Are You Getting What’s Promised?

Natural supplementation is the latest thing in being healthy. I always encourage my patients to take a multivitamin that suits their needs, but lately I’ve been very concerned when a patient just grabs any ol’ bottle of vitamins off the shelf because they are cheap. After all vitamins are vitamins, right? Well, not really. I used to tell patients the things to look for to see if whatever vitamins they were taking were working for them, but now I get concerned if I don’t know the vitamin company and how they test their product.

My concern doesn’t only lie in the vitamin having the specific amount that is stated on the bottle or in the total number of nutrients in the bottle itself, but more importantly what else is in that bottle that is not listed.

Yes, it sounds crazy until you put some thought into it. Back in March 2007, the FDA recalled over 90 brands of pet food for containing melamine. If you looked on the labels of those 90 brands you wouldn’t see melamine listed as an ingredient. Melamine caused irreparable kidney damage to many pets and even took the lives of some.

Back to the vitamins… there are many vitamin companies who purchase raw materials for their vitamins from other countries with different standards than the US. These raw materials can be severely contaminated with pesticides, or other chemicals, and unless the manufacturer tests the raw materials, the manufacturer would be none the wiser. These contaminants then end up in your vitamins that you ingest! So much for your vitamins keeping you from getting sick.

There are some very reputable companies that test their raw materials and the content of their vitamins multiple times throughout the manufacturing process to ensure their safety. MyFibroHelp carries some of those reputable vitamins. Ensure you are getting what is promised, pay the extra money and get the right vitamins!