Supplements and vitamins are a 34 billion dollar a year business. Many megavitamin companies are owned by pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer owns Centrum and Emergen-C, Beyer makes One A Day, and SO many others). Big Pharma does not care about your wellbeing. They want the opposite. They want you sick and addicted so they can make money off of you and that’s the bottom line.
So how do you pick a supplement that will actually be helpful to your body and not secretly slowly poisoning you? Follow these steps:
Look out for these toxic ingredients
- Hydrogenated oils: These include: soybean, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, vegetable, canola, and palm oil. These oils congest the cells and negatively impact cholesterol, antioxidants, and inflammation. Select supplements with stable naturally occurring oils such as; coconut, avocado, borage, flaxseed, grapeseed, and fish oil.
- Heavy Metals: Lead, mercury, and aluminum are linked to neurological disorders, inflammation, and heart dysfunction. Look for supplements that test and reduce heavy metal exposure. You will be able to tell if a supplement tests for this because it will have it plastered all over the bottle! They spent the extra money and want you to see that. Look for something that says, “3rd party tested to ensure PCB’s, dioxins, mercury, lead, and other contaminants are below acceptable limits set by the Council for Responsible Nutrition”
- Added Sugars, Artificial Sugars, Hidden Sugars: We all know we do not need any additional sugar in our diets. Plus watch out for secret forms of sugar by looking for any word that ends in -ose (sucrose, dextrose, glucose, you get it) and looking for corn products, potato products, and rice products. These are all just filler sugars that are cheap, make the vitamin less effective, but heavier so they can charge you more. Also, avoid toxic forms of artificial sugars such as sucralose, aspartame, Splenda, Nutrasweet, etc.
*Cellulose is fiber and acceptable.
- Artificial Colors. Did you know that artificial colors are restricted in Europe and illegal in Norway and Austria? But here in the US it’s totally fine to put these colorings in any food or supplement. The colors are added to help make supplements more fun or appealing (especially in kid vitamins). They can also help cover up poor quality of a supplement. The FDA has linked food dyes with hyperactivity, ADHD, and behaviroal issues.
- Synthetic Vitamins. Synthetic or fortified forms of vitamins are created by using chemical compounds instead of natural forms. They are created because they are way cheaper to create in a lab (with corn). Synthetic vitamins cannot be utilized by the body and are very dangerous (this is especially true for the fat-soluble vitamins A,D,E,K). These can build up in your body’s fat tissues and liver causing toxicity. Look for methylated B vitamins, Vitamin D3 (NOT D2), and avoid synthetic forms of vitamin C
- Additives. Avoid any of these dangerous additives
- Magnesium Silicate: Tied to lung problems, often contaminated with asbestos
- Sodium Benzoate: Linked to cancers. Also per National Institute of Health states sodium bonzoate has the ability to damage cells and DNA
- Titanium Dioxide: Causes lung inflammation and compromises the immune system
- Arsenic and Carrageenana – Both are toxic and can cause inflammation, digestive problems, such as bloating and irritable bowel disease (IBD), and even colon cancer
Look for these things on a supplement label:
- No preservatives
- No artificial colors
- No artificial flavorings
- No Heavy Metals
- No GMOs
I know this is a ton of information but hopefully, it’ll help you get on the right track when it comes to supplements. A side note, supplements should be just that – supplements to a healthy diet. They aren’t meant to solely treat medical conditions but rather support them alongside a clean diet. Message me if you need help!