Quality Whole Food supplements help arm retailers with the significant case that they are offering the best products available in the supplement industry— along with the best information.
Shopping for supplements at discount stores or large chains such as WalMart or Walgreen’s, consumers may think they’re getting a deal, but in reality are most likely getting cheap synthetic vitamins.Which leads to the most important point of differentiation for health food stores.
According to the latest reports, more than 53 percent of Americans are taking supplements. About 59 percent of women take supplements compared a somewhat lower proportion of men (47 percent), which is up from only about 42 percent in the1980s.
James Gibbons, president of Nature’s Plus (Melville, NY), pointed out that statistics also show supplement purchases are increasingly moving to mass outlets and the Internet. “But while these cold and impersonal venues have certainly perfected efficiency, they have alienated whole segments of consumers who prefer a more personal relationship,” he said. “This sentiment has ushered in a resurgence in the popularity of health food stores, where consumers can actually get advice from real people.So while there is relative stagnation in the sales of cheap supplements, health food stores that carry high-quality supplements are experiencing healthy growth.”
Wholesome whole foods have evolved over the past several years. As consumer interest in whole-food nutrition has grown, so too has the supply of whole food materials, which can be included in supplements. Recently, there Has been a surge of interest in certified organic whole foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals, as well as their whole food cofactors, Gibbons added.
In her store, Nila Jo Long, owner of Nila Jo’s Natural Nutrition in Chester, WV, shared sales of whole food supplements, including organic, are growing across the board. “People are aware that our food sources are depleted and they are looking to help their overall health,” she said. “They’re eating more fast foods and convenience foods than they would like and they know they’re not as nourished as they should be, so they want the best supplements they can get.”
Ken Whitman, president of the Austin, TX-based Natural Vitality, noted that while whole-food components are very important, all whole-food supplements are not necessarily powerful supplements.“When the whole food sources are organic, they are more expensive but they don’t contain any pesticide residues or GMOs. When the food sources are nutrient dense, they are also more expensive but provide more health benefits. So, if you are using premium ingredients, there will be more cost, but it’s a cost-benefit proposition.”
And there is the all-important issue of bioavailability, Whitman added. “The supplement needs to be delivered in a form that the body will break down and assimilate So you actually get into the issue of pills versus capsules versus liquids as well as the quality and quantity of nutrients contained in the formulations.”
Whole Foods Offerings
In the case of Vectomega®, EuroPharma’s Terry Naturally’s whole food omega-3 fatty acids supplement from salmon, the benefit is that with less processing, the DHA and EPA are identical to what one would find in whole salmon. “The benefits are akin to what you see when people eat a diet high in fish consumption—except without the worries of heavy metals,” said Cheryl Myers, chief of scientific affairs and education at EuroPharma, Inc. (Green Bay, WI).
The process used to make Vectomega, “vectorization,” is a gentle, Natural enzyme process, Myers explained. Within an hour of the wildfarmed salmon harvest, the whole oil phospholipids are separated from the fish with enzymes and coldwater wash.
“Because of vectorization, omega-3 fatty acids are retained on their natural sn-2 position, and are carried by phospholipids, making them absolutely identical to the omega-3 fatty acids in the human brain,” said Myers. “This perfect match allows the body to absorb and use the fatty acids much more efficiently.Plus, vectorization is an earth-friendly method of creating a supplement, and the fish used are food-grade and no part is wasted.”
Nature’s Plus recently launched a new Source of Life Gold line of multivitamin, mineral and whole foods supplements.Each product contains a multi-colored rainbow of certified organic whole foods. “Unique to the certified organic whole foods in Source of Life Gold are the relatively high quantities of foodderived vitamins and minerals, as well as the whole food cofactors that work synergistically with them,” said Gibbons.
The vitamin C in Source of Life Gold is derived from Indian amla berry, which is certified organic in accordance with both U.S. and E.U. standards. “This ingredient’s concentration of natural vitamin C is reason enough to hail it as a natural marvel,” added Gibbons. “But when you consider that over 10 percent of this material is natural amla berry bioflavonoids, you start to understand its true wonder, as well as the genius of Mother Nature’s design. When Mother Nature creates vitamin C in an orange, She bestows the same orange with bioflavonoids, the very nutrients that improve vitamin C performance in humans. Here, we have certified organic ingredients that supply both high concentrations of vitamins, as well as abundant levels of synergistic whole food cofactors.”
Lester Burks, CMO of Life Line Foods (Pikeville, TN), agreed that the new focus on whole food supplements is a good thing, highlighting how his company’s new Purely Organic™ line is an industry first. “All of our products are produced in our certified organic facility and we already had many products with whole foods in them, but the Purely Organic line is the first multi-vitaminmineral complex to earn the USDA Certified Organic seal. They provide the most innovative use of whole foods.”
Natural Vitality uses organic superfruits, vegetables and fruits in its Organic Life Vitamins, Energy28 and Kids Calm Multi. The company also uses organic aloe vera, which contains 200 biologically active ingredients and a sustainably grown nutrient-dense chlorella. “Our formulations are capturing the attention of consumers not only because of the premium quality and good taste, but also for how they make people feel which is, of course, the most important thing,” said Whitman.
That’s true for retailer Juditha Woods, marketing coordinator and sales assistant with CDR Naturals in Bourbon, MO, who said she attributes increasing sales of whole food supplements, despite their higher costs, in part to the immediate effects customers experience. “Some Supplements can take a couple of weeks before you notice them working, she said. “Whole foods supplements work fast. Your body assimilates them like foods. The stomach thinks it’s eating greens out the garden and absorbs them better and reacts better.It’s natural energy and you will notice it very quickly.”
Creating the Best Products
Burks offered that while his company’s organic line is more expensive than its other supplements, he stressed that retailers should be careful how they explain these products so that customers don’t view them as a cure-all.
“Many manufacturers are responding to the whole food trend by providing products with a large variety of different foods,” he said, “but you really have to do the math. You have to analyze the quantitative amounts of each whole food that you’re getting. For example, if you had a thousand milligrams of 120 different whole food ingredients, it would only approximate one-eighth of a teaspoon of each whole food. How much dietary value is one-eighth of a teaspoon of food? Will you have significant results from eating such small amounts? Are these truly dietary supplements?Some people think that they can take a product that contains whole foods and skip eating more fruits and vegetables, but research shows this is a dangerous mistake. While some products use common foods that customers can eat every day on their own, we have taken a more scientific approach.”
Identifying what the consumer really wants and then collaborating with suppliers, farmers, researchers and others to make the demanded natural nutrient a commercial reality, is the ultimate manufacturer challenge. “This is particularly difficult when it comes to whole food supplements,” noted Gibbons.
“Several years ago consumers began to get angry when they discovered that some brands were wallpapering their bottles, brochures and advertisements with pictures of whole foods, while in reality merely feeding synthetic vitamins to yeast and calling the mixture a whole food supplement. Indeed, yeast may be technically considered a whole food, but when most consumers think of whole foods, they think of the kind you would find in the produce section of a grocery store.”
At EuroPharma, initially making sure there was a sustainable source of salmon proved difficult, said Myers. “The bigger challenge since then has been that people have become so accustomed to having to take such heavy doses of fish oil to be effective that there’s a bit of a disconnect when they see a serving size of ‘one tablet’ on our boxes of Vectomega.
We really value educating our retailer partners and health food consumers, so part of our responsibility is making sure that the message about the convenience and effectiveness gets out there in a way that is clear.”
Efficient Delivery
Manufacturers want the ability to increase the amount of whole foods in a tablet or capsule without making the tablet or capsule size any bigger. Instead of including a random assortment of powders, mesh sizes are chosen at specific ratios in order to follow the natural tendency of materials to the most efficiently packed state, said Gibbons. Nature’s Plus uses this phenomenon as part of its Opti- Micron™ technology, which is used in Source of Life Gold tablets and mini-tabs.
“In academic circles, it is called Apollonian geometry and it can be seen when you put many marbles of the same size into a container; they form a regular hexagonal pattern,” Gibbons explained. “This is the formation of highest efficiency (most marbles per unit volume). You can add different sized smaller marbles and still maintain the pattern, but only if the added marbles fit within the spaces between the original marbles. Otherwise, added marbles would disrupt the pattern and Ruin efficiency. Thus, a particular set of particle size ratios, which are governed by the laws of nature, enables optimal potency in whole food supplements.”
Some manufacturers face the dilemma of how to retain the properties of a whole food and still package it for convenient use. “They take the whole foods and ferment, culture or isolate them to extract the vitamin,” said Burks.“Purely Organic vitamins are condensed— not extracted—from organic whole foods and include the synergistic nutrients that support the vitamin’s function in the body. Many people are realizing the value and convenience of whole food liquid supplements. Others understand the superior bioavailability that liquids provide.”
However, retailers should be aware that producing a liquid supplement is not easy, said Burks, who would know as his company has led the way with its Original Liquid Advantage™. “Because we are the inventor of the Original Liquid Advantage, we have had years of experience to perfect this demanding Science,” Burks added. “Further, even though liquids are one of the best delivery methods for easier digestion and absorption, retailers should investigate the track record and production methods of newcomers to the liquid supplement market.”
Whole Food Information for the Customer
When retailers are choosing between whole food supplements, quality is paramount.“Just as you can find cheap produce at discount stores, you can also find cheap whole foods in discount vita- Mins,” concluded Gibbons. “You know the cheap fruits and vegetables are lower in healthful nutrients, so you don’t want them on your dinner table. But, while you may be able to identify dry, bland apples or wilting, off-tasting lettuce, you will be hard pressed to identify the cheap whole foods in a dietary supplement.That is unless you have a wellequipped laboratory. That’s why Nature’s Plus randomly sends each of its products to an independent FDA-registered laboratory for an independent assessment of quality, every year. Thus, independent proof of quality is the primary characteristic consumer’s should look for. Without independent proof, it is impossible to know for sure whether you’re getting what you’ve paid for.”
Retailers should examine carefully the amounts of whole food that a product contains, added Burks, and they should caution customers that small servings would not replace the value of actual whole food in their diet. “Retailers should evaluate whether a whole food supplement has adequate potency.
There is a misconception that because a supplement is made from whole foods, you need less potency of the vitamins and minerals. But this is not true. A supplement is meant to augment the diet because many people don’t even get the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamins each day. Few people realize that the RDA is but the bare minimum of the vitamins that we need.
These recommended amounts are the least that we need to prevent illness.”
Further, studies have revealed a steady decline in the bioavailability of vitamins in the food produced by modern crops. Retailers would also be wise To analyze the sources and amounts of whole foods in the supplements, Burks noted, adding that the Purely Organic line offers 100 percent USDA certified organic whole food nutrients. “Not only that, the foods we have chosen aren’t necessarily foods you’d eat every day, but they also pack the greatest punch. Do you eat lots of Whole annatto or amla berries? Yet these foods are loaded with vitamins we need. It takes a real science to acquire the nutrients and leave the benefits in the whole food.”
Finally, retailers should remind customers that any supplements or vitamins are not meant to take the place of a whole food diet. “Eat healthy? Yes, but pick supplements that are loaded with more nutrients than you can eat so that they can do the job that supplements are supposed to: add to your diet,” Burks said. “Some people think that they can take a product that contains whole foods and skip eating more fruits and vegetables, but research shows this is a dangerous mistake.”
