Common Nutrition & Supplement Myths (Part 3)

Catch up on myths #1-4 with our PART 1 and PART 2 blogs!

Supplement Myths #5: I Can Trust The “FDA” and “GMP” Certifications on the Bottle

Many people automatically default to assuming if it has an “FDA” or “GMP” certification on the label than it is of high quality.

Unfortunately, just because it has those certifications, does NOT mean the supplement is of high quality or even beneficial for your body. 

As the FDA website shares, the FDA is not authorized to review dietary supplement products for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed. 

In 1994, the FDA also created the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 which set the onus of safety and effectiveness on the manufacturers and distributors. 

The US Department of Health and Services shares that the FDA will regulate what and how statements are made on supplement labels, to discourage supplement companies from making untrue claims about their products. 

But this governance does not guarantee that the product is actually effective or safe.  Let’s examine GMP labels as well. 

GMP refers to ‘Good Manufacturing Practice’ which is a set of guidelines intended to ensure that products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards. This also does not indicate that the ingredients are effective or safe. There are many manufacturers with GMP certified facilities producing synthetic products with toxic additives and fillers. 

Basically, the FDA provides safety and quality checks for pharmaceuticals. GMP for supplements ensures that best practices for manufacturing processes, procedures, and documentation are maintained but do not indicate that the actual ingredients of the product are safe or effective. 

As a consumer in the vitamin and supplement industry, you must do your due diligence to make sure whatever brand you are looking at—that their ingredients are of high quality, their sources are great, and what they are putting in their supplements are real. 

So, you might wonder, why should you trust a brand like Tennant or other high-quality brands out there? 

When a statement or claim is made about nutrition supplements or health, it’s on the manufacturer to provide proof or verification. That’s why, at Tennant, we share so much information about our products and our ingredients. Every single ingredient we include in a product of ours like Restore™, has been rigorously studied and most have significant clinical studies on the individual ingredients. 

In the end, it’s the consumer’s decision. Make sure to do your research! 

Supplement Myths #6: I Should Have a Cabinet FULL of Different Bottles—It Means I’m Really Getting All The Right Supplements!

Sometimes I see my friends’ cabinets and they have four, five, ten… fifteen different supplement bottles! And many times they’re proud of it and feel extra healthy. 

Unfortunately, most of the time, we are just wasting money and clogging our cabinet space. Supplements are complex and the way they interact with each other, break down, and get absorbed by the body is what matters. 

At Tennant Products, we always like to ask… why are you taking something in the first place? 

Whether it’s Vitamin C, D, E, B12, a daily multivitamin, etc… Is it just because you just thought you should? Or you read an article? Or someone told you? 

Often, since childhood, we “think” we have to take multivitamins. That concept was also pushed heavily by marketing and commercials. 

Or we take them “just in case” we’re missing out on a vitamin or to “give our body a boost.”

Although vitamins and supplements are important (and that’s what we’re all about), by now we’ve realized the supplement landscape is complex and often not providing the highest quality supplements. 

The Importance of Cofactors

A significant work we want to talk about is a cofactor. 

With many vitamins, the specific vitamin is actually only able to be absorbed and utilized if their cofactor is present (and from Point #1 above – that vitamin has to be of high quality with bio-available ingredients). 

Many nutrients, even bioavailable forms, need additional nutrients to work well in the body. Synthetics aside, many supplements are simply incomplete and can even be dangerous due to a missing cofactor.

Here are examples of different, necessary “cofactors”: 

Vitamin D3 and K2 – Vitamin D needs K2 to process appropriately. If you were to increase the level of D3 in a product, you’d have to increase the level of K2 and then balance that out with Calcium. 

Vitamin K2 and Calcium – Vitamin K2 is required for Calcium to be incorporated into the bone matrix (per the Rotterdam Study, there is a significant decrease in risk of aortic calcification in heart disease with appropriate levels of K2). 

Vitamin D3 and Calcium – Vitamin D3 is required for optimal skeletal protection and intestinal absorption of Calcium.

Iodine and cofactors  – Iodine is important for the body (and that’s another long and complex topic) but additional cofactors are necessary for iodine to metabolize appropriately. These include Vitamin B1, Zinc, Selenium and Vitamin C. 

Iron – Iron needs Vitamins A and C to be metabolized appropriately. 

Vitamin C – needs Bioflavonoids & Polyphenols to increase its bioavailability rather than ascorbic acid alone.

If you buy many of these ingredients individually, you won’t get the proper effect and absorption –and it can sometimes be harmful. Instead, by having quality supplements with the correct amount and ratio of cofactors, the nutrients can be absorbed properly and effectively. 

On the other hand, this means… you could be taking all these different supplements and ending up with really expensive urine! 

You could end up wasting all this money for vitamins NOT to be absorbed and utilized… and they all just come out in your pee.  

Might as well save that $12-15 and go to Starbucks or a nice lunch. You’ll have more fun! 

A good exercise is to track how much you currently spend on vitamins and health supplements. Many people are already spending much more than they realize. All of those $12-40 bottles add up (with little to no benefit). A $30 multivitamin here, a $20 Vitamin B, a $15 Vitamin C, etc.

Sometimes it can add up to $80, $100, $120 and all with lower quality vitamins and supplements that aren’t methylated, bio-available, or in the correct ratio. 

If you’re going to spend money on health supplements that support your health (and not on expensive urine), you might as well invest in supplements that are actually worth it.

The Future of Healthy Supplements 

In the end, this is all about your body, your health, and your vitality. 

We’ve learned that… 

1. All vitamins and supplements are NOT of the same quality (ingredients do matter) 
2. Your diet does not provide you with all the necessary vitamins and nutrients 
3. Doctors are not trained enough in nutrition and we must seek out nutrition expertise 
4. You need to really research to find companies with the best quality ingredients  
5. Just because it has an FDA or GMP certification does not mean it has safe or effective ingredients 
6. You should have a high-quality supplement with the correct cofactors to be readily usable in your body. No need to waste money on expensive urine!