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Brands vs own brands: what you should know
How much do we spend on supplements each year?
Ten million people in the UK are believed to take a supplement with some commentators putting the worth of the market at £350m/annum.
Why is it hard to know which to buy?
With an estimated 20,000 supplements available, it’s difficult to know which to choose.
There are no set rules as to how much active ingredient a supplement should contain. The government have set some recommended daily allowances (RDAs) for some nutrients, like essential vitamins, but not for others, which means that just because a product states it “contains omega 3” doesn’t mean it contains enough to actually have any effect.
A new website, supplementscompared.com, uses a panel of nutritional and medical experts to assess the evidence associated with every type of supplement and set a “benchmark” for what each one should reasonably contain. They then rate and review the most popular products against that benchmark and assign value for money ratings too – often with surprising results.
A spokesperson from the supplementscompared.com expert panel said,
“With an estimated 20,000 health supplements available, it’s incredibly hard to know which to choose and it really pays to look at every product as there’s no hard and fast rule.
“Many people are swayed by well known brands or 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. And as there’s no standard dose or pack size, it’s hard for the consumer to compare like for like. It’s confusing, but with the right information, it’s possible to find a good quality supplement and save money too.”
When it’s best to stick with a brand
Brands have traditionally been the innovators, bringing new things to the market place, but in recent years retailing brands have become strong in their own right.
In the case of a “simple product” like vitamin and minerals or herbal products (eg St John’s Wort), own brands have caught up and frequently offer high levels of active ingredients for less money. But for complex products designed for a particular health need, it can be worth considering a brand. For example, there are comparatively few “own brand” combination heart health products (which typically combine omega 3, plant sterols, fibre, garlic, folic acid and vitamins B12, C and E) and the best branded products are available from VeryWise Nutrition (CardioWise) and SevenSeas (Pulse CardioMax) – although Superdrug also make an excellent, similar product.
A brand is likely to use good quality ingredients and may often be free from artificial colours and sweeteners. Brands also often offer extra flavours – like the “orange syrup and cod liver oil” from Seven Seas, which tastes better than own brand cod liver oils, although more than 12 times the relative price of its Tesco unflavoured equivalent.
When an own brand is actually better
As well as often providing cheaper prices, there are occasions when own brands deliver better quality – like Boots Complete A-Z with Probiotic which contains many, many times more probiotic bacteria than the well known Seven Seas Multibionta. For straightforward products like glucosamine and vitamins, many (though not all) retailers’ own brands offer good quality at a lesser cost.
Toxicity in omega 3 supplements
European standards for omega 3 supplements are very high, as is quality auditing in most supermarkets. Therefore, fish oil bought from a reputable retailing (eg supermarket, chemist) brand is likely to be of good quality. Very cheap oil from some lesser known mail order brands may be sourced from elsewhere and may not be of such high quality.
However, it’s worth remembering that the processed fish oil found in capsules contains around 4000 times less mercury than its fish equivalent: a 7oz piece of tuna, for example, contains 80mg of mercury, whereas two typical capsules of fish oil contain just 0.02mg. [1] That’s why the Food Standards Agency say that pregnant women and women of child bearing age should eat no more than two portions of oily fish each week.
SPECIFIC SUPPLEMENTS
Vitamins
A good multivitamin and mineral tablet should contain the RDA of all 12 essential vitamins and 100% iron, zinc and iodine as well as other trace minerals. When you take a good multivitamin and mineral, other individual tablets like zinc or vitamin D supplements are not required.
Lots of supermarket own brands offer these vitamins and minerals at a fraction of the price of “branded” products, but it still pays to read the label: Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco, Boots, Superdrug and Lloyds all have the same amounts of ingredients as Sanatogen and Goldshield, but Morrisons multivitamins and minerals only have 5 of the vitamins at their RDA and less zinc, iron and iodine than you’d expect. The Tesco and Sainsbury’s products are also far cheap that their Sanatogen equivalent (3p/dose compared with 8p)
Probiotics and vitamins
The Boots “Complete A-Z with Probiotic” is the only supplement of its kind that contains enough probiotic bacteria to be likely to actually deliver a benefit. As well as vital vitamins and minerals, it contains 2 billion bacteria in every dose, compared with the more expensive Seven Seas “Multibionta” which contains just 10 million bacteria[2].
Omega 3/Cod Liver Oil
Many people struggle to eat the government’s recommended portions of oily fish each week, and so take a supplement instead. There is no RDA for omega 3, but experts at supplementscompared.com reckon we should each take 450mg each day.
The best way to get this amount is by a couple of teaspoons cod liver oil and whilst there’s little to call in terms of quality and value for these liquids, some people find it easier to take cod liver oil capsules. When it comes to cod liver oil and omega 3 capsules, brands are no indicator of quality:
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.
A Boots omega 3 capsule provides 550mg of omega 3 in just one capsule, whereas leading brands like Equazen and Seven Seas provide less than a half this amount in two capsules, yet cost around twice as much.
Glucosamine
Glucosamine has substantial evidence of aiding joint health and as well as being popular in the “natural health” market, is prescribed by some GPs. Although there is no RDA, experts at supplementscompared.com suggest that evidence shows 1500mg is needed each day for at least 12 weeks to have an effect.
Buying glucosamine on the high street from Holland & Barrett (at RRP) could set consumers back by 55p for each dose whereas an identical amount from mailorder retailer Healthspan costs just 5p for each dose. Over a year, that’s a difference of £182.50 or two weeks’ state pension.
[1] Mozaffarian and Rimm, Journal of American Medical Association 2006.
[2] supplementscompared.com experts suggest at least 1 billion probiotic bacteria
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