Re: Vitamin suppliers
albu...@mailinator.com
pillpopper wrote:
> Whose the best net vitamin/supplement supplier? I've been using Puritans
> Pride, but am looking for a better alternative. They don't answer
> customer complaints.
I just buy the cheapest available at Wal*Mart, CVS, or RiteAid.
What kinds of complaints do you have about vitamins? They won't make
you Superman.
meow...@care2.com
> pillpopper wrote:
> > Whose the best net vitamin/supplement supplier? I've been using Puritans
> > Pride, but am looking for a better alternative. They don't answer
> > customer complaints.
http://www.uni-vite.com/nutrishield/
> I just buy the cheapest available at Wal*Mart, CVS, or RiteAid.
> What kinds of complaints do you have about vitamins? They won't make
> you Superman.
more the junk end of the market than the best.
NT
ares
ares
"pillpopper" <pillp...@drugstore.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9BBE12250C30C4...@195.67.212.194...
hchi...@hotmail.com
<pillp...@drugstore.com> wrote:
>Whose the best net vitamin/supplement supplier? I've been using Puritans
>Pride, but am looking for a better alternative. They don't answer
>customer complaints.
Betterlife, Vitacost, Tunies
The Real Bev
> Whose the best net vitamin/supplement supplier? I've been using Puritans
> Pride, but am looking for a better alternative. They don't answer
> customer complaints.
Sure they do. Some bottles of flaxseed oil broke in shipment and they sent
replacements within days. I've ordered from them for a long time (back when
they were Nutrition Headquarters and advertised on the back page of Parade
Magazine) and have always been satisfied.
What kind of complaint did you have?
--
Cheers,
Bev
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"We need to cut more slack for the stupid; after all, somebody has
to populate the lower part of the bell curve." -- Dennis (evil)
The Real Bev
How can you tell the difference?
I buy on price. Some things from Costco, some from Trader Joe, some from
Rite-Aid/CVS and some from Puritan's Pride. I figure none of them is actually
shipping encapsulated floor sweepings.
And a 5-gallon drum of ascorbic acid powder from China. Nuisance. You have to
pick it up at a customs warehouse. It tastes like it's supposed to...
hchi...@hotmail.com
<bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>meow...@care2.com wrote:
>
>> albun...@mailinator.com wrote:
>>> pillpopper wrote:
>>> > Whose the best net vitamin/supplement supplier? I've been using Puritans
>>> > Pride, but am looking for a better alternative. They don't answer
>>> > customer complaints.
>>
>> http://www.uni-vite.com/nutrishield/
>>
>>> I just buy the cheapest available at Wal*Mart, CVS, or RiteAid.
>>> What kinds of complaints do you have about vitamins? They won't make
>>> you Superman.
>>
>> more the junk end of the market than the best.
>
>How can you tell the difference?
>
>I buy on price. Some things from Costco, some from Trader Joe, some from
>Rite-Aid/CVS and some from Puritan's Pride. I figure none of them is actually
>shipping encapsulated floor sweepings.
>
>And a 5-gallon drum of ascorbic acid powder from China. Nuisance. You have to
>pick it up at a customs warehouse. It tastes like it's supposed to...
Used to live across the street from a fellow who worked for the
company that makes a lot of brands. He put it this way, there is no
assay of the finished products and a lot of the cheaper multivitamins
are primarily vitamin C, which is cheap, and the dregs of the B
vitamin vat, which stinks.
The Real Bev
> Used to live across the street from a fellow who worked for the
> company that makes a lot of brands. He put it this way, there is no
> assay of the finished products and a lot of the cheaper multivitamins
> are primarily vitamin C, which is cheap, and the dregs of the B
> vitamin vat, which stinks.
So, basically, whatever we choose we're screwed?
--
Cheers,
Bev
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"If the Eskimos have a thousand different words for "snow," does this
mean the French have a thousand different words for "surrender?"
Rod Speed
> hchi...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>> Used to live across the street from a fellow who worked for the
>> company that makes a lot of brands. He put it this way, there is no
>> assay of the finished products and a lot of the cheaper multivitamins
>> are primarily vitamin C, which is cheap, and the dregs of the B
>> vitamin vat, which stinks.
> So, basically, whatever we choose we're screwed?
Nope, if you're stupid enough to buy the high priced stuff thats been
tested by the likes of CR, you likely will get whats listed on the label.
Corse you're always screwing yourself buying vitamins when you dont need them...
hchi...@hotmail.com
<bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>hchi...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>> Used to live across the street from a fellow who worked for the
>> company that makes a lot of brands. He put it this way, there is no
>> assay of the finished products and a lot of the cheaper multivitamins
>> are primarily vitamin C, which is cheap, and the dregs of the B
>> vitamin vat, which stinks.
>
>So, basically, whatever we choose we're screwed?
Depends, I guess. If you pay for the premium brands you stand a
chance. The rest is a crap shoot.
The Real Bev
The problem is in knowing when you need them. The medical establishment swears
you don't need <some vitamin> for years until somebody finally provides
overwhelming proof that yeah, your body does indeed need <some vitamin>.
Do you eat a "balanced diet"? I don't. As far as I'm concerned, vitamins are
relatively cheap insurance. When it comes to statistics I'd rather trust a
physicist than a doctor, wouldn't you?
--
Cheers, Bev
=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=
"Sure, everyone's in favor of saving Hitler's brain, but when
you put it into the body of a great white shark, suddenly
you're a madman." --Futurama
Dave Garland
> You get what you pay for.
Ah, but that's so very hard to determine. That's what being frugal is
about, maximizing the ratio of get to pay.
> With those cheap brands, the health
> benefits are so minimal as to be not worth buying.
IF they contain the specified quantity of vitamin and have been stored
properly and are fresh, they're likely to be exactly the same as the
expensive brand. Unfortunately, very few of us are equipped to assay
them and find out. Me, I figure that store brands of national chains
(and other high-volume national sellers) are likely to contain exactly
what they specify, if for no other reason than that the raw materials
that go into the vitamins aren't very expensive, and it's not in the
chain's interest to get caught cheating and potentially damage the
entire chain (not just vitamin sales). The chains also have the
resources to do an occasional assay to see if their suppliers are
shorting ingredients, though I have no idea if they ever do such
checks, and buy enough from their suppliers so that the suppliers
wouldn't dare risk losing the account.
Dave
JonquilJan
JonquilJan
Learn something new every day
As long as you are learning, you are living
When you stop learning, you start dying
Rod Speed
>>>> Used to live across the street from a fellow who worked for the company that makes a lot of brands. He put it this
>>>> way, there is no assay of the finished products and a lot of the cheaper multivitamins are primarily vitamin C,
>>>> which is cheap, and the dregs of the B vitamin vat, which stinks.
>>> So, basically, whatever we choose we're screwed?
>> Nope, if you're stupid enough to buy the high priced stuff thats been
>> tested by the likes of CR, you likely will get whats listed on the label.
>> Corse you're always screwing yourself buying vitamins when you dont need them...
> The problem is in knowing when you need them.
Nope, you have to have a VERY weird diet to need them.
In the west, its only those who eat nothing but meat, literally, no veg or
fruit whatever or vegetarians who dont get enough vitamins in their diet.
> The medical establishment swears you don't need <some vitamin> for years until somebody finally provides overwhelming
> proof that yeah, your body does indeed need <some vitamin>.
What matters is whether you get those vitamins in your diet.
Virtually everyone does. The only ones who dont in the west
are those who have an extremely weird diet.
> Do you eat a "balanced diet"? I don't.
You dont need a balanced diet for your diet to have all the vitamins you need.
> As far as I'm concerned, vitamins are relatively cheap insurance.
You dont need insurance, if you arent getting enough vitamins in your diet, the symptoms are quite clearcut.
> When it comes to statistics I'd rather trust a physicist than a doctor, wouldn't you?
I trust those who have measured that unless you have an extremely
weird diet, that that diet contains the vitamins you need, and that they
are much better than the artificial vitamins in the pills you furiously pop.
meow...@care2.com
The Real Bev wrote:
> meow...@care2.com wrote:
> > albun...@mailinator.com wrote:
> >> pillpopper wrote:
> >> > Whose the best net vitamin/supplement supplier? I've been using Puritans
> >> > Pride, but am looking for a better alternative. They don't answer
> >> > customer complaints.
> >
> > http://www.uni-vite.com/nutrishield/
> >
> >> I just buy the cheapest available at Wal*Mart, CVS, or RiteAid.
> >> What kinds of complaints do you have about vitamins? They won't make
> >> you Superman.
> >
> > more the junk end of the market than the best.
>
> How can you tell the difference?
There are several significant differences.
First is the specific chemical used for each vitamin & mineral. As an
example, vitamin C comes in various forms, eg ascorbic acid, calcium
acorbate, magnesium ascorbate, sodium ascorbate and others. Cheap tabs
will have whatever's cheapest, regardless of bioavailability. Since
many versions of vits and mins have poor bioavaialbility, you arent
getting much of several of them. Some of the cheap substances are
good, some are of little worth.
2nd is the range of vits, antioxidants, minerals etc in the pills.
Cheap ones just have the well known vitamins and a few minerals, so
most of the useful nutrients aren't there at all. At the top end you
get a great long list of things that have been demonstrated to affect
various aspects of health. Vitamins are well known due to their
newsworthy discovery & long history, but many other subtances are more
important to health, and you'll get those in decent products.
3rd is the formulation of the bulking agents. Cheap vit pills are so
poor they once gained a reputation for failing to disintegrate at all,
and coming out in the sewers whole. Good products will have the fat
solubles in an oil base, which implies at least 2 tabs per day, not
one.
4th is the dose. The old RDA measure really only applies to the severe
short term effects of deficiency, eg scurvy, rickets, etc. Cheap tabs
often contain 100% RDA of many things because the public assumes the
RDA is exactly what the body needs, but this isnt the case. Where
multimvitamins pills are more useful is with type 2 deficiencies,
chronic lower level less severe issues and serious but long term
issues, and the RDAs are mostly inadequate for this. How inadequate
varies, with ideal supplement levels being below 100% RDA for some,
and over 1000% for some.
5th consideration is the evidence on which the tablet dosages are
based. Vitamin/mineral/antioxidant studies generally aren't funded by
major companies, so the quantity of data and the quality of the
studies are both patchy. Hence deciding what evidence to base a
formula on is far from a trivial exercise. It simply is not the case
that there is a concensus on this.
If you want to know more, the best and latest book on this, and its
very readable, is Health Defence by Dr. Paul Clayton. He's a PhD, was
Chair of the Forum on Food and Health at the Royal Society of
Medicine, and Senior Scientific Advisor to the UK government's
Committee on the Safety of Medicines. His evidence is based on a
massive metastudy, putting it on a much firmer footing than any single
study, and I've not seen anything of equivalent quality before.
He's also commercially connected with univite, who sell his formula
under the nutrishield name. This is good and bad - his recommendation
is available as a single product, which is good, but of course the
commercial motive can cloud the waters (though thats also true of
other suppliers). At the end of the day though, his method still seems
to be the best out there IMHO (and I dont have any financial
connection).
> I buy on price. Some things from Costco, some from Trader Joe, some from
> Rite-Aid/CVS and some from Puritan's Pride. I figure none of them is actually
> shipping encapsulated floor sweepings.
>
> And a 5-gallon drum of ascorbic acid powder from China. Nuisance. You have to
> pick it up at a customs warehouse. It tastes like it's supposed to...
Vitamin C is absolutely fine in its cheapest form for almost all
people. A very few may get stomach upset or the runs from it. Take
suitable care over storage though, if you opened the drum regularly
it'd be worthless in a couple of years time.
Finally, if you want a quick recommendation
1. For quality, Nutrishield is the current leader.
2. For a lowish cost all-in one pill, Lamberts
3. For $1/month, I'm not sure I'd bother.
NT
The Real Bev
> In article <4m3hq4tu49nddruje...@4ax.com>,
> Right. You get what you pay for. With those cheap brands, the health
> benefits are so minimal as to be not worth buying. I buy my nutritional
> supplements from either GNC or Puritans Pride. There are lots of ways to
> be frugal, but what I put into my body isn't one of them.
I consider PP a "cheap brand". Why do you trust it more than whatever they sell
at the Dollar store?
--
Cheers, Bev
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Don't tax me. Don't tax thee. Tax that man behind the tree.
JonK
> 1. For quality, Nutrishield is the current leader.
> 2. For a lowish cost all-in one pill, Lamberts
> 3. For $1/month, I'm not sure I'd bother.
If Nutrishield is the leader, who's in 2nd-3rd place...??
How did you determine the diff in quality??
This product is from the UK. About 41USD for one month supply,
plus S-H. A good deal for US residents??
JonK
> Whose the best net vitamin/supplement supplier? I've beening using Puritans
> Pride, but am looking for a better alternative. They don't answer
> customer complaints.
Oh,my...a pillpopper from drugstore dotcom.
Taking a survey??
Stop popping pills and start eating real food.
meow...@care2.com
> meow...@care2.com wrote:
> > Finally, if you want a quick recommendation
>
> > 1. For quality, Nutrishield is the current leader.
> > 2. For a lowish cost all-in one pill, Lamberts
> > 3. For $1/month, I'm not sure I'd bother.
>
>
> If Nutrishield is the leader, who's in 2nd-3rd place...??
Before Dr Clayton I would have said Patrick Holford's aproach, which
is based on a series of questionnaires aimed at tailoring the
recommendation to each person's health issues. But if you look at what
this is based on, though it has its good points, it doesnt take into
account anywhere near as much evidence or issues as Clayton's
approach.
> How did you determine the diff in quality??
I just wrote a fairly lengthy reply explaining that! And where to get
more info.
> This product is from the UK. About 41USD for one month supply,
> plus S-H. A good deal for US residents??
certainly a matter of opinion. I think so, when you look at what it
can achieve.
NT
tween...@mypacks.net
> In article <4m3hq4tu49nddrujeg97h7brl0btikh...@4ax.com>,> > <bashley...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > >hchick...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> > >> Used to live across the street from a fellow who worked for the
> > >> company that makes a lot of brands. He put it this way, there is no
> > >> assay of the finished products and a lot of the cheaper multivitamins
> > >> are primarily vitamin C, which is cheap, and the dregs of the B
> > >> vitamin vat, which stinks.
>
> > >So, basically, whatever we choose we're screwed?
>
> > Depends, I guess. If you pay for the premium brands you stand a
> > chance. The rest is a crap shoot.
>
> benefits are so minimal as to be not worth buying. I buy my nutritional
> supplements from either GNC or Puritans Pride. There are lots of ways to
> be frugal, but what I put into my body isn't one of them.
Agreed. I go to my local health food store which is owned and
operated by a registered nutritionist. Sure, not the cheapest brands,
but I also receive tons of free advice on what to eat etc. I want to
keep this place in business.