About Nutritional Supplements and Pharmaceuticals
High quality nutritional supplements when taken in accordance with a science-based clinical approach can facilitate substantial health changes within the body.
For the most part, pharmaceutical drugs treat the effects of our "dis-ease" states, not the underlying causes. According to United States Census Bureau and pharmaceutical industry trade associations, the number of prescriptions filled in 2005 by "retail pharmacies" was
3,293,383,324 ! *
Yes, over 3 billion prescriptions a year and that doesn't include all the medicines dispensed by hospital pharmacies are the prescriptions filled by mail order. And at the same time, recent news headlines are replete with reports about how the quality of life, life expectancy and infant mortality rates in the United States are lagging behind many other countries. Collectively, U.S. medicine is the most expensive, but not nearly the most effective.
For the most part, pharmaceutical drugs treat the effects of our "dis-ease" states, not the underlying causes. If one thinks about it, this band-aid like approach puts us on a "symptom treadmill", adding one drug for each effect. This is why we see so many people in this country that take multiple medicines on a regular monthly basis.
Pain and symptoms are the effects of imbalanced health - not the cause. In fact, many named syndromes and conditions are actually states of Dis-Ease rather than actual disease states. Natural medicine focuses on preventing disease and promoting healthy aging by treating causes rather than effects and one of the primary ways this is done is through the use of nutritional supplementation.
Nutritional Supplements, Vitamins, Herbs and Neutracuticals: What's the difference?
There are many vitamins and herbs on the shelves of he lath food and grocery stores. Now, they can even be found in retail pharmacies. At Natural Health Center, we are diligent to insure that we provide only the purest and most effective formulations. A simple example of this is calcium supplements.
Understanding calcium supplements:
If you look on the label of many brands, you'll see "calcium carbonate." Calcium carbonate is found naturally as the following minerals and rocks:
- Aragonite
- Calcite
- Chalk
- Limestone
- Marble
- Travertine
- Eggshells are composed of approximately 95% calcium carbonate.
The main use of calcium carbonate is in the construction industry, either as a building material in its own right (e.g. marble) or limestone aggregate for road building or as an ingredient of cement or as the starting material for the preparation of builder's lime by burning in a kiln .
Most retail calcium supplements are derived from Dolomite, Bone Meal or Oyster Shell. In addition to the fact that calcium carbonate is very difficult for the human digestive tract to absorb, some of these calcium sources may contain heavy metals such as mercury and lead.
One of the primary calcium supplements that we carry is Metagenics Cal Apatite because this formula provides calcium in an easy to absorb, non-mineral formulation called MCHC (microcrystalline hydroxyapatite concentrate) , an all-natural, bone-derived supplement that provides a full spectrum of highly absorbable macro- and trace minerals and other factors that comprise healthy bone-along with an active protein matrix with bone growth factors. The integrity of the raw bone constituent profile and organic factors may underlie the Cal Apatite difference.
Neutracuticals:
The term neutracuticals is a combination of the words nutrition and pharmaceuticals. Manufactures of neutracutials, Metagenics for instance, comply with strict internal regulations and have their own research chemists on staff. Unlike the FDA (U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration) which regulates pharmaceutical drugs (based on industry-financed testing), manufacturers of neutracuticals manufacture their products in strict compliance with GMP and are certified for GMP by the National Products Association (NPA, formerly known as the National Nutritional Foods Association or NNFA} and the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF International). Many are also certified through the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia to comply with Australian GMP standards.
Each batch is assayed (chemically tested) to insure that the active ingredients are both potent and safe. It's important to keep in mind that all products are not alike-no matter what the label or packaging may claim. Metagenics formulas are manufactured and handled in facilities that have pharmaceutical certification or are certified for good manufacturing practices (GMP) by the NPA, NSF International, or TGA. The Metagenics difference is quality. And quality can make a big difference in health outcomes.
Rigorously Tested for Purity:
You can feel secure with Metagenics products-they're all about purity. Metagenics takes other careful steps for your safety for products you can rely on:
- Purity-certified essential fatty acids from cold water fish
- Purity-certified microcrystalline hydroxyapatite concentrate (MCHC)
- Purity-assayed glucosamine sulfate
- Herbs selected and tested using the MetaBotanica® Method
- Third-party identity-certified probiotic strains
Q: How can I tell if a vitamin-mineral supplement is of high quality?
A: It is difficult to tell quality simply by looking at a tablet. Many factors (most of which are hidden to the naked eye) go into a high quality nutritional supplement, but the three main variables are:
- The quality of the science behind the product
- The quality of the ingredients themselves
- The quality of the manufacturing process
Quality science. The human body has often been compared to an extremely complex and wonderfully efficient machine. To function normally, it is extremely dependent upon a large variety of raw materials such as protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and so forth. If any of these critical substances are lacking in sufficient quantities, the efficiency of the "machine" suffers. The therapeutic use of nutritional supplements usually involves combining as many of these rate-limiting nutrients together as economically and physically possible, to provide everything required to focus on a particular health goal. If the nutritional supplement is poorly designed, key nutrients may be left out, or less important "window dressing" ingredients may be added that don't bring significant additional benefit. The product may then be inadequate to meet the therapeutic goals, or may be more expensive than needed. A reputable company will be able to provide scientific studies to support the formulation and its therapeutic value.
Quality ingredients. The same nutrient may be available in different forms. For example, vitamin E can be natural (derived from food) or it can be synthetic (manufactured). The natural, food-identical vitamin E is called d-alpha tocopherol, while the synthetic form is called dl-alpha tocopherol. That "l" in the dl-alpha tocopherol is the only way you can tell a natural from a synthetic vitamin E by looking at the label, but science has shown that there is a significant difference in the way the body uses it. Natural vitamin E is significantly better in its biological activity that the synthetic. Another example is found in minerals such as calcium or iron. Minerals are not found alone in supplements but as chemical compounds. The nature of that compound is related to the ability of the body to absorb and use the mineral. For example, calcium may be found as "calcium carbonate," which is inexpensive but relatively more difficult to absorb. Other forms of calcium, such as calcium citrate or MCHC (microcrystalline hydroxyapatite concentrate) may be more expensive as raw materials, but may also be much better utilized by the body. A manufacturer of high quality products will be able to provide documentation from the scientific literature on the specific ingredients selected that will help to explain their superiority.
Quality manufacturing. Even if the supplement is well-formulated and has high quality ingredients, care must still be exercised during the manufacturing process to ensure a quality finished product. If the supplement doesn't break down properly during the digestive process, it doesn't matter how well it's designed or what is used as ingredients! A manufacturer of high quality nutritional supplements will perform a number of different tests before, during, and after the tableting process to ensure quality in the finished product, and should be able to provide you with documentation to support their processes upon request. Providers of high quality supplements also have GMP-certified manufacturing.
Q: How can I tell if an herbal product is of high quality?
A: This is a very important question. Many people have tried herbal products only to be disappointed when they don't work as hoped. A large part of this must be laid at the feet of manufacturers hoping to profit from the explosion of interest in herbs without understanding herbal medicine. For example, many people know of echinacea as being an important herb for supporting healthy immune function. But only certain parts of the plant contain the substances that have established benefits. Some companies simply grind up the whole plant (stems, roots, leaves, flowers-everything) and sell that as "echinacea." People taking the whole plant expecting to get the therapeutic benefits described will often be disappointed. A high quality product will have the active ingredients necessary to give the health benefits known by traditional herbalists. So if you've tried herbs before and been disappointed in the results, it may not be the fault of herbal medicine.
As is true of nutritional supplements, it is often difficult to see quality in herbs simply by looking at the finished product. This is especially true with herbs, as the standards for quality are still being developed. Quality in herbal products begins with high quality raw materials. This means that the manufacturer must have an intimate knowledge of herbs. One dried powder looks very much like another, so a reputable herbal manufacturer will exercise great care in the raw material purchasing process, and should be able to provide such things as Certificates of Authenticity and other documents establishing the source and quality of the herb. Because the chemical makeup of the plant changes as it matures (bite into an apple before it's ripe and you can taste the proof of that point), selecting the herb at the correct time during the growing season is important. Additionally, different parts of the herb have different chemical constituents (and different effects in the body), so knowing which part of the herb to select is important. The delicate active principles of the herb must also be protected during the tableting process, so great care must be taken by the manufacturers here as well.
*Retail Prescription Drugs Filled at Pharmacies (per Capita), 2005. U.S. =
11
Notes: Data shown here are for calendar year 2005 and include the total number of prescription drugs filled at retail pharmacies only. Data are based on Vector One(TM):National by Verispan, L.L.C., which collects data from a panel of retail pharmacies, third party payers, and data providers. Retail pharmacies include independent pharmacies, chain pharmacies, food stores, and mass merchandisers found in 814 defined regional zones. These data include prescriptions filled at pharmacies only and exclude those filled by mail order. Retail prescriptions filled by mail order totaled 244 million or 7.2% of total prescriptions filled in 2005 according to industry statistics reported by The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (http://www.nacds.org/wmspage.cfm?parm1=507).
Sources: Calculations based on Vector One(TM):National from Verispan, L.L.C.: Special Data Request, 2006 and U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Population Estimate, http://www.census.gov/popest/datasets.html.