Vitamins and minerals are necessary for to maintain health. Because there are so many supplements on the market these days, picking the right one is extremely difficult. Naturopathic doctors can help tailor a regimen that is specific to your needs. 

 

Here are some tips to help you, as a conscientious vitamin and supplement user, tackle some of these questions.

 

1) Always consult a professional for supplement and vitamin advice. If you don’t have a naturopathic doctor as part of your health team, consider asking a health food or supplement store employee for advice -- but beware that the education and training of these employees is not as extensive as your naturopathic doctor’s.

 

2) Learn to scrutinize labels for content and quality:

• Gummy vitamins taste great, but may have a lot of sugar, chemicals or food coloring additives, and contain fewer and lower doses of vitamins and minerals. Compare labels of gummy products and pill products.

• Look for companies with good manufacturing practices. These companies will report submitting their products to third party quality assurance and batch testing, will be able to provide you with lot information, and may even advertise being GMO-free. For example when you buy fish oil, consider whether they test for heavy metal contamination, like mercury.

• Look for food-based vitamins which are likely easier for your body to absorb

 

3) Be wary of supplements which promise outlandish results without effort. Consider the motivation of the source of these promises. Even well educated professionals may offer bad advice to boost television show ratings, or try to make money by selling supplements that don’t perform as advertised to trusting individuals.

 

4) Interactions exist between supplements and medications. Most common interactions increase your metabolism of the drug, leaving it to be less effective or decrease the metabolism of the drug, allowing it to become more toxic.