Heart Health Combination Products

Winners Explained

 

SC Quality Benchmark for Heart Health Combination Products Products should provide at least two nutrients which have some (or preferably substantial) evidence of benefit in maintaining heart health. Furthermore, these nutrients should be provided at levels which are likely to deliver the intended benefit under the recommended daily dosage.

 

Why Consider Heart Specific and Combination Products?

This category is made up of products that are specifically formulated to help support heart health, often by helping to lower cholesterol. They are mainly products that have combined different nutrients which individually are known to help support heart health; for example, Omega 3s and Plant Sterols.

There are a number of nutrient groups which have been independently shown to be beneficial in improving heart health. These include Omega-3 oils, Plant Sterols, Fibre, Garlic, the vitamins Folic Acid and B12, and perhaps Vitamins C and E.

As many of these work in different ways to improve heart health, it makes sense to combine them in the hope of deriving additional benefits and reducing the number of products that people would need to take.

Are There Any Downsides To Combination Products?

The potential downside of combination products is that they may not provide enough of any one of the individual nutrients to be of any real benefit.

For example, it is the opinion of the SC expert panel that a combination heart product which combined 200mg EPA / DHA with 500mg Plant Sterols at the recommended daily dose would likely be less effective in improving overall heart health. It would be of more benefit to take either an individual fish oil or Cod Liver Oil product providing over 500mg of EPA / DHA, or a Plant Sterol product providing a minimum of 1300mg of Plant Sterol Esters. The above quantities are considered to be the normal guideline amounts required to deliver benefits.

Quality

Of the limited number of products in this category, Pulse Cardiomax (Seven Seas) and Cardio Health (Superdrug) do provide omega-3´s and homocysteine lowering vitamins, which may help support heart health and these are at the appropriate levels to deliver benefits, although in some cases only just.

In contrast, Lestrin (Innovia) and Plant Sterols from Boots are single nutrient products, but do not have a category of their own. However they do provide Plant Sterols at a concentration that is likely to deliver the intended benefit of helping to reduce cholesterol.

Overall, Cardiowise (Verywise Nutrition) offered at least three different nutrient groups, each of which has the capability of supporting heart health, and so was considered best product in this category.

Value

Due to the diverse nature of the products in this category, it is difficult to obtain a true ‘like for like’ value comparison, therefore the value is simply based upon ‘cost per daily dose’. As such, it is much more important in this section to be guided by the SC Overall Rating than the value assessment.

The value range of the products reviewed was between £0.33 and £0.86 per daily dose.