By Dr. Trina Ting
From March 2023 Office Newsletter
I thought I’d write a short article on how to decide when and what type of nutritional supplements might work for you. I say short, because entire tomes have been written on this subject. There are no shortage of shoddy and poor quality products containing nothing but filler out there. So what should we be taking and why should we purchase from professional product lines vs. retail pricing?
1. Cost: While the over the counter, drug store brands of vitamins will certainly not hurt you, you may be getting little more than filler. It costs money to extract vitamins and nutrients, and in addition, ensure purity of source. Omega-3 oils in particular, are prone to heavy metal contamination depending on the source of the oils (if it’s from fish). So while professional grade products cost slightly more, the quality is exponentially higher and better value in the end.
2. Trusted Names: Companies like Seroyal/Genestra and CanPrev have been in business for decades. Their products are used by thousands of practitioners around the world, from naturopaths to chiropractors, and there is a proven track record of safety and compliance with Health Canada. The other bonus is that these are Canadian companies.
3. Clinical Guidance: When purchasing from clinics like ours, we offer our guidance and clinical thoughts, knowing your medical history and health goals. When you go to the grocery store, there’s no extra knowledge or guidance given. Dosages of active ingredients vary widely between companies, so while it may seem like more is better on first glance, if it’s not bioavailable or able to be digested in the manner given on the bottle, the product is effectively rendered useless.
Our clinic pricing on products is competitive or even less than the pricing in other health stores on our product lines, because as health care professionals, we are allowed by the companies to pass on professional discounts to our patients. Pricing is set by the companies in order to allow for fairness in retail, so this is an extra little perk we can pass on to you.
If you have questions about how specific supplements may help you, we are happy to discuss this on your next chiropractic visit, at no extra charge. It’s part of our holistic health model: inflammation and pain often come from within. Proper nutritional health may be a good step towards healing chronic pain.