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The Best Brand for Vitamins ?

Which brand of vitamins do you buy and are your vitamins made in China ??


SHIJIAZHUANG, China -- If you pop a vitamin C tablet into your mouth, it's a good bet it came from China. Indeed, many of the world's vitamins are now made in China.

"In less than a decade, China has captured 90 percent of the U.S. market for vitamin C, driving almost everyone else out of business."

link to article:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003732744_vitamins03.html


27 Responses
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Avatar universal
what about the brand Solgar....do you recommend?
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363281 tn?1643235611
I, too, have studied lots and lots, I am very interested in this field. I have read again and again that so many supplements are useless unless the brand is reputable, and most just give you expensive urine.

For herbs, many of them use saw dust and only a little of the product. It is sad. I have a great source for my herbs, actually two, one is "Eclectic Institute" and the other is by Dr. Schultz, his are outstanding and he uses only the finest ingredients and they are all organic as he grows most of them on his farm.
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499534 tn?1328704178
Thank you so much for joining us here in the Complimentary Medicine Community.
I too have used Standard process and the others many many times. I have naturopathic dr's who are friends and have learned a lot about supplements.

To ALL:
I have been studying natural health and supplements for many years and have found that many over the counter supplements are not worthy of the money spent. A good friend of mine actually has owned a healthfood store for approximately 20 years and has taught me which over the counters are worthy.
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Avatar universal
the oil prevents oxidation, why do you think when you take fish oil you should take
E with it! As for gel caps are a no no whenever possible don't want all that from
animal products! talk about health!!!
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363281 tn?1643235611
For me, I have found Standard Processing Lab vitamins and supplements to be the best. I can not take any other brand as they are synthetic and these are food grade. Even with these, I have to be careful or they will give me a tummy ache, but, then, so do all supplements, I don't care what kind I take, I get horrific tummy aches from them, this one, at least, is the best for me. I have found a few places on line that sell it and the price is NOT discounted, it is the same as if I bought it through my  health journal I get called "Health Alert"

I have not taken many supplements by NOW, just the L-Glycine, and it has done wonders for me.

I guess supplements are like anything else, some are for some folk and others are not.

My main health care provider is a Naturopath, she just graduated from the wonderful Naturopath university called "Bastyr" It is the Cadillac of Naturopath schools. I have another one who also teaches there and graduated from there.
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Avatar universal
Still won't work -- the olive oil will be digested separately from the powder.  Plus, as soon as you expose the powder to the air, it will start to oxidize, whereas the soft gels protect the oil from light.  Better to spend the extra money and buy the better product, though I understand your desire to help those who have a hard time affording these supplements -- I'm one of them!

Enjoy reading your detailed posts, though I don't always agree.  But that's baseball.
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Avatar universal
that is why I said to mix the powder form with olive oil for the fat soluble solution.
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Avatar universal
Don't know who consumerlab is, only know what I learned in 18 years in the health food industry.  Never ever ever walk in to a GNC, and definitely don't buy store brands unless it's a patented product, which means it's the same everywhere.  An example is Vitamin World Q-sorb, mentioned above.  Ordinarily, I just wouldn't trust the store brand, but Q-sorb is a patented product, it's the same as the Jarrow product I mentioned.  Again, CoQ10 is fat soluble, so you don't want to be taking it in powder form, it won't be well absorbed, and it should be taken with a meal that includes fat.  The list above has some good companies, and some not so good, and I'm very particular about company, which is why I don't buy store brands -- don't know who made them, or if they're using the best ingredients or if the label matches what's in the product (GNC has done poorly on this measure).  New Chapter is a primo company, Food Science is a good company but a chewable CoQ10 makes no sense since it isn't going to be digested by the saliva and won't get into the system quickly because it's fat soluble.  Trace Minerals is a good company, so is Source Naturals, so is Twinlabs usually (it has had some problems over the last few years, so it isn't the one I'd choose, but there you go.)  Anyway, like I say, it's a complicated subject, what's best and what isn't.  Certain companies are known for certain things, others are better for others.  There is no one company I would buy all my supplements from.  I'd tell you to go to the best health food store in your town, but Whole Foods probably drove it out of business or forced out the people who knew what they were doing, so can't tell you more.  Again, be careful out there, but do be out there!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
PlateletGal the list below are all OK by consumerlab.
I did not list Ubiquinol coq10 no need to.
Check with www.vitacost.com for prices.


Andrew Lessman CoQ-10 100 Coenzyme Q-10 with TruQ10 (100 mg per capsule)
Berkley & Jensen® Extra Strength CoQ10 (200 mg per softgel)
Carlson® Co-Q10 100 mg (100 mg per softgel)*
CoQfactor™ Chewable Tablets (60 mg per chewable tablet)
Drinkables® Liquid Supplements Ultimate Liquid CoQ10 (100 mg per 1 tbsp)*
Enzymatic Therapy™ Smart Q10™ CoQ10 (100 mg per chewable tablet)
Essentials CoQ10 (100 mg per softgel)
FoodScience® of Vermont Coenzyme Q10 (50 mg per chewable vegetarian tablet)
GNC Preventative Nutrition® CoQ10 100 mg (100 mg per capsule)*
GNC Preventative Nutrition® CoQ10 400 mg (400 mg per capsule)*
Good 'N Natural® Co-Q10 120 mg Heart Healthy Q-Sorb™ (120 mg per softgel)
Member's Mark® CoQ10 (300 mg per softgel)
Nature Made® CoQ10 200 mg (200 mg per softgel)*
Nature's Bounty® Extra Strength Q-Sorb™ Co Q-10 (200 mg per softgel)*
New Chapter® CoQ10+Food Complex™ (22 mg per Vcap)*
Origin® Super Potency CoQ10 400 mg (400 mg per softgel)
Protocol for Life Balance™ (100 mg mg per softgel)
PureGels® CoQsol® 100 (100 mg per softgel)
Source Naturals® NutraDrops™ Coenzyme Q10 (30 mg per 1 dropper)
Swanson Ultra® CoQ10 100 mg (100 mg per softgel)*
Trace Minerals Research Lifestyles Co-Q10 (30 mg per capsule)
Twinlab® Ultra CoQ10™ (100 mg per capsule)*
USANA CoQuinone® 30 mg (30 mg per softgel capsule)*
VitaFusion CoQ10 Pleasant Peach Gummy Vitamins (50 mg per gummy vitamin)
Vitamin World® Q-Sorb Coenzyme Q-10 100 mg (100 mg per rapid release softgel)*
Vitasmart® Premium CoQ10 (30 mg per vegetarian capsule)
Webber Naturals Coenzyme Q10 150 mg (150 mg per softgel)
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
"they are very secretive, so you'll never know what's in them or how they stand up to other products."

That is my concern with supplements. I need to take these and it is part of my treatment and yet I feel in the past that I've wasted a lot of money on garbage.  I've learned that you need to do your research bigtime.   = (
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Powdered coq10 is cheap, but not absorbable.  Buy the gel caps.  Best price from a good company I know of is the Qgels from Jarrow.  And to everyone buying direct from companies that don't sell in stores, you have no idea what you're buying -- these are multi-level companies, they are very secretive, so you'll never know what's in them or how they stand up to other products.  Products on store shelves are subject to random sampling by consumer groups and back and forth between customers and retailers.  That's what multi-levels are trying to avoid, the open marketplace.
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Avatar universal
Yes, and better  absorbed. I use the liquid caps of coq10
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Avatar universal

I take 200 mg daily, as recommended by CFS expert... Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum. I do have the capsules and will try your suggestion. I'm assuming that you mention mixing it with olive oil, because it will be easier to digest.. correct ?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
PlateletGal,
How many mg. of CQ10 do you take? It should be at least 200mg and if it's in powder
form open the capsule and mix it into a little olive oil.
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Avatar universal

Thank you to everyone who replied. I will definitely take these options into consideration and do more research. As many of you are aware, I have CFS and part of my treatment is taking supplements. The only supplements that I believe are helping me are the COQ10 and the powered magnesium. However, the brand that made the powered magnesium discontinued that product altogether.
Helpful - 0
806070 tn?1238102196
I take Vitality. It's made in the USA, but that's not the only reason I take it. They use a different compound for their minerals called oligofructose complex. It prevents oxidation of the minerals (which creates free radicals) and makes them more absorbable.
I buy them only from melaleuca.com, they can't be bought in stores.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Oh, one other comment.  Some of the best herbal and natural supplements in the world are made in China.  Also some of the worst.  Remember, China and India have the longest written science of natural medicine use in the world and the most sophisticated formulas.  But there are also a lot of poorly regulated fakes running around making contaminated products.  As I said above, it's complicated.
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Avatar universal
My experience is managing health food stores for 18 years -- though not for the last 7 years.  So I do have a bit of an advantage from having met a lot of the people who started these companies, who independently tests their products, etc.  My experience is that no one manufacturer makes the best of all products.  I do have to disagree with the naturopath Dr. Dunn, though.  I don't think Standard Process is the Rolls-Royce of anything except marketing.  By selling through professionals, they operate just as pharmaceutical companies do by putting the health professionals essentially on their payroll since you can only buy their supplements from professionals.  Many of their supplements use additives that aren't the safest or best, and often use the most inexpensive but not best absorbed nutrients.  I personally wouldn't use them, which is just an opinion, but there you have it.  I would also never use NOW products.  They're a discounter, which means they also use the cheapest though not best absorbed ingredients, also use too many of the not safest additives, and their plant was notoriously dirty for many years.  They have improved recently, but along with Solgar since it was purchased by the manufacturer of Centrum is one of the best known brands to constantly fail random tests of whether the ingredients match what's on the label.  (Solgar is again independent, I think, but don't much about them now).  What I personally stick to are brand that were founded by herbalists and naturopaths before this became big business and who never thought they would ever make money from it but believed in what they were doing.    What you don't want to do with herbs and supplements is buy from discounters (I mean manufacturers, not retailers).  You never know what corners they're cutting to keep the price down.

But this is a difficult world to operate in.  Everyone lies, not just pharmaceutical companies.  Studies are rarely double blind, and regulation is spotty, not because FDA lacks the power, as is often claimed, but because pharmaceutical companies don't want FDA to put its imprimatur on natural products.  Also remember many of the products sold as natural today aren't, and many are new and so don't have a long record of use.  Standardized herbs, which one respondent here supports, are one such product; there is not long history of standardizing for herbs, and nobody has ever figured out what ingredient makes an herb work.  Plants are just too complicated.  You also have to alter the natural makeup of an herb in order to standardize it.  That's not to say I don't use standardized herbs, but it is to say it's a move toward the pharmaceutical model and away from the natural model, and as such has no record of use.  Remember, St. Johns Wort was originally standardized for hypericum but that turned out not to be the most important ingredient, hyperflorins did (not sure of the spelling there).  But it also depends on what you're using the herb for -- St. Johns Wort is best known to the public as an antidepressant, but it has historically been more widely used as an anti-viral.  Every herb has many traditional uses, and herbs are traditionally used in formulas, not as singles.  It's very complicated, which is why it's good to see someone like Dr. Nunn to help play around until the right combination is found.  In the old days, you could go to the best small health food store in the area and find incredibly overqualified people working retail who just believed in this -- I was trained as a lawyer -- but Whole Foods has so monopolized the market most of these people, including me, are now out of the industry or working for manufacturers.  It's sad, but that's capitalism.  
Helpful - 0
535822 tn?1443976780
Thank you ott70 I have been using Solaray from Sprouts, I really need to get the vits consolidated I will go to the site deepdiver said to see whay I can get, thing is there are so many to take ,it is hard to know when to take them, do I take them altogether one stagger them through the day?
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523927 tn?1257018704
A lot of Nutri-West for me right now. Young Living is another. And Transformation for a supplement called ProTease.

My wife works at the Vitamin Cottage and I would like to think most of their stuff is good. I think I have bought brands like Now, Country Life, Jarrow, Spectrum, Solaray, Nature's Way, and Natural Factors in the past.
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Avatar universal
You're correct a blond bombshell but a dog!!
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Avatar universal

LOL !!! I love my furry little daughter... isn't she a blond bombshell ? ; ^ )
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Avatar universal
Hello,
I'm sorry but you look like a dog! what happened your profile changed I liked the other one!!! but who am I   LOL :-))))
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Avatar universal
Hello Marg,
I suggest a very good cardio vit. go to the web address at vitacost you know www.--------.com
in the search put in cardiolift version 7 then scroll down and you'll see the ingredients.
I suggest subscribe to consumerlab.com  they check  ingredients and let you know what brands are ok
just because a supplement is made in the USA doesn't mean the raw material isn't contaminated and it might come from China
Helpful - 0
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