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Best Vitamin SupplementsDetermining The VALUE FOR MONEY In The Best SupplementsDuring my research into the industry's best vitamin supplements, the value for money aspect was just as important as those of effectiveness, strength and safety .And for many people it probably is the number one aspect! However, using value for money as criteria to evaluate and compare leading multi nutrient health supplements proved to be the most difficult of all my research.
and asked them how their product offered better value for money than their competitors. What Are They Hiding?They all responded but only two actually gave answers to the question (two avoided answering by saying they "don’t do comparisons with other products" – which was something I was not asking them to do!)One of the answers given was just silly - it was a list of 7 comments taken from their marketing literature and in no way addressed the question I had asked. Things like "xxxx provides a wide range of antioxidants for optimal benefits...." So what! All these leading supplements contain a wide range of antioxidants! Only Xtend-Life, the manufacturer of Total Balance, had a go at answering the question in the way I had intended. They also supplied me with a copy of an answer they had previously given to a person in Thailand who had also asked them about the value for money issue. I’ve included that letter further down this page for you to read (used with permission). The chairman of Xtend-Life, Warren Matthews, said it was extremely difficult to quantify value for money because it involves a very detailed analysis. He identified two key factors as the critical value areas for consumers to hone in on when looking to identify superior value for money in nutritional supplements.
So much of what he said during our on-line discussion reminded me of a key point I’ve stressed (what seems like) hundreds of times throughout this site in relation to value for money and efficacy. That almost every supplement is manufactured to a price!If you’ve already read a number of my articles you’ll know how a supplement company’s organizational structure and marketing/distribution policies significantly impact on their products' value for money. Pressures from these factors means a company has to formulate a supplement to a price – there’s a bottom line that must be met and high fixed costs to be factored in. These impact on what ingredients (and how many) a manufacturer can afford to include – and in what potencies and what dose amounts. For example: Take a look at the four industry leading supplements from above - Total Balance manages to include 83 ingredients and costs $36.80 Life Force has only 48 ingredients and costs $28.99 Essentials has 43 ingredients and costs $35.60 Lifepak has 40 ingredients and costs $35.80 Even at this most basic level you can already see the differences in value for money! Xtend-Life (Total Balance) is the smallest company of the four, by far. It does not have a huge organizational structure like the others and is the only company NOT using multi level marketing to distribute its products. No commissions to pay out. Rather, they sell direct to the customer exclusively through the internet – no marketing costs, no full color brochures to print, no fancy little branded carry bags and so on. So you can see how these factors affect even the best vitamin supplements and influence just how many ingredients a company can afford to include - in the case of Total Balance a whopping 83 of them - yet still make a fair profit. Once you start to examine the price of certain key ingredients; the potencies used; and the various dose amounts, then you can REALLY see at a much deeper level how much VALUE FOR MONEY A SUPPLEMENT OFFERS YOU. That’s how you’ll find and verify the best of the best vitamin supplements. Further down are the names of just a handful of key ingredients that should be included in the formulas of the best vitamin supplements - but mostly aren’t - due to their high cost. These particular ingredients are very expensive (especially in high potencies) and are highly efficious – they’re the absolute best choices for the target organ/system they’re aimed at in the body.
L-GlutathioneA crucial compound in your cells!This is the most abundant antioxidant enzyme in your body and is essential for cell health and organ survival. A major problem here is that your body manufactures less and less glutathione as you age. So this is definitely a key ingredient BUT there’s a ‘but’ - It must be included in the reduced form. With the regular form of L-Gluthathione the molecules are too big and they can’t penetrate your cell membrane walls - absorption is poor. If your supplement contains L-Glutathione without the word ‘reduced’ next to it – you’re getting poor value for money from an otherwise great ingredient. The best vitamin supplements always include the reduced form. L-Glutathione is around 80 TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE than Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)! Vitamins Minerals And Value For MoneyNow, if you've read through my site and found the best vitamin supplements comparison tables you’ll know just how much of each of these supplements is comprised of cheap old vitamin C.Here’s the breakdown in case you haven't seen it yet on one of my other pages: Total Balance: 1.7% of 1 tablet is vitamin C Essentials: 41% of 1 tablet is vitamin C Life Force: 27.5% of 1 tablet is vitamin C LifePak: 13.3% of 1 tablet is Vitamin C Are you starting to see how value for money is good criteria for evaluating the best vitamin supplements? Now while on the subject of vitamins – please remember this. Vitamins and minerals are the cheapest of ALL ingredients!Try not to forget that – it’s critical when considering value for money. Of course vitamins and minerals have to be there but not in the large dose amounts that most supplements include. If you’re using a quality, top-end supplement and paying a top end price - $30 to $40+ a bottle, and that supplement is significantly made up of vitamins and minerals, then.... ...You are getting poor value for money!In this case the product you are using does not represent one of the best vitamin supplements in the market – it is essentially a really expensive multi vitamin and mineral tablet – with no room for many of the key ingredients I’m about to list. But first, let’s look at the four supplements again and consider the value for money of each but this time in terms of: Total Vitamin and Mineral ContentTotal Balance is 14% vitamins and minerals Essentials is 79% vitamins and minerals Life Force is 71% vitamins and minerals LifePak is 68% vitamins and minerals
Ah – Now I’ve got you thinking like a real pro-evaluator. Start checking your supplement label!
Bioavailability of ingredients is an extremely important factor to consider when gauging value for money in the best vitamin supplements. After all – what’s the point in paying good money if a lot of the ingredients don’t make it into your bloodstream. On this point Total Balance is different from the other 3. It uses ENTERIC COATING to ensure EXTREMELY HIGH bioavailability of its ingredients. Enteric coating protects the vulnerable ingredients until they arrive at the upper intestine which is where absorption into the bloodstream takes place. So why does the use of enteric coating offer better value for money?Because stomach acid and some significantly damages or destroys certain nutrients!Some experts believe that due to damage from stomach acid only 10-15% of the active ingredients in supplements actually get into the blood stream. Others believe it’s more than that but there’s no conclusive clinical proof as yet for a definitive percentage range. Vitamins and minerals are not affected by stomach acid but others - including pancreatic enzymes, some vegetable enzymes, and a number of expensive/highly beneficial ingredients are (the ones you want in your supplement!). Here’s a list of ingredients which are affected by stomach acid:
Did you notice that 5 of these were in the expensive key ingredients list from above? Bioavailability - The Bottom LineIf a delivery system in the form of enteric coating is not employed then bioavailability is significantly reduced! - as is your supplements’ effectiveness and value for money (not to mention your health!).What’s the point of having an expensive ingredient like L-Glutathione in a non-enteric coated supplement – little if any makes it into your body! A total waste! The other 3 supplements don’t have enteric coating but that’s ok as they also don’t have any of the expensive ingredients which are damaged by stomach acid. (Actually that’s not quite true - one does have L-Glutathione in the regular form so that’s double minus value for money points for that product).
What is clearly apparent from what we’ve seen above is that just because a supplement falls into the best vitamin supplements category – this doesn’t mean it offers the best, or even good value for money.
Having read about the value for money angle you may now like to jump on over to my best vitamin supplements comparisons to see how these four supplements stack up head to head. If you don’t already know which one is the best vitamin supplement you certainly will by the end of that page. If you're currently spending money on an up-market product I urge you to take some time to check if it truly is one of the best vitamin supplements. Work out the value for money as much as you can based on what you've learned on this page.
Here’s the letter from Xtend-Life to a Nuskin distributor in Thailand who queried the value for money angle between the two best vitamin supplements sold in Thailand – Total Balance and LifePak. The letter, from 2006, gives a nice yet simplistic view of the factors which reflect Total Balance’s value for money. The answer included a head to head comparison spreadsheet so I’ve put that in as well (also used with permission). "Thank you (name withheld) I enjoyed the meeting also. I have attached a file that I am working on as you may find it interesting. Basically it is comparing the Thai LifePak with the Thai Total Balance. The key points are:
Hope you find all this interesting. Cheers, Warren"
Best vitamin supplements – Note to spreadsheet: Variations exist between the formulas of the regular versions of both supplements and those of the versions sold in Thailand due to local regulatory requirements. End: Best vitamin supplements – value for money Supplement value for money back to home page
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