Answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about Nutritional Supplementation
1. Why supplement? – Nutrition 101 – Basics you should know
4. How do I know if I’m getting a good product?.
5. Ingredients: a quick way to determine if a company really cares about their products.
6. Can non-chelated forms of minerals work?
8. How can I determine the best product for the money?.
9. Sulfur (MSM) – is it needed by the body, and how is it used?
10. Liquid products are the most absorbable, why aren’t your joint supplements liquid?
11. Clinical Studies – what they mean – how to find the dangers and/or negatives.
12. What makes a “good” study?
13. Paid Endorsements vs NOT Paid Testimonials:
General Nutrition Questions:
Supplementation insures proper nutrition.
While rethinking the way we eat and drink is becoming more and more necessary in a society that revolves around fast food, there is an effective and reliable method to boost the nutrition we receive daily: Nutritional Supplementation. Unfortunately, this in itself presents a problem. Moving past the hotdogs, boxed macaroni & cheese dinners, top romin, assorted fast food restaurants, and growing variety of processed – preserved – and partially “natural” products, people are now aware that "something is missing" in their diets. People around the world, Americans in particular, are realizing that the old adage "You are what you eat," may mean exactly that.
Nutritionists now know so many of the killer and metabolic diseases of generations past (beriberi, pellagra, rickets, scurvy) to be nothing more than acute vitamin deficiencies (of thiamin, niacin, vitamin D and vitamin C, respectively). These are diseases that proper diets would have prevented. It is now widely known that we are not able to get everything we need simply by "eating right." Today’s fast paced life does not lend itself to the thoughtful planning of meals to ensure maximum nutrition for most people.
The nutrients commonly found in vegetables (and meats) 50 years ago simply aren’t there now. Just as Alpha hay in 5 different geographical regions are strong or weak in various nutrients; various vegetables are dealt with the same – having different levels or vitamins & minerals coming from different geographical regions. There are some generalities related to vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the foods we eat (and that we feed to our animals).
However, the biggest difference is aging. 50 years ago the average adult human being was lucky to live past 70, and unless they were farmers or health nuts, they were lucky to have active and productive later years. Now, it’s common place for people to be in their 80’s, 90’s, and even over 100 years old. As a body ages, how it deals with food – the metabolic rate – and the bio-availability changes… the Ph levels in the digestive tract raise, body weight is more challenging to maintain, and foods are broken down more slowly and with less benefit to the body. Therefore, the body doesn’t get everything it needs to maintain optimum health, and to repair injuries and the normal wear and tear of various parts (such as, knees, hips, heart, kidneys, and lungs) even when a diet is balanced. Therefore, proper supplementation is both justified and necessary to maintain a balanced diet and optimum health.
Supplementation is an answer – providing the body these extra nutrients in forms the body can use is vital to good health. It won’t solve everything, but it will allow your body to have a fighting chance. However, store shelves are flooded with an endless variety of supplements: single herbs, herbal combinations, individual vitamins, "complete" multivitamins, minerals, and ultra trace minerals. Next, is education… learn what is right for you, what’s good, better, and best for the body, and how to quickly pick safe products without getting a college degree in nutrition. Caring companies, that already have the degrees and knowledge, like MD’s Choice, can help you do just that.
Don’t be fooled by the big ads, paid endorsements, appearances of public acceptance, popularity, or other forms of some of the “snake oil” salesmen out there. Take a moment to learn the basics – and save yourself (and your animals) from wasting money on inferior products and potentially damaging ingredients!
When age, injuries, over use, or illness start slowing the body down with aches and pains… poor digestion… less energy… poor general health.
The Bio-Availability – Absorption connection. How does an ordinary person understand the differences between supplements? Why is it important? It all boils down to the bio-availability of a nutrient(s), which means the absorption amounts actually available to be used in the biological processes in the body. In other words, how much of a given nutrient will be available for the body to use? Not just what gets into the blood stream, but what the tissues and cells of the body actually put to positive work within the body. Without going into a great deal of chemistry, understand that when nutrients are processed by the manufacturer, they are generally mixed with other elements or binders. All minerals REQUIRE binders. Product labels may not reflect the accurate information. Few companies list the actual elemental amount of the minerals they are selling. Be aware… and start getting the most for your money (and body).
The old adage, "You get what you pay for." is NOT always true in the nutritional supplement industry or with pharmaceutical companies! These companies do NOT always offer the best product, quality ingredients, or even usable form of an ingredient even when they are often charging the highest prices.
Form Counts! Once a person wades through the maze of nutrients and herbs, they are confronted with another aspect of supplementation: what is the best form? Different products use different forms of apparently the same mineral. Calcium is a good example. There many different forms: calcium carbonate, calcium lactate, calcium citrate, calcium chelate, etc. are some of the most common forms. As for Calcium, written (above) here in the order from the least to most bio-available, and MD’s Choice only uses the chelate forms in their products (amino acid chelate in everything, except calcium which is a citrate chelate). Calcium Carbonate is Limestone! How much of that do you think your body can use?
Any metallic mineral that is combined with "Oxide" is only slightly more useful to your body than licking the side of a metal building (except, the lick is free and may include other unidentifiable proteins and objects). So, when a company puts iron oxide in their product, they are actually putting in RUST... how does that make you feel? When did you last see “rust” as a “natural” substance on a plant or in any type of meat? Yet, it is a “natural substance” (to earth) – same as lead, mercury, hemlock, and arsenic, all of which can kill you! Don’t be fooled, too much iron CAN also KILL YOU! There is a lot of scientific evidence that has shown that less than 10% of any mineral in an Oxide form is actually usable to the human body. Without knowing the specific form a mineral in a product is in, a person can NOT figure out the actual (elemental) amount of a given ingredient in a product... making it impossible to approximate the amount of the actual mineral that is available to your body (for actual use). Therefore, without knowing the form, it is impossible to make educated decisions and ensure you are getting enough of the specific mineral your body needs… and not too much, either of which can harm you (or the body you are trying to help)!
Why Chelates? There is a consensus in the medical and nutrition communities that chelates are the most readily absorbed mineral form available, from 50-90% of the nutrient is available to a normal body for absorption (and use). The chelation process involves combining single mineral atoms with amino acids or proteins or something the body can easily recognize (and use) to help transport the mineral actually into the body. The chelates allow the minerals to be easily absorbed with minimum effort. Each person's mineral needs change through out the day based on food intake, environment, exercise level, etc. Making minerals readily available in chelated forms is the most efficient and best way to supply the body with what it actually requires (and can use).
Yes, to a much lesser degree. Take Calcium for example. 500mg of Calcium Carbonate nets about 50mg of actual calcium, of which only about 5 – 10 mg of calcium will make it into the system (assuming everything else is correct). Whereas, 50 mg of Calcium (as Calcium Citrate Chelate) nets the same 50mg of actual calcium (as above), but offers 40 – 48mg of actual calcium to the body in a form the body can actually use easily.
Complementary Nutrition? In addition to nutrient form and absorption, another factor enters the equation; nutritionists call it "Complementary Nutrition." Basically, what this means is that some nutrients REQUIRE other nutrients to increase or even activate their utilization by the body. For example, in a proper – high quality – calcium supplement, specific amounts of magnesium, boron, zinc, and manganese tremendously increases the effectiveness of calcium within the body. This combination of nutrients is more effective when taken together in the proper balance, than when calcium (in any form) is taken independently.
This is where learning whether you can trust a company to know, understand, and deal with the science for you comes into play. Odds are that if a company has Iron Oxide or Calcium Carbonate in ANY of their products, or they fail to list the “last names” (forms) their minerals and other ingredients are in, then they either don’t know the science… or don’t care! I won’t waste my money on products from that company.
The same is true with any company with a “Glucosamine” product – as “just” Glucosamine MUST be combined with something for the body to see it and for the joint tissues to use it. If a company won’t tell you the form of Glucosamine they are using, then maybe it’s because they don’t know… or because it changes for batch to batch… or maybe because they don’t realize there are actually differences in how the different forms act and react within the body?
What ever the reason, the companies that have products that clearly fit into this category should be either steered clear of or more drastically inspected. Not blindly trusted because of pretty marketing, nice salespeople, or a couple correct, but misleading answers.
The answer to this question is tough. First, you need to understand the basics about nutrition. Second, you need to define your goal (mask the problem with drugs, or deal with the slower healing process by using nutrition, or a healthy combination of the two). Third, you need to look for reasons to trust any company. And lastly, you need to evaluate how a company treats you – before, during, and after the purchase (and use) of their product.
There are basically three general types of companies in the nutritional supplement industry, those that:
i. Simply Market, and have ingredients listed that they believe are popular (whether those ingredients are helpful & safe for daily prolonged use or not is secondary – and should be evaluated on a product by product basis).
There are a few short cuts to figuring out if a company knows what it’s doing. (Please refer to the above sections). These companies often have 5 or more products claiming to do the exact same thing – potentially with different company names… for the sole purpose of making money (not necessarily solving any of problem you purchased the product for). There is usually not an accredited professional (doctor, veterinarian, or nutritionist) in a responsible position with this company, or with their name and credentials on the product label as “developed” or “formulated” by. A couple of these companies figure that if they can get you to try one of their products – if it doesn’t work you might buy another of THEIR products (claiming to help the same problem, as the one that didn’t work), and so the cycle (they hope) begins. It’s a marketing and numbers game.
ii. Concocted some ingredients in their bath tub or back room, to solve a problem they had or seen. They believe the concoction worked and might will work for others, so they decided to try to market their concoction. This is usually a small regional company, and they may or may not have a truly safe or effective product. Please understand that “effective” does NOT always mean “safe.” Caution, and evaluation of the ingredients, should still occur. There is usually not an accredited professional (doctor, veterinarian, nutritionist) associated with this company, or with their name and credentials on the product label as “developed” or “formulated” by. Understand that having their names and a credentials listed in that fashion not only implies responsibility, but ethics issues which if combined with the wrong product(s) or company could cost them their license to practice.
iii. Have Foundation based on Science … shows the safe and effective logic of their product in their literature and information, backed by cross-scientific credentials and/or actual science that’s relatively easy to understand and is consistent with either their product or the ingredients contained within. They have the credentials, where appropriate. Their science may or may not be public information; after all they are likely trying to protect their formula, process, or method that makes their product different or better from the array of copy cats. They maybe small or large, but they consistently talk about effective safety, and they have the solid Guarantees to back up their beliefs and to give you comfort in a reasonable chance at solving a given problem.
There is a multi-million dollar company that had a big list of scientific abstracts and articles, all of which are real, in an article they handed out to their resellers entitled “The Truth About Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulphate” telling about the benefits of certain specific ingredients and their effect within the body. One of the main ingredients in the article and abstracts was “Glucosamine” in one specific form (Glucosamine Sulphate), yet their product contained a completely different form (Glucosamine HCl) – one not covered in their handouts. The form they actually used has contrary science, and not nearly the quantity of positive science and results as the ingredient they discussed in their handout (that still, to this day, isn’t in their products). Many resellers were duped, believing this “big” company had incredible science behind their product, when in fact the majority of the science they were using didn’t even apply to their product. So, as a consumer, compare the marketing to the product… if they don’t match, then something is very wrong!
MD’s Choice prides itself on knowing and having the science on the ingredients contained within their products. The doctors, veterinarians, nutritionists, pharmacologist, and biochemist associated with MD’s Choice care about both the safety and effectiveness of their products. The professionals that formulated and/or developed a given product have their name and credentials listed on each and every product. They clearly understand why various ingredients and nutrients are both included AND why they are left out of their formulas, and they don’t have 5 or 10 different formulas trying to deal with the same problem! They know herbs often work – as herbs are plant derived drugs. At the same time, they understand that drugs (in any form, including herbs) are not intended or healthy to the body for a daily prolonged period of time. And “work” needs to be clearly defined. (Refer to the section on drugs)
MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) is a naturally occurring nutrient composed of sulfur and methyl groups, and nutritional component of many foods. It is found in the normal diets of humans and almost all other animals. MSM is made up of 34% sulfur, the fourth most abundant mineral in the body, is a vital building block of connective tissue, while methyl groups support energy production. This versatile nutrient demonstrates its value as a daily dietary supplement for people (and animals) of all ages and activity levels. MSM supports healthy, active lifestyles and benefits multiple structures and functions within the body, including connective tissues and the respiratory system.
Nutrients incorporated into a liquid concentrate or loose powder capsule ensure maximum absorption, usually. This is because the digestive tract does not have to put forth the effort to break down compressed tablets, or eat through "candy" coatings to get to the nutrients. Tablets are made by subjecting the ingredients to high-pressure compression, adding a binding agent and often a protective coating. Ingredients combined in this process undergo changes which may impair their strength or bio-availability. There are many stories from people taking a wide variety of both prescription medicines and nutritional supplements, in tablet form, which have passed completely through their systems with little or no absorption - some tablets with the coating and part of the writing STILL ON THE TABLET! This normally occurs in the elderly, or ill persons who have high pH levels in their stomachs, thus impairing their stomach’s ability to dissolve tablets properly. Undissolved tablets can NOT help you!
However, there are exceptions and cautions to the liquid part of the above logic. In the real world, Vitamin C has an incredible “half-life” once put in liquid. This is contrary to what the orange juice manufacturers want you to think, but Vitamin C begins a very serious break down within days of being put in liquid. Nearly 50% of the amount started with is gone within 30 days of being in liquid.
Glucosamine (of any type) is NOT stable in liquid form. If you are seeing any results from a liquid joint supplement it’s masking effects (from herbs or other ingredients) NOT healing effects (because the glucosamine hcl begins it’s break down within 27 hours of hitting liquid – long before it gets to the store shelf – and you) Glucosamine Sulphate starts breaking down within 6 months of being mixed with liquid. MD’s Choice has had a variety of specialty liquid products (multi-vitamin & mineral supplements on the human side) since the mid 90’s. They spent a great deal of time and energy wanting a liquid joint supplement; however, it’s not possible to have an effective one – that heals – in liquid form, without micro encapsulating the glucosamine molecules, which would more than triple the cost, and would possibly add only 2 to 5% better absorption over the concentrated loose powder they currently use in their joint supplements.. Plus, such a supplement would move from a 3 year shelf life in the powder and capsule forms, to about a maximum 6 to 12 months in liquid for lesser effectiveness over time. It’s neither cost effective, nor practical. Be wary of liquid, paste, gel, and otherwise moist joint supplements, containing Glucosamine (of any form). Not all ingredients and/or nutrients are actually better, faster, or more bio-available (usable to the body) when in a liquid form.
A normal person assumes that a “clinical study” is absolutely science based, and gives real world results as to the absorption, use, effectiveness, and safety of a given product and/or its ingredients. That is NOT always TRUE, but what many companies want you to believe. While such a study, when done correctly is beneficial and generally accurate; it is something most companies can not easily afford to have done on their specific product, because it’s extremely expensive, labor intensive, time prohibitive. It’s not just the cost of product, but the care, feeding, and housing of the study animals, the materials & labor costs to gather the raw data, the expense of correctly evaluating the data to reach some type of usable and accurate scientific conclusion, which can be justified, understood, and accepted within the professional community. Understand that small - shorter versions of these “scientific studies” are usually very incomplete and can be extremely misleading to the normal person. Moral: credentials by a cross section of the right type of people, with a broad base of knowledge and experience, with a lot of in-depth third party ingredient specific research, is usually much better and more complete than any short term “clinical study” with a few bodies being tested on a specific product for a short period of time.
Caution should be used. Nutrition vs herbal treatment is extremely different. Short term masking effects vs long term healing results are vitally different. You, as a consumer, need to be aware of what you want to accomplish. Are you trying to stop the cells crying out in pain or needs through healing, or to merely muffle the crying by masking the problem?
a. An accurate starting place – knowing the specific levels of given nutrients, and specifically defined problem(s) and goal(s), before the study begins. Have a reasonable belief that the study will either prove (or dis-prove) a given therory;
b. Detailed Pre-Planning - defining the specific problem(s), test(s) and goal(s); knowing the potential negatives to beware of and watch for are also important, and makes the test more real and more beneficial.
c. Adding a “Placebo” (a fake – harmless – version) into the mix in a subset of the test subjects helps justify the numbers, and effects. Making the study a “Blind” (meaning the bodies taking the REAL ingredient vs those taking the Placebo don’t know which is which) or preferably a “Double Blind” (same as a Blind – with a cross over at the half way point, where group 1 getting the REAL ingredients are now given the Placebo, and group 2 that were receiving the Placebo now get the REAL ingredients… and the tests compare the differences each group experiences).
d. Time – for drugs, effect can be tested in a matter of days, but safety takes months or years (and often biopsy evaluation of internal organs for accurate safety results). Do you care if there’s a build up in the liver, kidney’s, or brain? Does it matter if the cartilage is being eaten, or the building blocks are being blocked so repairs can’t occur? For nutrition, effect takes months or years, and most of the safety studies have been done (if people bother to research and understand them). Bottom line, products that mask symptoms (have drug activity) and results (the masking) can be seen quickly – in hours, days, and a few weeks and long term side effects and safety become the important issues and potential dangers. Nutrition, on the other hand, requires weeks, months, and years to show positive signs of improvement. Moral: a 30 or 60 day “trial” for a nutritional product is generally a waste; and the results worthless.
e. Numbers – the more “subjects” in a given experiment, the more accurate the information gathered. Having less than 12 to 24 test subjects is a waste of time and money, and allows the focus group to be too easily hand selected for potential to produce the desired results. The minimum number should be 50 to 100, with 500 to 1000+ being the optimum for more complete and accurate results and “statistically significant.” However, more numbers means more money.
f. Type & Level of Testing – Variability and specificity is imperative.
g. Third Party Testing - Having the studies done by a disinterested third party that has nothing to gain or loose by the results is also important. Company paid researchers, whether private or academic, are more likely to “find” facts that justify the results the company funding the project wants, and to potentially disregard or down play some of the negatives discovered. Be careful of company studies – funded by the company.
Paid endorsements should not be very meaningful to a product or company’s actual quality or effectiveness. The Payer invests money in a big name person, hoping it will increase product awareness and sales. Often the payee doesn’t REALLY know very much about the product(s) they are paid to endorse, other than to smile and mention the names in the appropriate places in order to continue getting the check.
As a consumer, look for non-paid endorsements and professional testimonials – and volunteered testimonials - from people actually paying for the product and using it on themselves (or animals they care for or own) for an extended period of time. These are usually more impressive, more personal, and often more accurate testimonials for the product. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
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