Are supplements just "expensive urine"?
It's a fair question—supplements can seem like a bit of an investment (one we think is a wellness essential!) but you definitely don't want to feel like you're literally flushing (excuse the pun) your money down the toilet, right?
Here are our top tips in ensuring any nutritional support products are in fact being absorbed into your system for you to enjoy the benefits of.
First and foremost, not all supplements are equal. The quality, dosage, ingredients and their forms and all come into play to determine whether or not a supplement will actually make the difference it claims to.
When it comes to nutritional supplements, you really do get what you pay for. If you're interested in exploring how nutritional supplementation can support your energy, immunity, and general wellbeing, it's worth paying for quality products that contain quality ingredients. You want to actually notice them making a difference to your health.
How to find supplements that are worth your while:
1. Ingredient forms & Bioavailability
The same nutrient can come in a range of different forms. Some of these forms are more absorbable than others. For a supplement to make a noticeable difference—or any difference at all—it must be able to get into your system.
Nutrients don't work in isolation. Some supplements pair the key nutrient up with another to support its absorption.
For example, minerals are more bioavailable when bound to a protein.
2. Dosage
Once you've tracked down nutrients in forms that your body can use, they need to be in present in quantities that will actually make a difference.
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) are frequently listed with the ingredients on the bottle. However, RDAs are only the minimum amount of a nutrient you need to avoid disease. In order to nurture and enjoy the benefits optimal health, we need to be getting optimal levels of nutrients. Some ingredients will have more than 100% of the RDA listed on the label. This is not essential but typically a good sign.
3. Ingredient Range
When looking for a multivitamin in particular, check to see how many ingredients it contains. The purpose of a multivitamin is to cover a broad spectrum of nutrients that you might not be getting from your a diet alone, every day.
BePure One contains over 50 bioavailable ingredients in each capsule (and a handy base of raw, organic greens) to ensure that nothing's being left behind!
4. Quality
Quality is important for all supplements, and especially important when looking for an effective omega-3 fish oil. Many fish oils on the market are damaged, low quality, and full of heavy metals. So rather than nourishing your body, they may well be just creating more work!
Check for the purity, meaning it's low in or free from heavy metals.
Check for oxidation, meaning that the nutrients haven't been damaged.
Check for high levels of EPA/DHA omega-3 fatty acids. Research shows that the daily intake of EPA/DHA needs to be higher than 1000mg to make a difference.
Ideally your fish oil will also be sustainably sourced. That's better for you and Mama Nature!
Bonus question you might be wanting to 'ask for a friend'…
"But my urine is highlighter yellow sometimes! Is this all the nutrients from my supplements going right down toilet?"
When taking a multivitamin, it is a common experience to notice highlighter yellow urine.
Why is that? It comes back to the ingredient range we started talking about in question 3 above. Multivitamins should contain a broad range of micronutrients to ensure that all bases – that may not be met from your daily diet alone – are being covered. While you may have adequate levels of some nutrients on Wednesday, it's likely that you won't have adequate levels of every single one of them, every other day of the week.
A common culprit for yellow urine is typically your B vitamins. These are water-soluble, which means your body cannot store any extra of them. For this reason, we need to consume them each day. Our bodies are smart and know which ones are needed to boost the stores, which ones are fully stocked and which extra ones can be excreted.
Have any questions? We LOVE talking about nutrients, ask away in the comments below.
