Do you take nutritional supplements? More than 50% of Americans do (2). With thousands of different supplements available choosing what to take can be extremely overwhelming, coupled with conflicting information from friends, magazines and ads and the process becomes confusing too.

Sadly, most supplements are a complete waste of money - many resulting positive drug tests and most not even breaking down or absorbing into the body. Many can contain high levels of toxicity (4). Too much iron and the retinal form of vitamin A can build up in the human body over time and cause adverse reactions such as joint pain, abdominal problems, shortness of breath, birth defects (1), blurred vision, osteoporosis (5) and more. (Read about baseball player who tested positive for drugs after taking an over-the-counter supplement - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3812334)

With no regulation in the United States supplement companies can put whatever they want into their bottles and market them as they please. When researching your supplements find out if they are 'Pharmaceutical Grade,' if the follow GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and if they are NSF approved (agency used by NFL and MLB for product safety - www.nsf.org)

Without droning on and on about why some supplements are better than others (if you’re interested just let me know and I’ll tell you) I want to provide you with a list of supplement companies that are effective and safe.

An independent Canadian company, NutriSearch Corporation, did a study involving over 1,600 supplements from the US and Canada (4). Products containing excessive potency exceeding Upper Limit safety recommendations established by the Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, in Washington D.C. (4) were immediately eliminated. The remaining 1591 products (notice that over 400 products were not even safe enough to continue testing!) were then rated based on 18 specific Health Support Criteria (*listed below) and given a star rating between zero and five (zero possessing few, if any health support characteristics and five possessing health support characteristics that far exceed other products on the market) (4).

When reading the Comparative Guide I was not shocked to see that the most popular supplement companies have ratings of 2 ½ or less. Companies such as Atkins, Bronson Laboratories, Centrum, Country Life, CVS, GNC, Great American, Kal, Kroger, Nature’s Life, Nikken, One A Day, Rite Aid, Safeway, Solaray, Solgar, Target, and Walgreens averaged ratings of 1 or zero. I also noticed that just because one product from a company received a 4 star rating or higher didn’t necessarily mean that other products from the same company were highly rated. Vitamin Shoppe, for example, received a 4 ½ star rating for its Life Essentials Multi. Of seven other products tested from Vitamin Shoppe one received a 3 star rating and the others were a 2 or less.

(Want to know how your supplement rates? Write to me, I’d be glad to look up your supplement and let you know. Just email me at fitnessbygemma@yahoo.com.)

After all my own research I chose to take USANA products. They have scientific research supporting their products, they follow GMP and are considered to be pharmaceutical grade. They are not only NSF approved but also WADA approved and are used by Olympic athletes world wide. They are also one of the better priced options (avg. $1.60 per day) with discounts for those people who sign up for their autoship delivery option.

While I do I recommend USANA I want to provide you with a complete list of the best supplements on the market. Please quit wasting your money on empty nutritional supplements. The high quality products are more costly than the one’s you’re picking up from the grocery store, but you are literally just flushing those cheap products down the toilet. Do the math and figure out what your health is worth to you. If you want more energy, if you want to help your body combat many major health issues and degenerative diseases, if you want to sleep better, recover faster from your work outs, have less aches and pains and increase your overall quality of life surely all this is worth $1.60 a day.

What follows is a list of the companies and products that received a 5 star (including 4 highest rated in bold), 4 ½ star and 4 star rating. I think that anything less than that is not worth a darn and I certainly am not going to consider putting anything but the BEST into my body. Please feel free to contact me with questions, fitnessbygemma@yahoo.com.

5 Star Rating
(Please note that the 4 companies that are in larger font and bold type are the four HIGHEST rated products available - these companies adhere to GMP, and received Gold Star ratings from the research company)

Allergy Research Group Wholly Immune Colgan Institute Men’s Pak
Colgan Institute Men’s+ 50 Pak
Colgan Institute Sports Pak (contains iron and/or retinol)
Colgan Institute Women’s 50+ Pak
Colgan Institute Women’s Active Pak
Colgan Institute Women’s Pak
Creating Wellness Alliance Vitalize (all formulations)
Douglas Laboratories Daily Core Essentials
Douglas Laboratories Longevity Support Pack
Douglas Laboratories Ultra Preventive IX
Douglas Laboratories Ultra Preventive IX with Vitamin K
Douglas Laboratories Ultra Preventive X
Life Extension Foundation Life Extension Mix
NSI (Neutraceutical Sciences Institute) Synergy Max
NSI (Neutraceutical Sciences Institute) Synergy Men’s Version 2
NSI (Neutraceutical Sciences Institute) Synergy Ultra
Ortho Molecular Products Alpha Base Ultimate Pak
Rejuvination Science Maximum Vitality
Source Naturals Life Force Multiple
Source Naturals Elan Vital Multiple
Source Naturals Life Force Multiple (note: Life Defense and Ultra Multiple by this company are rated 3 and 2, respectively. Wellness Multiple is rated a 4).
Swanson Lee Swanson Signature Line Longevital
Truestar Health True Basic
Truestar Health Truebasics Plus for Men or Women
USANA Health Pak 100
USANA Health Sciences Essentials
Vitamin Research Products Optimum 18
(For a price per day breakdown of the top rated products go to http://www.healthsupplementsnutritionalguide.com/best-multi-vitamin.html)

4 ½ Star Rating
Colgan Institute Men’s Active Pak
Country Life SuperiorDouglas Laboratories Dad’s Pak (contains iron and/or retinol)
Jean Carper’s Stop Aging Now! Anti-Aging Power-Pak
Julian Whitaker, M.D. Forward Plus Daily Regimen
Molecular Products Alpha Base without Iron
Mountain Home Daily Advantage
New Roots Herbal Multi-Max Immune
NSI (Neutraceutical Sciences Institute) Synergy Advanced
NSI (Neutraceutical Sciences Institute) Synergy Version 9
NSI (Neutraceutical Sciences Institute) Synergy Women’s Version 4
Nutrition Dynamics Just For Dad
Ortho Molecular Products Alpha Base Capsules without Iron
Ortho Molecular Products Alpha Base Capsules without Iron or Copper
Ortho Molecular Products Alpha Base Foundation Pak
Ortho Molecular Products Alpha Base Tablets
Pro-Caps Laboratories Ultimate Complete for Women
Selekta Selekta-Clear
ViSalus Vi-PAK
Vitamin Research Products Extend Plus
Vitamin Shoppe Life Essentials Multi

4 Star Rating
Allergy Research Group Steady On
Amni Added Protection III (iron free with copper)
Amni Basics Preventive 5 Plus Extra Vitamin D
Biogenesis Nutraceuticals Ultra Genesis without iron
Biox Multi Vitamin Pack (contains iron and/or retinol)
Canprev Immuno-Pro Formula
DaVinci Laboratories Spectra Multi Age
Doctor’s Nutrition UltraNutrient
Douglas Laboratories Added Protection III Iron Free
Douglas Laboratories Basic Preventive 5 Plus Extra Vitamin D
Douglas Laboratories Nutri-pak (for Men or Women)
Douglas Laboratories Oc Pack
Douglas Laboratories Ultra Balance III (tablets)
Douglas Laboratories Ultra Preventive D with Copper
Douglas Laboratories Ultra Preventive III With Copper (tablets)
Douglas Laboratories Ultra-am & Ultra pm
Dr. Cranton’s Prime Nutrients
Enzymatic Therapy Doctor’s Choice for 50-Plus Men
FoodScience of Vermont Superior Multi Age
Gary Null’s Super AM Formula & Super PM Formula
Jarrow Formulas All Capsule Health Pak
Jean Carper’s Stop Aging Now!
Jean Carper’s Stop Aging Now! PLUS
Julian Whitaker, M.D. Forward Plus Daily Regimen
Lorna Vanderhaeghe FemmEssentials
Metagenics Wellness Essentials
Mountain Naturals of Vermont Superior Multi Age
Nutriex Sport (contains iron and/or retinol)
Nutrilite Perfect Health Pack
Ortho Molecular Products Alpha Base Capsules
Pharmanex lifepak Nano
PhytoPharmica Clinical Nutrients for 45-Plus Women
PhyoPharmica Clinical Nutirents for 50-Plus Men
Pro-Caps Laboratories Ultimate Complete for Men
Propax with NT Factor (contains iron and/or retinol)
ProThera MultiThera 1
Pure Encapsulations UltraNutrient
Pure Essence Labs Life Essence (Powder or Tablets)
Rainbow Light RejuvenAge 4-+
Schwarzbein Institute Ultra Preventive III
Source Naturals Wellness Multiple
SuperNutrition Men’s Blend (contains iron and/or retinol)
Vitamin Research Products Optimum 6

* The 18 Health Support Criteria that these supplements were rated on are as follows:
1. Completeness
2. Potency
3. Mineral Forms
4. Bioactivity of Vitamin E
5. Gemma Tocopherol
6. Antioxidant Support
7. Bone Health
8. Heart Health
9. Liver Health (detoxification)
10. Metabolic Health (glucose control)
11. Ocular Health
12. Methylation Support
13. Lipotropic Factors
14. Inflammation Control
15. Glyceration Control
16. Bioflavonoid Profile
17. Phenolic Compounds
18. Potential Toxicities
(A complete explanation of each of these criteria can be found in Nutrisearch Comparitive Guide to Nutritional Supplementsä Consumer Edition (http://nutrisearch.ca/). Or contact me (fitnessbygemma@yahoo.com) to order as I can get a better price when ordering in bulk).

References
1. ) http://www.arltma.com/IronToxDoc.htm
2. ) http://www.crnusa.org/benpdfs/CRN00benefits_quiz.pdf
3. )http://www.healthsupplementsnutritionalguide.com/best-multi-vitamin.html
4.) Nutrisearch Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplementsä Consumer Edition. MacWilliam, Lyle, MSc, FP. Nutrisearch Corporation, 2008. http://nutrisearch.ca/
5.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinol