Beverly International - DPS Nutrition [Archive]

JeremyLikness

September 23rd, 2004, 01:13 AM

hmmm I take it you guys like them? I might switch over from my Yourlife Daily Pak Maximum. Are the worth the premium? They are about 10 bucks more than the stuff I take now. My daily pack consists of

1. Multivitamin Caplet
2. Vitamin C Caplet
3. Vitamin E Softgel
4. Panax Ginseng Caplet
5. Chromium Picolinate Tablet

I take my packs soon as I wake up and so far so good. I used to take centrum but decided to switch it up with these packs. So if you have any suggestions or comments about the pills I take or the packs listed above let me know.

thanks
Emilio

PS - sorry to hijack your thread!

Emilio, there is really two ways to approach this - cost-based and value-based. If cost-based, then the discussion of how effective, ingredients, potency, etc goes out the window. For example, there are plenty of $5 multis on the market and that makes cost-based people feel good about it ... no worries there.

For those who are value-based, and want to receive the benefits that are touted and written about in journals, then the rule of "get what you pay for" applies.

Now, before I continue I will state that I am an independent distributor for a specific multivitamin. Many here know that, and it is important you know as well so you understand that there is bias. However, I will also refrain from naming this multi because I'm not going to tell you ours is the ONLY quality multi out there ... there are a few, however, you are not going to get any of the ones that deliver what they promise from a grocery store or for $10 for a month's supply.

There are a few reasons why.

First, many of the less expensive multis simply don't combine the vitamins in the proper ratios. Any cursory investigation will demonstrate that certain vitamins compete for each other, some vitamins increase the ability of the body to absorb other multis, etc. The USRDA are established independently for various ingredients, so they do not take into account interactions. Therefore, taking a 100% Vitamin E is entirely different than taking a 100% Vitamin E with a 100% Vitamin D due to their interactions.

The USRDA also is based on the minimal amount for survival. Most people taking multis are already surviving, so they are looking for optimal health. As an example, Vitamin C is recommended at 60mg because this is the minimum needed to prevent scurvy. Many studies show that much higher doses - up to 2 grams per day - have positive health benefits, so here is where 100% of the RDA is great to avoid scurvy, but for recovery and other health benefits going higher might be necessary.

Next, there is bioavailability. Selenium is a perfect example. I am not in the camp that synthetic is bad just because it is synthetic. Synthetic can actually be good because there is more control over the quality. However, in the case of selenium, there is a ton of research that shows selenium has positive health benefits. The issue is that selenium is available in both organic and synthetic forms. The studies are with the organic form. The organic form requires a process to isolate the active ingredient and is therefore magnitudes more expensive to use than the synthetic. Many companies looking to compete on cost rather than value will simply use the inferior portion, knowing that the consumer only looks at the quantity instead of the quality or bioavailability of the ingredient. Using the right selenium alone is going to increase the cost of the multi.

Next, many multis cover the basic ingredients they know the general public is familiar with. In other words, most people know to look for Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Vitamin C, etc. So this is what is covered to give the consumer a warm fuzzy. In fact, there are many compounds just as beneficial that simply aren't as well known by the public. For example, CoQ10 for circulatory and cardiovascular health, alpha lipoic acid for glucose metabolism, and olive extract for the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet just to name a few. Most companies will cut these out because they can make their product cheaper and they know the average consumer won't notice those ingredients missing from the nutrition facts label.

Now, this is the major class of companies and the ones that give the people who want to make cost-based decisions or engage in drunkalogues about being flat broke and not affording them yada yada a warm fuzzy (I say that with sarcasm because the same people who tell me a $20 multi is expensive probably spend twice that on beer, movies, dates, etc, so they are trying to convince me they're broke when in fact they simply have not prioritized their health).

When you get into the class of multivitamins from companies that really care and want to provide a quality product, they are not only going to spend the extra time, research, and money to put the right ingredients in the right amounts, they will go beyond that. For example,

1. They will engage in pharmaceutical grade GMP (good manufacturing practices). It's great when you see 100% USRDa on the label but the truth is that you might only be getting half that. The FDA allows supplement manufacturers to use food-grade manufacturing, which means they don't have to test raw ingredients for purity and can even have a process that allows impurities like dust to end up in the multi. It is expensive for companies to comply with these FDA guidelines, and therefore they must price their product higher, but the end result is that you get what you pay for - what's on the label is in the bottle, and this is verified through a third-party process:

http://www.cgmp.com/

2. They will adhere to the USP standards for dissolution:

http://www.usp.org/

This means the multi is tested to make sure it is packaged so that it can dissolve and become properly digested. When this does not take place, there is a good chance that instead of peeing out your multi (expensive urine, some people call it) you are just passing it through.

Of course, all companies that stand behind quality will give an unconditional guarantee as well.

It is understandable there is so much confusion about multis. First, for decades, physicians recommended that you can get all you need from food. This is monkey-see, monkey-do, everyone repeats the same old advice without learning where it came from and suddenly its like a religion, set in stone. In fact, the Journal of the American Medical Association recently released their paper indicating that multivitamin supplements ARE needed because a myriad of factors has depleted the nutritional value of even vegetables and fruits so we cannot get adequate coverage from those alone.

Second, many do not realize that the second leading cause of death in the year 2000 was poor diet and lack of exercise (the first was smoking). Most people while getting excess calories and becoming obese are actually malnourished ... they are not getting adequate nutrients. It is no mistake that millions per year suffer from degenerative disease because they fail to provide their body with the nutrients it needs to regenerate or even protect itself from degeneration.

I could go on and on but believe me, nutrition is my passion and I have an extensive background there. You can continue to throw $10 around at cheap multis that are basically a "feel good" benefit because you feel good that you are taking something recommended by doctors, or you can invest a little more in something that will actually work for you because it is delivering the ingredients not only promised on the bottle, but shown by science to be beneficial to your health. This is not just my company, as I mentioned, companies like Beverly are dedicated to quality (the company cannot say pharmaceutical grade unless they actually adhere to the FDA standards) so while you may continue to make cost-based decisions, I encourage those reading this thread who focus on value to really make a value-based decision and go with the multis that go the extra mile for you, rather than simply trying to cut costs and make a quick profit on bulk sales.

Jeremy