"What's The Best Brand?"

"What's The Best Brand?"

Working in a health food store I'm often asked a question that is quite perplexing.  It's a simple question that I thought I knew the answer to until recently asked this week.  The question was:

"How can I tell if this is a good brand for supplements?"

When I was asked this question, all my training and all my knowledge could not give a straight up answer. 

Many sales reps come in my store and tell me why their products are the best and why they are so much better than the competitors.

-Then I deal with products being advertised as the latest and greatest products on the market.

-Then I deal studies, that prove a supplement has been ineffective in a double blind study and it gets printed in a major newspaper.

It can get very confusing!

My head started to come up with many ideas to help solve the simple question I was asked by my customer this week.  Thoughts swirled through my mind and I finally laughed and gave her the only answer I could....

"There really isn't one good answer to give you!"

I laughed but then I drew out some facts that made it a little more clear on how to tell if the brand you are buying is a good quality supplement.

 

Here were the answers I laid out on paper!

1.  Major supplement stores only keep HIGH quality an reliable brands on their shelves.

 

2.  No supplement brand is the BEST at everything, but they do have certain supplements that stand out in their supplement line.

 

3. Make sure the brand has been out for at least 5 years and continues to sell to satisfied customers.

 

4.  Make sure the brand is found mainly in health food stores and not in BIG BOX stores.  When supplement brands don't need to pump out excessive orders you can rest assured they are not being cheap on the raw materials in the bottle.

 

5.  Ask people with experience who work in health food stores what their favorite brands are.  They have been working in the industry awhile.

 

6.  See if the brand you are buying is in more than one health food store, if it's not people may not trust the brand.  You will need to do your homework but it give you piece of mind.

Even with this list you may not get down to the bottom of the answer of:

"Which brand is the best?"

but at least your search for that answer is sure to be narrowed down.

Remember to come back to the health food stores it's the right way for you to get the best information on the supplements that you have been wondering about.

Stay healthy and stay motivated
Shane Chartrand