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What are the basic rules for choosing a quality food supplement?
There is an increasing demand among large sectors of people to buy nutritional supplements, with the aim of promoting public health, especially after the advice given by doctors during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, when they called for supporting “general immunity” by taking vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins: D3 K2 C Zinc, and other nutrients.
These recommendations prompted millions of people to go to pharmacies and online stores in order to obtain these supplements, in the midst of a huge market, and an annual trade worth billions of US dollars, without distinguishing between the types of supplements, which made them choose in many cases types of low quality and low effectiveness, and some of them are even It backfires.
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Basic rules!
Dietary supplements, it is necessary to be carefully chosen, in order to achieve the desired benefit from them, and therefore it is advisable to take into account the following points:
1- Determine the goal. When wanting to buy a supplement, it is necessary to determine the desired health goal, before purchasing it, in order to make the right choice. When a person wants to get a supplement that supports rapid sleep and muscle relaxation, he will not go to buy vitamin E, for example, but rather he will search for a magnesium glycinate supplement, because the latter is what will lead him to the desired result.
2- The product is suitable for age and gender. Where there are products intended for different age groups, and their formulations are designed to comply with age and gender needs as well.
3- There is no conflict between the nutritional supplement and the chemical medicines that people take to treat some diseases.
4- Stay away from chemically manufactured supplements. The human body deals with vitamins made from chemicals in a way that prevents them from being used, and views them as foreign substances, and therefore resists them, so the absorption process is less. In addition, these “manufactured” supplements are some of them created from petroleum derivatives, or contain heavy metals or plastic impurities, which makes them harmful to public health.
5- Natural resources. The highest quality supplements are those that come from natural, organic, pure animal and plant sources, not exposed to pesticides, not genetically modified, and not subjected to laboratory chemical treatment.
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6- No harmful fillers. High-quality organic products cost the manufacturers more money, so some of these companies choose to put a lower percentage of the active substance in the food capsule, and add fillings to it to fill the product, with the aim of reducing the material cost. These fillers are usually made of cheap materials, but they can cause major problems or disrupt the action of the active substance. Therefore, it is important that the product be free of any harmful additives, such as: sunflower oil, sugar, rice… and other substances that must be avoided.
7- Balanced composition. It is not enough for a person to take a supplement to obtain the desired benefit, as it is important for the buyer to read the components of the dietary supplement, and pay attention to the percentage of the active substance, and if its concentration is less than the required dose or within the correct range for it. In addition to the balance of other ingredients. For example, when buying vitamin D3, vitamin K2 must be with it, because the latter is responsible for transporting the first from the blood to the bones, and if vitamin D3 is taken alone, this may pose a health risk in the long run.
8- The product must be tested by a third party. That is, there is a reliable, neutral party that has tested the product and made sure that the information on the packaging is accurate, and that it does not contain any pollutants, chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, or was tested on animals in an unethical manner.
9- Choosing reliable companies. There are hundreds of companies that sell nutritional supplements around the world, and many of them are interested in making big profits without caring about the quality and content of the product. From here, companies with a reliable reputation should be chosen, and have guarantee certificates from non-profit medical and food bodies, indicating, for example, that they are: natural, organic, non-genetically modified, pesticide-free, gluten-free, environmentally friendly.
10- The freshness of the product. The more recent the product is, not outdated or nearing its expiry date, made from fresh animal and vegetable products and from reliable sources, the more useful and sustainable the supplement will be until its quantity is exhausted.
11- Packaging and storage. There are companies that are interested in making food supplement packages non-plastic, as plastic is toxic to the human body. Therefore, it is better for the packaging to be opaque glass, with a tight metal cover that includes an oxygen absorber, so that the capsules do not oxidize. It is better to store the packages in places that do not reach the light, dry, with a moderate temperature.