I am a big fan of DIY projects! This past week I decided to work on my basement. I had some paint peeling in a few areas and got the brilliant idea that I could scrape these areas down and paint the basement. Well, you know how this is going to go…. one area turned into the entire basement and a huge trash can of peeled paint later! Even though it was more than I had bargained for it felt so good to get all the peeling paint off. Then came what I thought would be the easy part… repainting it. I had gone to the paint store and purchased a special sealer for basements and when I started using it the paint started peeling off immediately before it even dried! Oh boy. I tried a few different sealers with the same result. You can guess my next step, calling an expert – a painter who is going to come and take over and finish my project! Whew..
I realized that many of us are do-it-yourselfers when it comes to our health. We read about and try a special diet, a supplement for your brain or perhaps your blood sugar. However, we don’t have a metric of screening these products and for measuring results unless they are visible quickly! READ ON to learn what I look for when looking at supplements….
I cannot tell you how many times I am asked about a random supplement to see if I approve. I no longer evaluate supplements people send me so this is something you need to be able to do yourself! When glancing at a label, all I can say are the ingredients look good but I have no idea about the manufacturing and they need to do a deeper dive into the company. I have had a few people who started some supplements and found out later the product was pulled off the market because it was tainted with an actual drug or contaminant!! Yikes!
Here are the steps I use when evaluating supplements:
- Learn about the company.
- cGMP status: Do they make their own supplements or have a third party do it for them. Hint…many supplements are made in other locations by other vendors. Even if they are made by other manufacturers they should be able to tell you if they have cGMP status. This means whoever makes it uses good manufacturing practices which requires regular inspections for them to use that designation.
- Certificate of analysis: Ideally, I like to know if they test the raw products prior to manufacturing for contaminants and test the product after manufacturing to verify the amount they say on the label actually match. Third party verifications would be even better!! Companies should be able to produce a certificate of analysis on every product they have.
- Check the label for the active ingredients and learn about them and make sure they are targeting your goal. For example, if you are targeting brain health then many supplements will have gingko. However, if you have a tendency to bleed this might make it worse!
- Check the label for any ingredients that are allergens for you (look at the inactive ingredients, too).
- Look at the inactive ingredients and choose ones that have fewer inactive ingredients. I have a tendency to avoid those based with soy, etc.
- Watch out for exaggerated claims! If it sounds too good to be true then it most likely is. I see advertisements all the time on social media with pictures showing incredible hair growth in 3 weeks… while you can start to have hair growth your thinning spot will not be filled in that quickly so beware!
If you can’t find this information then check out sites that evaluate supplements thru organizations like ConsumerLab or US Pharmacopeia.
At the end of the day, you still don’t know if that supplement will work. Set a metric that you will follow. For example, if you are taking something for cholesterol get your level checked prior to starting it and then take it daily for 3 months and then repeat the labs. I look for research on that product or those ingredients especially if I am exploring something very new.
This doesn’t mean you never try a new product! I am looking at new products all the time but this will give you some guidelines on how to proceed.
To your health,
Laura
