Life in Your Years Blog: Health, Finance, & More

Swanson Vitamins is currently running a buy one-get one deal on Vitamin D 2000 IU. Right now, the price is $6.39 for 500 capsules. That is right, for 500 capsules! I thought the normal deal, $6.39 for 250 capsules, was pretty good itself, but this is just amazing. 

I don’t know how long this deal will last, but I can tell you that I ordered 3 of them (for a total of 1500 capsules) yesterday. I should note that Swanson tends to be conservative on their estimates of expiration. From my observations, they seem to say their products expire 2 years from the date of manufacture. This seems too conservative to me.  Based on the expiration dates of other reputable companies, I have concluded you can effectively add 1.5 years (18 months) to Swanson’s expiration dates without worry of major potency loss. This means that taking full advantage of this sale (i.e. buying 1500 capsules) will safely last you for awhile!

PS – We have only updated this blog sporadically as of late. We hope to start posting regularly again, but alas, life happens!

Continuing my reviews of popular supplement companies, today, I want to review Puritan’s Pride in detail. This review is based on my experiences.

Overview

Puritan’s Pride is the mail-order, factory-direct, division of NBTY. Besides Puritan’s Pride, NBTY also manufactures Nature’s Bounty, Vitamin World, Rexall, Sundown, Solgar, and American Health products.

I have ordered from Puritan’s Pride since the summer of 2000, when I started getting into health again after a rather unhealthy hiatus, in which I ballooned up to 200 pounds. I had ordered from Lee Nutrition and Nutrition Headquarters in the mid-1990s, but by 2000, both companies were out-of-business, so I went looking for an alternative source of inexpensive supplements. Since 2000, I have ordered from them probably 25-30 times, so this review of Puritan’s Pride is based on quite a bit of experience. Some of the items I am familiar with include, B-Complex 50, Multi-Enzyme, and Fish Oil with Garlic.

Quality

Puritan’s Pride guarantees their products, and when tested by independent labs, all of Nature’s Bounty’s products, including those of Puritan’s Pride, perform very well. I feel very confident that Puritan’s Pride products are high quality. I haven’t had any quality problems with any of my Puritan’s Pride products.

Product Selection

Puritan’s Pride has a decent selection of products, most for great prices, although they seem to be slow to get some of the newer, cutting-edge products, and when they do, the price is often higher than their other products.  I wish they offered more multi-vitamins without iron, and with lower levels of Vitamin A (both of these concerns reflect newer research about supplementing with Vitamin A and iron). In this regard, their products seem kind of old-fashioned.  I am guessing most people with find what they need from Puritan’s Pride. I wish they had Bromelain 2000 GDU product, but I can easily get that elsewhere. Puritan’s Pride bought Doctor’s Trust a few years ago, and unfortunately, did not continue DT’s fine line of products.

Value

Puritan’s Pride always runs sales, and the key to getting the absolute best deal is to know which sale is running. I have never seen products sold for full price, so the deal you get depends on the sale they are having. They tend to have the following sales, listed below. I have placed the percentage savings off their regular price in parenthesis:

Buy 1, Get 1 free (50% off)

Buy 2, Get 3 free (60% off)

Buy 1, Get 2 free (67% off)

60% off

70% off

60-80% off

Rarely does Puritan’s Pride offer 70% off sales, or the 60-80% off sale (in which some items are 80% off, but not many). This means that the best regularly-offered deal is the “Buy 1, Get 2 free” special, which almost always runs every summer, and sometimes during other times of the year. Thus, I tend to stock-up from Puritan’s Pride products in the summer.

Puritan’s Pride does have several other sites, besides puritan.com, in which other sales sometimes run concurrently with the sale on puritan.com. These include puritansale.com, doctorstrust.com, vitamins.com, and puritancatalog.com. For awhile, puritansale offered 70%+ off many products, making it the best deal available, but unfortunately, most products on that site now are 50-60% off.

While I used to order almost all of my supplements from Puritan’s Pride, they have raised their prices on many products recently, and stopped offering some of their best sales as often as in the past. For this reason, I don’t always go to Puritan’s Pride to order my supplements.

Shipping

Usually the entire order is shipped out quickly, often arriving in a little less than a week. They always send out shipping notices via email, with tracking numbers. This makes keeping track of orders very easy.  A few times I have had to wait for back-ordered items, but very rarely. Typically, the back-ordered items are shipped out within a 10 days.

Service

Customer service is excellent and friendly. I have called them and emailed them in the past and they have always been helpful. I even emailed one of their representatives about the strength of their enzyme products (enzymes are measured by both activity and weight, and Puritan’s Pride only lists enzyme weight on their products), and she kindly contacted their scientists to find out the information I needed.

Overall

I consider Puritan’s Pride my primary supplement company, although this is changing to a degree as I have found other companies that offer better prices than Puritan’s Pride. They offer high-quality products for a great price, and are well worth checking out if you think you are paying too much for your vitamins.

About 6 months ago, I posted reviews of popular supplement companies, but I thought I would post more expansive reviews in a series of posts over the next few months. Today, I want to review DNE Vitamins (aka D&E Vitamins) detail. This review is based on my experiences.

Overview

I have ordered from DNE 3-4 times over the last five years. Two of these orders have been fairly large, and in the last year. Some of the products I have ordered include their Time-Release Vitamin C 500 mg, and Bromelain 2000 GDU. I consider DNE one of my regular suppliers of vitamins.

Quality

According to their guarantee, they have quality controls set up to ensure potency and purity. However, I haven’t seen their products verified in independent lab tests, so I can’t speak of a more objective way to guarantee their products are what they claim. The bottles are well-sealed, and seem well-made. All the bottles have child-proof lids. I have only noticed a few minor quality issues. First, the Bromelain tabs are a little flaky. Second, in one case, the label on the bottle did not match what was listed online (or what was listed on the other bottles I got of the same product!). This was fish oil, and I only buy fish oil with a little Vitamin E present to prevent oxidation. A few of the bottles did not mention Vitamin E. I suspect they did contain the vitamin, but it wasn’t mentioned.

Product Selection

DNE has a pretty wide selection of supplements, including some sports supplements I wouldn’t ever take, but I suppose there is a market for that sort of thing (but how many caffiene supplements can one company actually carry??). They seem to get new products regularly, and carry  national brands to supplement lack of selection in their own brand, Nature’s Harbor. From my perspective, they could use higher dose Vitamin D. Right now, all they have is 400 IU strength. Considering many companies are now offering 5000 IU pills, offering only 400 IU seems out-of-date.

Value

DNE’s regular prices are competitive. However, they occasionally have sales, which provide even lower prices. They had a “buy one, get one” sale last December on their own brands, and a “50% off” sale just recently that covered every item. These sales make DNE’s prices incredibly low, and more competitive than most other companies online. For example, I recently ordered their Resveratrol product. The cost? With the recent 50% off sale, it ends up being $1.00/g. I was paying roughly $3.33/g from Puritan’s Pride. I also got free shipping! The sales are announced by regular e-mails I get from DNE. I highly suggest signing up.

Shipping

DNE has been a little weak in this area.  Shipping has sometimes been slow. I placed an order on June 17, and it didn’t ship until June 26 (they said they had just switched to “a new mail system,” because it was supposed to ship June 19). Even though the main DNE website lists various components of my order as “in stock,” they aren’t, which means almost half of my order is even further delayed. When I placed an order in December, I waited over a month for the final part of my order to get in-stock and ship. They now seem to send out emails when an order ships (and you can check online if the order is back-ordered or shipped). This is a new feature, and must be a component of their new mail system.

Service

Customer service has been excellent. I have called a few times, but I usually just chat online. The customer service representatives have been very nice, warm, and friendly. Mary and Joan do a great job!

Overall

DNE Vitamins is a great source of supplements, with very low prices, especially when they run their best sales. The quality seems good, but sometimes the number of back-ordered items can be frustrating.

I have ordered from DNE Vitamins since I sent for a free catalog back in the mid-1990s. Recently they have been having some great sales, and I have ordered from them more than ever. Their prices are naturally competitive with the warehouse and catalog discounters, so when they have an additional sale, the deals are GREAT.

Right now, until June 22, DNE is having a 50% off sale, on your entire order. This even includes their national brands. Enter the coupon GET50OFF at checkout. Shipping is free for all orders over $89!!

Awhile back, I listed some supplement companies that I consider both inexpensive and high quality. I have found another that I will probably be ordering from in the future: Swanson. They seem to have a pretty wide selection, great prices, and a solid quality of guarantee.

I haven’t bought supplements from Healthy America for awhile, in part because in the last few years they haven’t run the great sales they ran back in 2006. This has changed this spring, as they have introduced some buy one, get one free deals, as well as giving 10 percent off orders over 60 dollars. Some of the items on sale include Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Acetyl L-Carnitine, Co-Enzyme Q10, Garlic, and Saw Palmetto.

Last year, Puritan’s Pride implemented a program called “Life’s Rewards” which gave a percentage of every purchase back to the consumer in the form of rewards. They were pretty generous with their rewards actually! However, when the last catalog came out, Puritan’s Pride also raised their prices on every item, around 5% or more! I don’t know if this was done to offset the cost of the Life’s Rewards rebates or not, but the timing is suspicious.

Well, recently, there is no mention of Life’s Rewards on the Puritan’s Pride site, and they are now advertising their new, lower prices (which seem to be the lower, original, prices in most cases).

Puritan’s Pride told me they are re-evaluating the Life’s Rewards program. I can’t imagine a price increase during this economy was a good idea, even if it was to be returned as a reward rebate later.

This explains the mystery of what happened to the Life’s Rewards program! Puritan’s Pride is an excellent company, and I think that keeping the base prices lower, and re-tooling the Life’s Rewards program is probably a good idea.

While I do not believe that supplements make up for an unhealthy lifestyle, and that they should be used strategically and smartly, I do believe that they have a place in an overall healthy lifestyle. Shopping for supplements can be confusing, and in some cases, prices are radically inflated from one company to the next. Below is a list of the supplement and vitamin companies I like, and order from. I am a very picky shopper, especially when buying supplements, because some companies sell ordinary ingredients at inflated prices simply because they give their products fancy names. Don’t be deceived. The companies’ prices listed below are reasonable, and they are generally reliable. I hope these reviews are helpful, and help you find cheap, high quality supplements.

Puritan’s Pride – This is by far my favorite company, with excellent prices, and high quality (as demonstrated by independent tests). Their selection is good, although sometimes they are slow to get specialty products. They have a “sale” site, Puritan Sale, with even better prices.

DNE Vitamins – I first learned about DNE in 1994, and I have ordered from them sporadically since then. They recently had a great sale on their own products (Nature’s Harbor). Their products seem to be of good quality, although I haven’t investigated if their products have been independently verified. They ship out pretty quickly, although I am still waiting on a back-ordered product. I am not a huge fan of some of their products (myriad caffeine pills, ephedrine, etc)

Healthy America - For awhile, I ordered supplements from Healthy America, but they stopped having great sales, and don’t have as many product choices as they once did. I have generally been satisfied with their products, although the quality of a few was low. For example, a B-Complex product (they no longer sell it) looked like it had soaked in water even when it was freshly opened. Their website seems to be rarely updated.

Vitamin Shoppe – I discovered Vitamin Shoppe probably about 4 years ago, and I like their prices on certain items, although they are kind of high on some things (like Omega-3). Since they have an online store, and have stores in many areas, ordering is convenient. They are also a partner with Citi Card, so I get a rebate when ordering using my Citi credit card (to get this you have to go through the Citi reward website).

Wonder Labs – I just discovered Wonder Labs a few weeks ago. I placed an order recently for some Christmas presents for my dad. I mainly discovered them because I was looking for a generic version of Wobenzym. Doctor’s Trust used to have a good generic version of Wobenzym called Movenzyme, but now that Puritan’s Pride owns Doctor’s Trust, they no longer have the product. Wonder Labs has a (kind of) equivalent product, called Proteolytic Digestive Enzymes, which is actually stronger per tablet than Wobenzym, although I don’t know if it is enteric coated like Wobenzym.

Vita Cost – I have known about this site for awhile, but just re-discovered them recently when looking for some brand name supplements for my dad. They have some great deals on brand names, but the best deals are their own brand, NSI (Nutraceutical Sciences Institute), which actually sounds pretty pricey. Their Co-Enzyme Q10 prices are great, and so are some others. They ship out the same day if you order early in the day!

Vita Glo – Of all the brand name supplement companies, I like NOW Foods the best, because they are quality supplements with reasonable prices. The best place I have found to get them is Vita Glo.

I got an email today from DNE Vitamins, offering a Buy-One-Get-One-Free deal on all of their brands of Vitamins (including their main brand, Nature’s Harbor) for the time period around “Cyber Monday.” The code is CYBERMON, and is valid through tomorrow (December 3rd). However, when I ordered online, the invoice didn’t reflect the offer, even though I typed in the code. I had to call DNE to get the deal, but the lady on the phone was helpful, and I got a great deal on quite a few supplements I take regularly. DNE’s regular prices on supplements are very competitive, so this deal is pretty great, which is why I wanted to share it with you.

I first discovered DNE back in 1993 or 1994, when I was bored in study hall in high school. I would go to the library and read health magazines, and call companies that advertised in them to see if I could get free products, or in the case of DNE, a catalog. I got quite a few free supplements that year.

Somebody searched this phrase to get to our site, so I thought I would answer the question.

From my personal experience, yes, it is okay to break open a fish oil softgel and consume the contents inside. However, remember, we are not talking about tasty olive oil here, but fish oil, so don’t be surprised if, when you break it open, it smells and tastes like FISH.

I know what fish oil tastes like from experience. I bring some vitamins to work to take with lunch. One day, when I brought my lunch to work, I kept it in the refrigerator until lunch. Brilliant me decided to keep the fish oil softgel in the bag with the almonds, which was in my lunch bag, because I refrigerate my open fish oil softgels (so they won’t go rancid quickly). By lunch, I had forgotten there was a fish oil softgel in the bag with my almonds, and when I bit down into a handful of almonds, I felt a squirt of fish oil burst in my mouth. It was not a pleasant experience. Needless to say I don’t mix softgels with almonds anymore.

When most people think of nutrients, they likely think of Vitamin C. Championed by Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling for many years, this vitamin is associated primarily with the common cold. Most animals manufacture their own vitamin C, and they manufacture a lot of it when they are under stressful conditions. Humans lost that ability somewhere along the evolutionary time-line, so many doctors suggest supplementation is necessary. As an antioxidant, it is believed that vitamin C prevents free radical damage to the body.

A basic deficiency results in Scurvy, a disease that affected many sailors during the age of exploration because fresh fruits and vegetables were unavailable. It wasn’t until 1747 that Dr. James Lind carried out a little experiment and determined that it was a substance in food that prevented Scurvy. Intellectuals of that age initially ridiculed him, but the lime juice that the British took with them on voyages helped give them naval superiority, hence their opponents called them “limeys.”

Vitamin C has shown to be beneficial against heart disease, in which those who took more than 750 mg/day (well over the RDA of 60 mg), had a 25% lower risk of heart disease.

A study of 870 men found that those who consumed more than 83 mg of Vitamin C a day had a 64% reduction in lung cancer than men who consumed less. Others studies show similar results with other cancers.

Vitamin C taken internally (and possibly even externally) has an anti-wrinkle effect, so vitamin C is good for skin health too. Jennifer and I use a Vitamin C face cream, which we bought from Puritan’s Pride. We also add our own Alpha-Lipoic Acid and Co-Enzyme Q10.

While Vitamin C is not a cure for the common cold, it does seem to help prevent it, and lessen the severity of colds when taken as a preventative measure.

Vitamin C also seems to be effective in a variety of other conditions, so it is most worthy of being a nutrient of the month!

I take about 750-1000 mg of Vitamin C a day, in 250 mg doses spread throughout the day. If you take too much at once, you will just pee it out since it is water soluble. I tend to take just plain old Vitamin C (L-Ascorbic Acid), although other forms (like Ester-C) may be easier on the stomach and possibly stay in the body longer. I take vitamin C to prevent the diseases I listed above, as well as for its antioxidant, anti-stress, and anti-inflammation properties. Since vitamin C supplements are very inexpensive, cost is not really an issue (if you order it from the right place, a 500 mg tablet costs about 2 cents)

The best sources in food are strawberries, citrus fruits, broccoli, and sweet red peppers. Bioflavonoids (for a time called “Vitamin P”) are thought to aid the absorption of Vitamin C. They are found in the white rinds of Citrus, and other foods, so drinking orange juice with the pulp would hypothetically help vitamin C absorb better (and bioflavonoids, like Rutin, have a lot of benefits themselves!). You won’t find vitamin C in meats and cheeses, i.e. foods common in bad diets, so many Americans may not be getting the optimal amount.

Image of lemon and lime juice containers taken by me (in the background a banana, itself with a decent amount of vitamin C).

I’ve been into vitamins and other supplements for years, but I had fallen into a habit of taking them only occasionally, which given my poor diet (I literally ate sausage pasta for dinner every night for several months), meant that I was probably not reaching optimal levels of certain nutrients if not outright deficient! That changed on August 6th when I decided to get serious about my health. Other than purposefully taken “vitamin holidays” I’ve always taken my supplements. And, I’ve noticed differences in my general health too. For example, in spite of vigorous workouts 6-7 days a week, I never have experienced joint pain. I attribute that to taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM. If I need a little mental boost, especially before workouts, I take an Acetyl L-Carnitine. I take Green Tea to help my metabolism too. I take many other supplements, all of which supply something that I need. I would recommend researching supplements very carefully and then making a decision about which ones to take with your doctor. For a good summary of supplements, including current studies and balanced conclusions, please visit the website of Dr. Ray Sahelian.

Before each workout, I usually take a cocktail of supplements, along with lots of water, each chemical serving a purpose. I have listed them below. I want to make known that these are, of course, legal supplements, because I would never use drugs, illegal or legal, to get a better workout (kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?). I freely admit that some of these nutrients and their benefits remain unproven, in that the research behind them is based on smaller human studies, and studies on animals. I also admit I might seem a little nuts for taking all of these, but here goes. Note that I have researched these carefully, and I am not taking any prescription drugs that may interact with these supplements. Always consult with a doctor before starting any supplement regimen.

Green Tea – Right now, I take a Green-Tea, Alpha-Lipoic Acid supplement that I got at a dollar store on clearance. I will switch to Puritan’s Pride Green Tea Extract capsules after that runs out (and possibly take Puritan’s Pride Alpha-Lipoic Acid, 100 mg, with it). Green Tea has been shown in studies to increase the effectiveness (calories burned) of a workout. I don’t care for its taste, but drinking a few glasses prior to working out would likely be effective too. Green Tea contains caffeine, so if you experience any side effects of caffeine consumption, like rapid heartbeat, etc, stop exercising. Cut your green tea dose next time.

Vitamin C – Vitamin C has been shown to reduce inflammatory stress on the body during exercise. I am not sure if this is due to its antioxidant status or not, but regardless I am covered. I take 250 mg prior to a workout. I read somewhere that one study showed that taking 1000 mg or more may actually reverse the vitamin’s effect on workouts, so it is prudent to stick with around 250-500 mg. I currently take Healthy America‘s Vitamin C 500 mg tablets, split into two.

Movenzyme - This is a generic version of Wobenzym, a popular enzyme supplement overseas. It is available in the U.S. too. Unfortunately, Movenzyme is no longer made, so I am just using up my stock, and I can’t afford Wobenzym. Wobenzym contains protein-digesting enzymes, which when taken on an empty stomach, do not digest food, but act as potent anti-inflammation agents. Studies have shown that enzymes taken this way have benefited arthritis sufferers, helped those with athletic injuries recover more quickly, and exhibited a very powerful anti-metastatic effect  in rats with cancer (the last when taken rectally). Movenzyme contains the enzymes Pancreatin, Bromelain, Trypsin, Chymotrypsin, and Papain. Enzymes may have a mild blood-thinning effect, so as with all supplements, consult with your doctor before using.

Bromelain – Bromelain is a mix of protein digesting enzymes contained in pineapple, particularly the root. I take it prior to a workout for the same reasons listed above, for the lessening of inflammation and related athletic injuries (studies show that the enzyme effect is the strongest when taken prior to an injury). I take Now Foods, 500 mg of 2000 GDU Bromelain. I buy it from Vitaglo for a good price. “GDU,” gelatin digesting units, is a unit of Bromelain’s strength. Most experts recommend a higher GDU, which basically means that 1 mg of 2000 GDU Bromelain will digest twice as much protein as 1000 GDU Bromelain.

Pancreatin – Pancreatin is basically hog or beef pancreas extract. It sounds kind of gross, but believe it or not, the pancreas of an animal is not only edible, but considered a delicacy by some (it is often called “sweetbread”). I take Puritan’s Pride Pancreatin 1400 mg. You may wonder why I take all these enzymes. Well, studies show that to have the desired effect, you have to take quite a few, since the absorption rate of enzymes into the bloodstream is relatively low (the anti-cancer effect in the rat study linked above was 45 mg of protein digesting enzymes for every kg of body weight).

Rutin – Rutin is a sugar, and is found in the rinds of citrus fruits. It exhibits an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect, and is a source of Quercetin, one of the two nutrients (along with Resveratrol) that Drs. Oz and Roizen mention as having strong anti-aging possibilities because of their relationship with sirtuin. Rutin contains Quercetin, in that Rutin is a complex sugar consisting of Quercetin and Rutinose. I currently take 50 mg of Rutin before working out, from Puritan’s Pride, although it looks like they only sell the 500 mg tablets now (Rutin is dirt cheap, and I can split the tablets into fourths).

Acetyl L-Carnitine or DMAE- ALC is a form of the amino acid Carnitine, and is thought to help improve memory and enhance brain function. DMAE, found naturally in Salmon, is supposed to have similar effects, so I tend to take a half dose of one or the other before working out. A lot of people (including myself) notice an enhancement of vision, perception, and mental stamina after taking one of these supplements, usually about 30-40 minutes after taking it. I currently take 150 mg of ALC or 50 mg of DMAE (from Puritan’s Pride) before a workout, although to avoid any possible side-effects, I don’t take them together. I am not implying these nutrients are unsafe, but I play it safe with unproven substances. To take the half-doses that I do, I have to break open a capsule and empty half of the powder in a large spoon, and then reseal the capsule. I drip in a little water, let the chemicals dissolve slightly, and then its bottom’s up! ALC tastes sweet, and DMAE tastes awful. Acetyl L-Carnitine and DMAE can make a person jumpy, and if you get a rapid heart bear, etc, you should stop exercising, and cut back next time. Same for DMAE. Because of the mild mental effects, I wouldn’t take it near bedtime. Personally, I wouldn’t take more than the doses I listed at once.

Whew…Okay, that’s about it. I should note that for the enzymes to be effective you have to have an empty stomach when you take them. This means you must wait 2-3 hours after your last meal. I have tried to list the places I have found with the best prices, since supplements are often overpriced if you don’t buy them from the right places.

A drug company has filed a petition with the FDA to outlaw a form of Vitamin B6 (pyridoxal 5′phosphate) because it is doing research with it, and wants to have it declared a “drug.” Because this pharmaceutical company is researching pyridoxal 5′-phosphate as a drug, then their circular reasoning implies that P5P supplements are “adulterated” with a “drug.” It doesn’t make much sense, but this is what they are requesting of the FDA. I am not opposed to all pharmaceuticals, and use them when I need them. However, I worry when pharmaceutical companies try to use their money and sway to get government agencies to outlaw cheap, safe, natural, alternatives to their drugs.

Hi…my name is David and I am addicted to vitamins (and that includes herbs, minerals, a few amino acids, a handful of enzymes, some lipids, and even a phytoalexin). Is there a 12-Step program for vitamin addicts? Well, if so, I think I need start working the first step, but I guess I have to admit I have a problem first.

Ok joking aside (or am I?), I admit I have been fascinated by supplements and nutrition, and after theology, I read more about health than any other topic. I think I took an interest in health because in junior high I was a bit pudgy, which was caused in part by genetics. Eating too much, lying around, and playing too much Nintendo may have played a part…but other than these minor factors, it was definitely genetics, *ahem*. I also had fairly thin hair growing up, and was convinced that I was going to go bald when I was older. Incidentally, at 30, I still have about as much hair as I did when I was 15, which is a full, but thinly spaced, head. I was, and am, proactive, preferring action to b*tching, so knowing that bald fat teens don’t usually get a lot of hot dates, I started taking my health seriously. Jonathan checked out Lendon Smith’s Diet Plan for Teenagers from the library, which I read, and my interest in health, nutrition, and supplements was born.

Even at age 14 or so, I tried to change my diet, started exercising, and bought some vitamins at the local health food store. I think I bought Folic Acid, Iodine, and maybe vitamin C. It’s written in an old high school planner somewhere. It snow-balled from there. I even remember checking out health magazines from the library and contacting advertisers from the back and seeing how many free supplements I could get. I have always liked to read, and after a night of football practice, going out on a date, or whatever, I would usually retire to my room, put on some Bob Dylan songs, and read, often from health books. I eventually found the mail order supplement company Lee Nutrition (and its sister company, Nutrition Headquarters), with its testimonies from people from quaint sounding towns that I suspected didn’t actually exist: “Thank you for your vitamin C. It really helped me feel better. Sincerely Jennifer G., Santa’s Village, IL.” So I ordered some of the supplements that I had read so much about: Chromium, Vitamin E, Alfalfa, and others. I discovered Lee Nutrition in the back of a magazine of my grandpa’s, maybe AARP, I can’t remember, but discovering mail order vitamins saved me some money.

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Even though I was “into” health in high school, I went through a fairly unhealthy stage during my senior year of college, and I stopped taking supplements, started eating too much, and quit working out regularly. I remember eating three large meals a day, topped off with two small bags of salsa verde Dorritos and a pint of whole milk. I got out of breath climbing the dorm stairs, and did not feel very well. I felt tired all the time too. I weighed 205 pounds (my all-time high), and felt tired all of the time. In high school, even though my weight would fluctuate at times by about 10-15 pounds, I usually just wore 33 pants…my senior year I had to buy 38 pants…how embarrassing!

When I got to grad school, I knew I had to get with it. Not only did I start eating well again and exercising, I started ordering supplements online from Puritan’s Pride, and I began to use the internet to find studies about supplements and conditions they might treat. Over the years, I have started taking different supplements based on the newest research (for example, vitamin D, which at one time I wondered why supplement companies even bothered making since it seemed to have little therapeutic benefit…boy was I wrong!). I also stopped taking a few after research showed no benefit or perhaps harm (Beta-Carotene, for example).

I still take quite a few supplements, including herbs (Garlic), enzymes (Bromelain), lipids (Fish Oil), miscellaneous (Co-enzyme Q10), and minerals (Magnesium and Selenium…on days my dietary intake is low, which is rare thanks to regular consumption of nuts). I have even added some new supplements to the mix (Acetyl L-Carnitine and Alpha-Lipoic Acid) rather recently. I enjoy laying out my supplements the night before I take them, and organizing them; this kind of orders my day, and if anything, allows me to feel in control of at least one aspect of my health. I try to micromanage my intake so much that I often break up tablets into fourths, and even try to get a few doses out of some capsules, which means I have to open the capsules and mix the contents with water. Let me share my insights with you about this latter point: Acetyl L-Carnitine is sweetish, DMAE tastes awful (or at least the filler does), and Japanese Knotweed (a source of Resveratrol) taste a bit like tea.

So maybe I am addicted to supplements. I have told my wife part of it could be the same reason I like trying new foods: multiple colors, textures, etc. Or maybe I just want to be healthy and this is one way to do it. It sure beats taking drugs I guess, and one study showed that those folks who take a lot of supplements actually are pretty healthy.

Images taken by me. This article originally appeared on my personal blog in modified form.