05/12/2022
This post is a little long, but if you take supplements, it's worth the few minutes to read it.
Are Your Supplements as Safe or Effective as You Think?
Over a century ago, D. D. Palmer identified three causes of subluxation (which is what I'm treating you for as a chiropractor---spine misalignment affecting nerve flow)—trauma, toxins, and thoughts—giving rise to the chiropractic profession as we know it today. As a chiropractor who has been trained in this tradition, I preform many adjustments each week to help patients heal from trauma. But, to go a step further in your healing—you should get help in the area of “thoughts” and “toxins” as well. Though there’s much to say about the influence of thoughts on the musculoskeletal health of the body, this article is going to focus on the ways that I can help a patient with the problem of “toxins,” specifically through supplementation.
Unfortunately, quality control of supplements is dismal in the United States. The FDA allows supplement manufacturers to water down their products with massive amounts of fillers, which makes many of the pills you find at the store practically useless. Standards are so low that the FDA allows products to pass quality control with up to two rat hairs in each batch! To make matters worse, supplements sometimes do not contain the ingredients that they claim on their labels. A recent review of supplements by New York’s attorney general revealed that many major retailers are selling fraudulent and potentially dangerous herbal supplements. Amid all of this confusion, how can you tell whether a supplement will do what it says?
Look for Capsules, Not Tablets
One of the quickest and easiest ways to determine the quality of a supplement is by checking to see whether it’s a capsule or a tablet. Pressed tablets are extremely cheap to produce, but much less effective. The tablet-making process requires that herbs be diluted with 60-80% binders and then subjected to tens of thousands of pounds of pressure, creating a pill with the consistency of a rock. Because these tablets are so difficult to digest, doctors often see them show up on abdominal X-rays! If you see a supplement in tablet form, you automatically know that the manufacturer was more concerned with making a cheap product than a good product. Unlike these cheaply made tablets, vegetable-based capsules release their ingredients within min-
■ "The FDA allows supplement manufacturers to water down their products with massive amounts of fillers, which makes many of the pills you find at the store practically useless of consumption. Though a capsule won’t guarantee that a product is of high quality, it does indicate that the ingredients will be available for the body to use.
Look for Synergistic Blends, Not Single-Herb Supplements
Though single-herb supplements may be popular, they’re not as safe or effective as their multi-herb counterparts. In multi-herb synergistic blends, the dose of each individual herb is relatively low, but combined, the effects can be powerful. The combined ingredients support each other, making the final product more potent and more effective than any one herb would be on its own. As an added benefit, multi-herb supplements are much safer because they contain low doses of many different herbs, rather than high doses of just one.
Choose Organic When Possible
When choosing a supplement, look for brands that are organically and responsibly grown. Though you may (or may not) worry about pesticides on your spinach, you should be very worried about pesticides in your supplements. Once dried and condensed, the chemical residue from pesticides in supplements can far exceed anything you would consume from food. If you don’t know if a company is organic, just ask! You can find the contact information for many companies right on the supplement bottle.
Avoid Products That Use Fillers, Extenders, Binders, and Other Additives
If a supplement company uses fillers, extenders, binders, or other additives to make their product go further, you can be sure that they don’t have your patients’ best interests at heart. Look for companies that provide herbs in a pure, unadulterated form. Though such supplements are rare because they’re expensive to produce, they are absolutely worth the effort it takes to find them. Without unnecessary additives, a supplement can make an enormous difference in a patient’s overall health. Also, some patients may have an adverse reaction to some additives, which are often made from com, wheat, or soy.
At the end of the day, you’ll have to buy from a company that you trust. This is why I use Solutions4 supplements...Because they are of the highest quality and most effective that I've used with patients.
Feel free to ask me about any supplementation needs or concerns you have.
If you would like to order online and save 10%, contact me to set up a free account for you.
Dr McCaslin
