolog y in 1990 suggested that stearic acid could suppress your immune system, making you more prone to infection. This study remains controversial to this day. Many scientists agree that it is a toxic substance, and others feel it is an innocuous additive. I doubt this issue will be settled in our lifetimes.

Some consumers are just plain sensitive to inactive ingredients like stearic acid, magnesium stearate, and ascorbyl palmitate. Supplement makers often call their products hypoallergenic or pure even though they contain manufacturing additives. It’s confusing.

This particular additive is not a deal breaker for me. Some supplements containing magnesium stearate have otherwise fantastic formulas, and I’ve included them in this book. However, I recommend choosing supplements that are free of stearates if you have multiple chemical sensitivities or many allergies. Thorne Research has always boasted about its stearate-free product line (www.thorne.com).

Pay attention to allergens. Is your supplement free of common allergens? Whenever possible, you want your product to be free of wheat, gluten, dairy, corn, yeast, and soy. It should also be free of artificial colors, sweeteners, and preservatives. I’ve tried very hard to recommend products in each chapter that, to the best of my knowledge, are free of common additives and allergens.

Don’t fall for the 100 percent claim. Your product may say that it provides 100 percent of the RDI (Reference Daily Intake) of key nutrients. The RDIs are based on the older term you may be more familiar with, the RDAs (Recommended Dietary Allowances). RDI values are the amounts that medical science says will keep you from dying of a disease. Woo-hoo! I say, “So what?” Even if the supplement offers 100 percent of the RDI, you are still getting a very small amount of the nutrient you need.

These Tricks Are Worse. Be Warned!

Some of the vitamin industry’s practices present more cause for concern. Here’s how to protect yourself.

Know that more is not necessarily better. Is your product selling you a bill of goods, putting in everything but the kitchen sink? Despite promotional claims on the box, some nutrients may be present in negligible amounts. You have to be aware that some ingredients may be included just for show.

Pay attention to the delivery system. Is your formula a tablet, capsule, or powder? Many tablets are difficult to dissolve and often contain binders and preservatives. Capsules, preferably vegetarian capsules, and powders are much easier for you to assimilate.

Select a biologically active formula. Is your product in the right form, a form that is biologically active? Many vitamins contain the wrong form of a nutrient. Manufacturers may use a less active form because it’s cheaper to produce. For example, some vitamins exist in two forms, like mirror images of each other. Think of your left and right hands.

How do you know which is the correct form to buy? It’s a question of educating yourself, and this book will help you do that. Let’s look at vitamin E as an example of what I’m talking about. Your body wants the natural right-sided form (the right hand, if you will). This is designated with the letter “d.” So you want your supplement to offer you vitamin E as “d-alpha-tocopherol,” not the lab-created kind, “dl-alpha-tocopherol,” which is cheaper to produce. It is more biologically active in its “d” form. The highest-quality vitamin E supplements contain d-alpha-tocopherol along with the seven other variations of vitamin E collectively called “mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols.” Remember that vitamin E is the name given to a family of eight molecules. So the very best brands have all eight in their formulas. Read the label and see what you have. Vitamins that come in the wrong form are definitely deal breakers for me.

Pay attention to quality control. Was your product tested and guaranteed for safety, purity, and potency? If so, it should say so on the label, or the company that manufactures it should be able to give you those assurances. The testing doesn’t necessarily have to be done by an independent testing company. I have seen some of those independent labs do a poor job, and some have questionable ethics.

Who manufactures the product? Is it contracted to the lowest bidder, or does the company selling the product actually make it? If it does, then ask if it follows the FDA’s good manufacturing practices and if it tests its raw materials. If so, another good question is: “Do you test your finished product for purity, label potency, and identity?” I like to know that my product comes with good quality assurance. I expect you do, too.

These Are the Worst Tricks. Run!

Finally, there are several vitamin industry practices that should send you running.

Be careful of false claims. Selling unique nutrients or herbal products that aren’t safe or well researched is deceptive advertising. Unfortunately, it’s also fairly common. Let’s consider horny goat weed as an example. Many men use this herb to ramp up their sex drive because they think it will help them get erections. I can’t find a single well-designed clinical trial that supports its use in men with erectile dysfunction, but the name sounds good, doesn’t it? And whether it works or not (because I’m not going to argue with you guys who rely on it), there was a study published in a 2004 issue of Psychosomatics that found a suspicious connection between the herb and two problems—racing, irregular heartbeat (tachyarrythmia) and an uncomfortable feeling of agitation or irritability (hypomania).

How do you know whether a company is making exaggerated or false claims about one of its products? Again, you need to educate yourself and not rely solely on advertising hype to make your purchasing decisions.

Check for dissolvability. Does your formula meet pharmaceutical standards for complete disintegration? If it does, that means it meets USP (United States Pharmacopeia) guidelines. On occasion, a manufacturer will put a notation on the bottle about USP. By the way, the USP–National Formulary is really just a very thick cookbook of sorts that provides manufacturers and scientists with specific directions on manufacturing and testing all sorts of components, as well as information about how to test disintegration of a tablet. It doesn’t ensure purity or effectiveness like some people think. You can learn more at www.usp.org.

Be on the lookout for problem ingredients. Is your product’s formula free of ingredients that may gather in your tissues and cause an overdose problem? For example, some ingredients, such as preformed vitamin A (retinol), can accumulate in your tissues. This can happen if you take large quantities (greater than 25,000 IU) every day. It’s different with beta-carotene. This nutrient goes on to form vitamin A in your body, and your body controls the conversion, so it won’t accumulate like preformed vitamin A. Beta-carotene is a safer way to supplement vitamin A.

The mineral iron is another example. It accumulates over time and can be harmful in large doses—even in a single dose if the dose is large enough.

Some Formulas Are More Usable Than Others

I’ve saved the very worst for last. I’m about to teach you how to become the smartest health advocate for yourself and develop what I call “supplement savvy.” If you really, truly want to improve your health and get the best vitamins for yourself, read on.

It’s always best if your product is completely free of corn, wheat, gluten, soy protein, yeast, milk/dairy, sugar, salt, artificial colors, artificial flavors, and preservatives. A definite no-no on my list is artificial sweeteners! I see artificial sweeteners in many green powdered drinks, liquid supplements, and chewable tablets. You have to read the label to ferret out these ingredients. Just be aware that some products are nutritious and completely natural and others aren’t.

Vitamins Don’t Work Until Your Body Activates Them

The ingredient list on that vitamin label may be impressive, but the nutrients you take do nothing until your body activates them. Vitamin B₁₂, for example, is better when formulated as methyl B₁₂ or methylcobalamin, which your body can use immediately and to the fullest extent. So the question to ponder is “Is my supplement providing my nutrients in a healthy, body-ready, usable form?”

Many nutrients require this activation process. Sometimes it’s done by acid in your stomach and sometimes it’s another nutrient that’s used as a cofactor. Either way, your body has to convert nutrients to an activated, usable form before they can be taken up by your cells. This process is complicated and requires stomach acid for absorption, something you may be suppressing with acid-blocking heartburn drugs.

You also need a strong, healthy gut that has a friendly camp of intestinal flora in order to make certain vitamins, such as folic acid, iron, CoQ10, riboflavin, and vitamin K. To make a long story short, your body goes through several processes including breakdown, absorption, activation, and microbial gut manufacturing just to make or fully use vitamins.

It’s plain and simple. If you have health challenges, eat fast food, have gastrointestinal problems, or take acid blockers, then you are probably not able to activate or absorb all of your vitamins efficiently. This means that you are not getting as much benefit from them as you should. It also means that you may need higher doses than the general population. It would be ideal for you to upgrade the quality of your supplements so that your vitamins come in activated forms. Basically, this means that they are handed to you on a silver platter.

If you’re taking individual nutrients for therapeutic reasons, you’ll need to educate yourself on the best forms to take. The chapters on individual nutrients in this book were designed to help you do just that. Consider vitamin B₆ as an example. Does your vitamin B₆ come in its active, usable form, pyridoxal 5’-phosphate (P5P), or is it just pyridoxine hydrochloride? Pyridoxine is fine, and I’ve taken it myself, but P5P is a step up because it does not require riboflavin (a sister B vitamin) to activate it. Does your vitamin B₁₂ supplement contain methylcobalamin (usable), or does it contain cyanocobalamin? Most brands contain cyanocobalamin, which is more difficult to use, so your body has to work harder to get to the active, healthy, usable form of the vitamin.

In Chapter 9, I went into great detail on folic acid. I did so because this nutrient protects unborn babies (our future generations), protects the heart, and guards against DNA damage, so it has some anticancer effects. You want to make sure you get enough folic acid, but not too much. Believe it or not, too much has the opposite effect and may contribute to cancer. That’s the way it is when you get too much of a good thing; it backfires on you. So please use my information as guidance, but only take doses your doctor approves.

The point here is that folic acid isn’t active until your body activates it. High-quality brands offer this nutrient in the active coenzyme form called folinic acid or the most active form, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF). Those forms are easier to incorporate into your cells because they are body ready and instantly usable. Just to be clear, folic acid is not a questionable ingredient. It’s totally fine. But 5-MTHF is better, but harder to find. The same is true of pyridoxine.

Who Wants to Eat Chalk, Then Get Cramps and Diarrhea?

Most vitamin companies maximize profits by using raw materials that are competitively priced. Is it the cheapest stuff they can get their hands on? On occasion. And it’s not just the nutrients themselves that we need to be concerned about. The binders that manufacturers use can also be problematic. Most of the minerals in multivitamins and even stand-alone products, for example, are bound to inexpensive carriers to form a complex. That means that the mineral is chemically glued to another substance so that it can be made solid and put in a tablet or capsule. When a complex is delivered to your body, it gets broken down into its separate components. My issue with this is that most companies use the cheapest possible carriers. Some of these binders can have a negative impact on your health.

Calcium is found in many bone-building formulas, for example, but the type of calcium used is very inexpensive and bound to carbonate. You’ll see it on the label as calcium carbonate. Sometimes you’ll see it as bone meal, oyster shell, or dolomite. These forms of calcium salts are terribly tough for your body to absorb, and so very little calcium makes it into your bones, where you need it the most to prevent osteoporosis. They also require a great deal of stomach acid to break down. Many people don’t produce enough acid in the first place, and others suppress their stomach acid with acid-blocking medications.

Calcium carbonate is the cheapest form of calcium to manufacture, and it’s similar to the calcium carbonate that is used to make chalk for a chalkboard. When you buy calcium, you have to think of shopping. When you go shopping, you want the most bang for your buck. That’s why you’ll often choose a shirt or a belt that you can wear with many different outfits. It’s the same with calcium and other minerals. You want the form of calcium that can be used in more than one place. Some high-quality companies offer a form of calcium that’s chemically bound to another nutrient your body needs, usually an organic acid such as citrate, malate, aspartate, or gluconate. If you take calcium aspartate, the calcium goes to your bones and the organic acid (aspartate) is used to produce energy.

Choosing an intelligently formulated brand guarantees that you are getting a more biologically active and usable form of calcium. The easiest form of calcium to find is calcium citrate, but even this form can spark headaches and fatigue in certain sensitive people. Regardless, calcium citrate is much better for you than calcium carbonate since it gets to the bloodstream better.

You face the same kind of challenge when buying magnesium. Is it bound to oxide? Magnesium oxide is sold widely in most vitamin formulas, but it can cause diarrhea. Worse, it requires precious antioxidants from your cells to break down. What a useless way to spend your antioxidants, for breaking down a poor-quality product. You could buy magnesium amino acid chelate or spirulina, a superfood that is rich in this precious mineral. That’s a smarter purchase. These formulas provide you with magnesium, which in turn lowers blood pressure, elevates mood, boosts energy, and relieves muscle aches and pains. It’s a bargain if you think about what you’re getting for your money. It’s best to buy mineral supplements that confer multiple benefits.

You may also see magnesium chelate or sometimes magnesium glycinate on the ingredient label. Those are okay, too.

It should be noted that some people are sensitive to magnesium no matter what form it comes in and may experience diarrhea with any brand of magnesium. They should get it from a superfood or from leafy greens.

What Else Is in Your Formula?

We’re not done yet. As I’ve already intimated, your supplements can contain a whole lot more than the simple nutrient or herbal formula you think you’re purchasing. Here’s a look at what else might be in there.

Coloring. It’s shocking, but FDA-approved colorants include ground-up or powdered red beetles. No company would dare put that on the label. They camouflage it as carmine or cochineal extract, C.I. 75470, crimson lake, Natural Red 4, E120, or “natural color.” These dyes impart the pretty pinkish or red color to almost all lipsticks. Yes, even natural ones. Aren’t insects natural? You also find carmine in red-colored drinks, ice cream, frozen ice pops, candy, and yogurt. If I want pink yogurt, I’ll add strawberries, thank you (!), because in my house I chase bugs down with a broom, not a spoon!

The artificial colors, designated as “FD&C” or “Lake,” are hair raising, too. To their credit, the FDA has banned some of these. FD&C Yellow No. 5 (also called tartrazine) and FD&C Blue No. 1 and No. 2 are problematic and may trigger asthma attacks, hives, or deadly allergic reactions. As far back as 1978 we knew this. A study published in Clinical Allergy showed what could happen upon oral administration of tartrazine. Scientists gave it to 122 patients and took note of the disturbing reactions. Here are just a few: weakness, palpitations, sensations of heat, blurred vision, runny nose, feelings of suffocation, and itchiness. There was also a noticeable activation of inf lammatory pathways known to cause uncomfortable allergic reactions in the body. I can’t figure out why dyes like tartrazine are ever used in our foods when natural colors exist. A few of them include chlorophyll, beta-carotene, grape skin, natural astaxanthin, hibiscus, turmeric, annatto, and elderberry extract. There are also many others.

      Make Sure Supplements Work for You

When you purchase a supplement, are you sure it contains ingredients appropriate for you and that the dose is correct? Most consumers don’t know the answers to these questions. They trust that if an ingredient is on the label, it’s present in the formula in substantial amounts. In the case of herbs, people just assume that they’re extracted from the correct part of the plant. The active component of a plant differs from herb to herb. With saw palmetto, for example, the active part is extracted from the berries, not the root; but with ginger, it’s the root that’s most active.

Consider the hormone known as DHEA. Our bodies make this hormone. Companies also sell it in supplemental form. These are sometimes called “fountain of youth pills.” But did you know that some products claim they work just like DHEA when they only contain wild yam? Wild yam does provide the starting materials for the body’s synthesis of DHEA (and pregnenolone), but it doesn’t act like DHEA. This conversion must take place in a lab!

The sleep hormone melatonin is not an herb, but where it’s derived from certainly matters. Some “natural” forms of melatonin hormone are extracted from the brains of cows. Many people are allergic to this form, so in this case it’s actually better to take a synthetic version. Another extremely popular dietary supplement, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), is used for arthritis. This supplement should be derived from DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) in order to work properly.

Supplement makers know that consumers are generally not savvy, and they often list an ingredient even if it appears in a negligible amount or if it’s extracted from the wrong portion of a plant. For example, unworthy supplements may state “ginkgo extract,” whereas a high-quality supplement is proud to disclose the dosage as “40 mg ginkgo extract (leaf) standardized to 24 percent heterosides.”

Bottom line: Educate yourself about the supplements you take. Then educate yourself some more. Let your health-care provider know about any supplements you take and find out whether there may be better choices to meet your needs.

Flavoring. Artificial flavors that sort of taste like banana or bubble gum help parents get otherwise yucky medicine into their toddlers. Why do we need those when Mother Nature provides natural flavors like mint, lemon, chocolate, and vanilla?

Sweeteners. Natural sweeteners that I recommend include stevia, coconut nectar, unrefined agave nectar, and molasses. But most supplements don’t use these sweeteners. Instead, they contain things like cane sugar, mannitol, xylitol, or sorbitol and lab-created sweeteners like aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) and sucralose (Splenda). Some scientists feel they damage brain cells, impair thinking, and cause migraines. Truvia is the latest patented sweetener to hit the market. It is derived and extracted from one of the leaves of the stevia plant. See Diabetes without Drugs for more on natural sweeteners.

Binders. A binder makes everything stick together. Examples include dextrose (a sugar) and polyethylene glycol. Incidentally, throw out anything that has the binder diethylene glycol (DEG) in it. The FDA recalled cough syrups and toothpastes because of this poison, which is used in antifreeze.

Humectants. These substances are used to prevent loss of water or drying of the skin. They make your lotions and creams feel smooth on your skin. One, called polyethylene glycol (PEG), is used in toothpastes to keep the paste from gunking up and to help it stay smooth and uniform. It’s found in popular laxatives and bowel evacuation drugs like Colyte and Golytely.

The humectant called propylene glycol is found in paint and industrial antifreeze as well as medicine, shampoo, body lotion, and deodorant. Some studies suggest it may lead to nervous system damage, kidney damage, liver problems, and skin rash. The material safety data sheet that goes with this chemical warns about avoiding skin contact. Maybe because of the liver damage? So when you shampoo your hair, you’re supposed to make sure not to get it on your skin? Yeah, right. I think bypassing these products is a better option.

Lubricants. The most common of these are stearates such as magnesium stearate. It’s most often found in tablets, but a lot of capsules contain it, too. Magnesium stearate is not the same thing as the nutrient magnesium. Stearates help speed up the flow of the nutrient powder that’s made into tablets or put into capsules. This speeds up the production line, but may reduce your absorption of the active goodies in your supplement or medicine.

Disintegrators. These ingredients help break down tablets. Cellulose (plant derived) is common, and so is sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), which is currently under fire for its possible association with kidney and bladder damage and cancer. This chemical is found in floor cleaners and engine degreasers as well as personal care products and toiletries. Shampoo and soap often contain SLS. According to the American College of Toxicology’s “Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate,” which was published in 1983, SLS “had a degenerative effect on the cell membranes because of its protein denaturing properties. High levels of skin penetration may occur at even low use concentration.”

Did you know that SLS is actually used in clinical trials around the world to induce skin irritation so studies can be performed? This is interesting also: Products intended for use on the skin should not contain more than 1 or 2 percent concentration of SLS, yet many shampoos, soaps, body washes, creams, and lotions have 10 to 20 percent!

Preservatives. These help to maintain freshness. It’s worth watching out for anything containing parabens (propyl-, methyl-, butyl-, or ethyl-). A scientific screaming match about the use of parabens persists because some researchers still think they are safe despite emerging research that shows they disrupt human hormones and can even cause cancer. Other preservatives, including BHA, BHT, sorbic acid, and potassium sorbate, are also commonly found in supplements. Often they are in the raw materials used in a vitamin formula and are not listed on the label.

Fluoride. We find it in many products and even in the water system. Fluoride is prescribed to kids to protect their teeth and prevent cavities. Which reminds me, aren’t virtually all toothpastes made with fluoride? Well, not all, but certainly most toothpastes contain it. As of April 7, 1997, the FDA requires that all fluoride toothpastes sold in the United States carry a poison warning on the label. It cautions users: “WARNING: Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age. If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately.”

What a disturbing surprise to learn that this chemical is also found in many roach-killing products, pesticides, and wood-preserving chemicals.

Buy Only from Trusted Sources

By now, you are probably either confused or upset. Call it tough love. That really wasn’t my intention, but I do want to prompt you to think more about what you are putting into your body. For years I have been disturbed as I watched a multibillion-dollar industry take advantage of people. Consumers are willing to buy supplements because of great marketing campaigns, but what’s inside the tablets they buy often comes up short. I bet you spend more time pondering what you’ll order for dinner at a restaurant than you do deciding what brand of vitamins to take. If you are counting on the dietary supplement industry to support your health and produce top-notch products, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Some genuinely care; some don’t.

Vitamin and supplement makers have businesses to run. Even though there are many companies offering high-quality products made with integrity and purity, there are just as many others who are unscrupulous and want to sell you garbage. You have to be smart enough to learn the basics and insist on the best supplement in your price range. Most companies are banking on naive consumers who will buy anything with a pretty label, nice Web site, or fascinating infomercial. Now you know what to look for.

Purchase your supplements only from trusted sources, and bear in mind that some high-quality supplements are sold only through physicians’ offices. This is because large retailers are not willing to pay a higher price to get quality products into their stores because you, the consumer, are always looking for a bargain. This forces first-rate supplement makers to sell their products to licensed practitioners who want to carry the better products. It’s not always this way, but it’s a good rule of thumb. As you may have learned, many good-looking labels don’t pack a punch.

What Should You Do?

Start reading labels with your newfound knowledge. Look for pure and unadulterated formulas that are free of artificial colors, sweeteners, fillers, preservatives, and other unnecessary ingredients. I want you to take only exceptional supplements. There are many companies that are authentic, pure, and reputable. I’ve spent many years in this business, and I’ve done some of the legwork for you. I’ve been brutal in assessing the formulas I’ve recommended in each chapter, but I’m sure I’ve missed some really decent companies. Use your judgment and intuition, and recommendations from your naturopathic doctor. And do read the Resources chapter, which starts on page 327, because I’ve highlighted various companies that really put their best foot forward and create innovative, high-quality supplements.