Dietary supplement bottle labels

Pay attention to 3 must-see items first and avoid 2 common pitfalls. You don’t need to memorize complicated nutritional information tables, and you can avoid 90% of consumption risks and IQ taxes.

Speaking of which, two years ago, when I was helping a friend’s nutrition brand conduct label compliance audits, I saw the most outrageous chewable tablets that claimed to be able to “quickly replenish calcium.” The front of the bottle had “Calcium content 99%” printed in large fonts. When I turned to the back, I found out that it was the proportion of calcium in the compound. Calculated, each tablet actually contained only 20 mg of calcium, which was not as much as a sip of pure milk. At that time, I sent it back for rectification. In fact, reading the label of a supplement is like opening a takeout. The "luxury beef rice" printed on the cover is what the merchant wants you to see. Open it and see how many pieces of beef are inside, whether there are side dishes, and what is the shelf life. That's what you actually eat.

The first thing to scan is the "functional ingredients and content". Don't just look at the "antioxidant" and "joint protection" written on the front and then take out your wallet. Turn to the back to find the clear content label. For example, when buying grape seeds, look for proanthocyanidins, when buying liver-protecting tablets, look for silibinin, and when buying probiotics, look for the number of viable bacteria. There are now two different views in this industry. Brands that make popular supplements believe that the higher the content, the more cost-effective. For example, vitamin C should be selected with 100mg per pill to meet daily needs. ； The team that specializes in precision nutrition believes that it is necessary to match the dietary gap. If you eat oranges and kiwis every day, it is more appropriate to buy 20mg per pill to fill the gap, and it is not easy to overdose. Ordinary people don’t need to worry about which one to choose. Just calculate how much it will cost to take enough supplements. My habit is to use a calculator to calculate the unit price of the active ingredients. For example, of two collagen powders, the one with 100g for 30 yuan only accounts for 30% collagen. Calculated, 1g of active ingredients costs 1 yuan, which is more expensive than the one with 100g for 50 yuan and 80% collagen.

Don’t just focus on the content. The next thing you need to look at is the “unsuitable group of people.” Many people buy supplements only for their efficacy and skip this step directly. There are many people who fall into this trap. My aunt followed the trend and bought imported deep-sea fish oil. After taking it for three days, she developed red rashes all over her body. When she turned to the small print in the corner of the label, she saw it said "Contraindicated for those allergic to deep-sea fish and seafood." She was allergic to shrimp herself, so she happened to be surprised. There are also iron supplements that are not suitable for people with excessive iron load, lutein is not recommended for infants and young children under 3 years old, and ingredients prohibited for pregnant women in some multivitamins are also marked here. Even vitamin C, which everyone thinks is the safest, if you have a history of kidney stones, you have to check whether the labeled content is within the safe range.

Oh, by the way, if you are buying imported supplements from cross-border e-commerce, there may not be a domestic blue hat logo on the label, so you need to look for local compliance logos, such as USP in the United States and TGA in Australia. The review standards for these logos are also quite strict, and they are much more reliable than those from other brands.

There is also information hidden at the bottom of the label that is often overlooked - "storage conditions and shelf life." The last time I went to the supermarket, I saw refrigerated probiotics on the shelves at room temperature. When I picked them up, I looked at the label and it clearly stated that they should be stored at 2-8°C. Don't buy this kind. If you leave it at home for two days after wandering around on the road, less than 10% of the viable bacteria in it will be left. Eating it is no different from eating candy. There are also ingredients such as melatonin and coenzyme Q10 that are easily decomposed when exposed to light. If the label says to store them away from light, don’t throw them on the balcony shelf after you buy them. The active ingredients will be degraded within half a month. You should also be careful about supplements that are about to expire. If they are only 1 month away from expiration, especially probiotics and protein powders with high active ingredients, it is best not to touch them. The effective content is likely to be substandard.

After talking about the must-reads, let’s talk about the pitfalls that people are most likely to fall into. The first one is to take the slogan on the front of the bottle as fact. There is a lot of controversy in this industry right now. Regulators believe that ordinary food supplements cannot promote health benefits at all. As long as they don’t have blue hats printed with “assisted lowering blood sugar” and “enhanced immunity”, they are illegal. ； Marketers believe that as long as the ingredients are indeed supported by public research, it is not too much to guide consumers reasonably. We ordinary people don’t need to get involved in the debate, just look for the blue hat logo. All products with blue hats have their efficacy printed on the bottle verified through registration. If you dare to print absolute statements such as "seven days of whitening" and "radical cure of gout", you can turn around and complain.

Another pit hidden deeper is in the ordering of the ingredients list. I have seen a collagen peptide powder that is very popular. The first ingredient in the ingredient list is maltodextrin, the second is white sugar, and the third is collagen peptides. It is equivalent to drinking a bag and a half of sugar. The active ingredients are very few. It is better to buy pure collagen powder. There are also some tablet candy-like supplements that add a lot of flavors and pigments, and have more calories than a piece of biscuit. If you take them for two months, you don’t know if you have gained enough, but it is true that you gained three pounds first.

Oh, by the way, here’s a little reminder. If you are taking a medical-grade supplement prescribed by a doctor, don’t worry too much about the recommended dosage on the label. Just follow the doctor’s advice. After all, individual differences are much more important than the general standards on the label. If you are really unsure, take a photo of the label and show it to the community nutritionist. He will explain it to you in two minutes, so you don’t have to figure it out and pay the IQ tax on your own.