How To Choose High Quality Vitamins & Supplements

Do you ever feel overwhelmed when you walk down the vitamin and supplement aisle at the grocery store? Me too, and I’m here to help. It can be so hard to know which supplement brands are good quality, and also which ones are actually going to be beneficial to your health.

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to be medical advice, always talk to your doctor before you start taking any supplement or over-the-counter medication. Your doctor or dietitian can recommend a supplement for you and make sure that it doesn’t interact with other medications you’re taking.

Supplements can be an excellent way to enhance your nutrition and ensure you’re getting all the nutrients your body needs. But you have to be careful not to just blindly supplement because you could potentially do more harm than good. It is also important to remember that while supplements can add nutrients to your diet, it will be most beneficial to get the vast majority of your nutrition from a well balanced diet full of whole foods (source). You can’t “out supplement” a poor diet.

The FDA doesn’t evaluate dietary supplement labels and ingredients before they’re sold, which means what is on the label isn’t always what is in the bottle. Instead, manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that their products are safe to use before they’re marketed. Companies don’t have to provide proof that the capsules, powders, gummies, and liquids they sell contain the ingredients on their labels or provide the strength and amount of the nutrients stated on the label.

Here are a few things that I personally look for when buying supplements of any kind:

USP Verified Mark

If you’re not familiar, USP is an independent organization that sets federally recognized public standards of quality for medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients. “During a climate of increased government scrutiny and consumer concerns about the quality of dietary supplements, the USP Dietary Supplement Verification Program can help enhance a manufacturer’s competitive position and brand recognition by promoting the manufacturer’s commitment to produce quality products for consumers.” source

Seeing the USP Verified Mark on a dietary supplement label indicates that the product:

• Has been made according to FDA current Good Manufacturing Practices using sanitary and well-controlled procedures.
• Contains the ingredients listed on the label, in the declared potency and amounts.
• Does not contain harmful levels of specified contaminants.
• Will break down and release into the body within a specified amount of time.

GMP Certified

“Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) is a set of standards created to instruct the processes of manufacturing a wide range of products. Becoming and remaining GMP compliant is increasingly essential for manufacturers in various industries.”

Process standardization is one of the most essential factors in ensuring consistency in manufacturing. And when it comes to manufacturing pharmaceutical products, medical devices, skin products, and cosmetics, consistency is everything.

As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) formalized GMP to help companies in all industries ensure they consistently manufacture quality products. (source)

Third-Party Testing

Third-party certification means an independent organization with no ties to the manufacturing company has evaluated a dietary supplement and verified its quality and manufacturing process. Once the product is verified, a manufacturer can put the third-party program certification or verification seal on their product. Third-party certification does not mean the product has been evaluated for safety (whether it could cause an adverse event) or effectiveness (whether it works the way it is claimed to). It means the product content and label match. (source)

Third-party testing is not required by law, but I look for companies that are willing to get third-party tested. This shows that they are willing to be fully transparent and committed to providing high quality products.

Do I need to be taking supplements?

If you are a generally healthy adult that has had blood work done with your doctor, then you may not need to be supplementing much, if at all. But if you know for sure that you have certain vitamin or mineral deficiencies, then supplementation can be helpful. You always need to do this under the supervision of a doctor or nutrition professional. (I do believe that everyone can benefit from taking a good quality multivitamin as sort of an ‘insurance policy’ for your diet. This would be just to fill in the gaps.)

There are a few exceptions, and some people may need additional supplementation:

• pregnant or breastfeeding women
• those with a condition that can cause malabsorption (like celiac disease)
• infants who are breastfed
• vegans and vegetarians (source)
• if you are diagnosed with a nutritional deficiency

All of these conditions will require different types of supplementation, so consult with your doctor.

A few supplement brands I trust…

These are all brands that I have vetted myself, and we have taken them for a long time. There are specific products that I have taken from each brand, that I love!

I will also continually update this post as I learn about new brands that I love and trust!

NOW Foods – Most of my supplement cabinet is from Now Foods. I was fortunate to take a tour of their manufacturing facility a few years ago, and it was SO impressive. My family and I have taken an array of their products over the years, and they are GMP Certified and third-party tested. Use code CANDACE for 20% off.

Naked Nutrition – Naked Nutrition has things like Naked Iron, Naked Biotin, Multivitamins, Creatine, and my husband LOVES the preworkout. They are GMP Certified and third-party tested. I have loved their collagen creamers as well!

Thorne – I have taken a magnesium supplement from Thorne, and I know that their products are very high quality.

Mary Ruth’s – I give my kids the multivitamin gummies from Mary Ruth’s and they love them! We have also taken their kids’ vitamin D3, as well as their pre/postnatal liquid multivitamin during my pregnancies.

Nordic Naturals – Nordic Naturals is one of the only brands that I trust in terms of fish oil. I give my kids the children’s DHA, and I take the Ultimate Omega.

All of these companies have many different types of supplements, so you will most likely be taken care of when it comes to your supplement needs!

Thank you to Naked Nutrition for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own, and this post has many credible sources to scientific claims about supplements.

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