Press releases

Get supplement savvy: health supplement facts and fables

 “Health supplements can kill you, well known brands are always the best, you don’t need supplements if you eat a balanced diet”; all are common stories that we are frequently presented with, leaving us confused and ill informed about supplementing our diet and healthy living.
 
The medical and nutritional experts from a new health comparison website, supplementscompared.com, unveil and uncover widespread facts and fables surrounding health supplements in a bid to make the consumer supplement savvy.
 
supplementscompared.com is a non-commercial, consumer champion website that assesses and rates health supplements according to their quality and value for money.
 
  • You don’t always get what you pay for – FACT
Spending a lot of money on a supplement is no guarantee of its quality, and savvy consumers can frequently find good quality supplements at a fraction of the price. What’s important is the amount of active ingredient each contains: analysis from supplementscompared.com highlights that parents are spending over the odds on virtually identical amounts of omega 3 and could save up to the value of three family food shops each year if they just switched brands.
 
Chair of the supplementcompared.com expert panel and “Imperfectly Natural” author Janey Lee Grace explains, “Many people think it’s how much you spend that matters, but it’s not that easy: whilst expensive products aren’t necessarily the best, some cheap products just don’t contain enough active ingredient to be effective and so are a waste of money. It’s confusing, but with the right information, it’s possible to find a good quality supplement and save money too.” 
 
  • Buying well known brands will always get you the best product – FABLE
supplementscompared.com found that a “one a day” multivitamin and iron product from popular high street health food chain, Holland and Barrett, does not contain all of the essential vitamins and it only provides half of these at their full RDA.  Many lesser known brands and supermarket own brand products provide the full spectrum of vitamins – and extra minerals - at a fraction of the price.
 
  • Buying slimming pills are unnecessary and a waste of money – FACT
A legal loophole means that traditional "herbal" remedies, such as dandelion, seaweed extract and apple cider vinegar, present in popular pills such as Adios, are still allowed to market themselves as "slim aid" or "diet aid" due to regulations passed forty years ago - even though by modern standards there is no real basis for these claims. supplementscompared.com uncovered that meal replacement products and palm and oat oil extract have the most evidence of benefit.
 
  • All products are equal – FABLE
There are no manufacturers’ guidelines stating that supplements must contain a certain dosage or quantity of ingredients, which means that supplements are not all equal in terms of quality. supplementscompared.com found that a Seven Seas one-a-day cod liver oil capsule provides just a third of the omega 3 found in a similar Sainbury’s or Superdrug product, half the vitamin D and a tiny proportion of the vitamin E, yet costs over three times as much as the Sainsbury’s capsule.
 
  • You can overdose on supplements – FACT
As with most substances, it is the amount consumed that is the key. Provided that supplements are taken in the amounts recommended on the pack and that not too many products with similar ingredients are taken simultaneously, then the likelihood of overdosing is very low. Even then, the overdosing is unlikely to be harmful but merely a waste of money. supplementscompared.com have established benchmarks for each supplement which state the level of ingredients required to deliver the intended benefits expected by the consumer, and it is advisable to stick to these guidelines.
 
  • You get all the nutrients you need through a balanced diet – FABLE
As most supplements are ‘food supplements’ it stands to reason that it is possible to get these nutrients from the diet, but most people do not have a perfect diet and it is often very difficult to change people’s overall eating habits. Consequently some people may need to supplement their diet to ensure they obtain the full range of nutrients necessary for optimum health.
 
supplementscompared.com arrange supplements by lifestage and into groups such as the over 50’s and pregnant women; both of whom may need extra nutrients due to demands on their body or because the body no longer absorbs nutrients as readily.
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