Did you know...
The consumption of food supplements and energy drinks in all industrialized countries, including Italy, has increased in the last years.
Very often the consumer, particularly if it decides to buy a product for the first time, needs to make a choice that may result difficult.
The question is always the same: what are the best supplements and how to choose them?
It is hard to give a clear answer because there are several factors to consider and it is important to understand at first what your body needs.
What we propose in this article are some guidelines that can guide consumers to choose the best supplement:
- Supplements must be authorized by the Ministry of Health: there are supplements on the market of dubious origin, without the required authorization. Why is it important? Because in this way you have a guarantee of safety standards of the product that you are going to buy.
- Check who produces the supplement that you want to buy: always label, our handbook to analyze a product, look who produces it.
- Read the nutrition label and ingredients: remember not to be fooled by names, slogans and phrases used to get your attention and designed to make you buy the product. The fancy name does not correspond to a more effective product. The true effectiveness of a supplement is its composition and ingredients, which are always written on the label in the "Ingredients" and in the "nutrition facts". The ingredients must be listed in descending order quantity.
- What are claims? These are the phrases that are used to describe properties and physiological effects of a product. Claim can be used in a distorted way in order to attract the consumer's attention, sometimes deceptively (eg 100% Protein: suggests that the product contains only proteins, even when these have a concentration of just 70-80% while the remaining 20-30% is made up of carbohydrates and fiber). In Europe, health claims must be approved by the European Commission which confirms the veracity according to a series of scientific studies verified and approved.
- Larger amount is not always the most effective: you often think that higher quantity of an active ingredient corresponds to an higher efficiency. It's not so! First you have to follow the instructions on how to use. Then we have to consider that our body can metabolize small amounts of nutrients, usually corresponding to 0.3-3 times the nutritional values of reference (VNR 30-300%). The rest is eliminated!
- Purity of the product: best quality corresponds to a higher purity of the product. For example the percentages of proteins on the market can be very different, but also that of amino acids. We can easily establish the purity of the product with the percentage content in the nutritional table. Another useful index is the absence of artificial additives or hydrogenated fats and preservatives.
- Price should not be first: of course it is important to save money, but always remember that these are products we are going to ingest and which therefore can have an effect on our health. Low prices often correspond to lower quality that may depend on the choice of raw materials or purity of products. Warning that foods such as olive oil or wine with lowest prices correspond to products with lower quality can be extended to supplements.
- Other certifications: are not required but can provide additional guarantees of quality (eg ISO 22000).
Here are some suggestions based on our experience that don't want to be exhaustive, but we hope can help you to make the best choice.