Expensive Supplements, Or Walmart?

Discussion in 'Health & Wellness' started by Denise Evans, Nov 18, 2015.

  1. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    I'm reading up on a few supplements I'll list below. I also would love feedback on "what form" I could use some of these in such as the bulk Turmeric I might buy, and others like cinnamon, ginger. baswellia (which that last one I've never heard of).

    Ok, so I have a bad rotator cuff and I want to try all alternative "meds" for the healing I hope to get. I do exercises given to me by a physical therapists, and for this week, getting occasional relief from a sock filled with rice (heat in micro). Here are the things I want to purchase today to get started.

    Turmeric
    Calcium Citrate
    D3 (have a good supply of this already)
    Cinnamon Tea
    Ginger Tea (w/lemon)

    I think that is what I'll be able to afford, if I don't shop the high-priced stores. We have a Winco here as well. I want to hear from folks that take cheaper supps, but are getting good results, if they are getting as good as, or good results, especially on the Calcium Citrate. I also want Glucosamine and I think it's Chondroiten. Anything for joints/cartilage.

    A man named Doug helped me a lot, got me started on Gelatin, but I didn't stick with it. I am starting that again as well. He had amazing results/healing.

    Thanks for any input, even negative on cheaper supplements. Just would love to hear from folks on their experience;) denise
     
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  2. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I only take vitamin D3 and Omega3 supplements and my daughter buys them at Costco and always gives me one bottle.
     
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  3. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    Costco's Kirkland brand are rated at the top according to the site I'll link at the bottom, shoot, can't find it now. I believe Walmarts were second;)
     
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  4. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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  5. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Thanks Denise, my daughter buys all her supplements and things like advil too at Costco.
     
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  6. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    Yeah, like a lot of things, I get caught up in the hype about buying expensive crap when it's only about the "name", or the fancy store it's sold out of. Also, I've been reading about all the stuff folks are buying (supplements) that they don't need. There is info on that link about how many types of "dailys" there are for like every age group. Next thing you know it will be for "if you have blonde hair take these, if you have brown hair take these, LOL!!
     
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  7. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I eat a pretty healthy diet so my only concern was D because my last blood test showed I was low and that was because I had quit taking it when I ran out once...so ive been taking again faithfully.
     
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  8. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I get tumeric from Amazon, and it seems to be very fresh. the color and smell is a lot better than what you buy at the grocery store.
    I think that Costco or Sam's Club are about the same quality. We usually get our supplements when we go to Sam's Club. I also get the Joint Juice , which is a glucosimine-chondroitin drinkable supplement. The orange flavor is awful tasting; but the cranberry-pomegranite is delicious, and it is sugar-free as well.
    Supplements that are not available at Costco are usually found on Amazon, and the prices and quality are good, at least from the ones that I have bought there.
    Also, @Abby Normal , our friend Doug is here also, he is @Martin Alonzo .
     
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  9. Sheldon Scott

    Sheldon Scott Supreme Member
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    I only take D3, zinc and B12. Doug is here under another name.
     
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  10. Krissttina Isobe

    Krissttina Isobe Veteran Member
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    :oops:I need Ocuvite and the cheapest ones are at Walmart. Walmart has these name brands for a lot less and my eye doctor says that my eyes have improved. So things from Walmart is good for I buy their brand 2/6.62 for vitamins like B 12, E and my Mother just went for her 6 months check up and she got a good report from her doctor. She's off her diabetes 2 meds for a year now and her skin has improved too with coconut oil and olive oil, but the best is she's off her meds for diabetes 2 mostly because we changed our diet. I believe that buying from Walmart is alright for my Mother and I get good reports from our doctors and it sure is cheaper buying from Walmarat even if CVS and Walgreens has 2 for the price of one too.
     
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  11. Will Lawrence

    Will Lawrence Veteran Member
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    The linked article says that most folks don't need a multi-vitamin and there is no proof they actually keep us healthy. I started a significant vitamin "habit" a few years ago and really feel that has contributed to my staying healthy. Who knows. Might be able to change out the vitamins with placebos and have the same results. In the meantime, I'll stay with what has seemed to work.

    Every day I take...
    1 Senior male multi-vitamin for general health benefits
    3,000 mg Fish Oil to assist with cholesterol
    B-Complex for energy/metabolism
    1,000 mg Vitamin C
    A statin prescribed by my doctor for cholesterol control
    1 85mg Aspirin

    Cholesterol used to be high. About the time I would bring it down, they would lower the recommended levels. Now that it is within guidelines, still take Fish Oil and a statin to maintain. Also eat sardines for lunch 4 or 5 days/week. Annual physical coming up in a few weeks. Will be interesting to see where cholesterol levels are this year.

    Don't remember the last time I had a cold. I do carry hand sanitizer in my truck and use it frequently.

    We buy all our vitamin supplements at Kroger, using their house brand. The cost is competitive and we get added fuel points.
     
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  12. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We mostly buy our vitamins and supplements from Amazon because they have such a wide selection, but we also get some of the vitamins through our medicare advantage plan, which has an OTC benefit that can be used for over the counter health items, like vitamins.
    I have been reading some of Dr. Gundry’s books, and he also recommends supplements. Here is a video podcast on which supplements he believes are the most important, what form to take, how much, and why they are beneficial.
    Although he also has his own line of supplements, he is not pushing those in this video, just a good explanation of which supplements are important, regardless of where you get them.

     
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  13. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Very informative, @Yvonne Smith. I disagree with only a few points. #1 is that vitamin C is gone from your body in a few hours. That view was held for years and was used to attempt to discredit Linus Pauling after his Nobel-winning work was published. The view was held for years since it is a water-soluble vitamin, as are all the B vitamins...until they actually measured the output of ascorbic acid vs. the intake of the same. It was found that 1/4 to 1/2 of the vitamin C intake was excreted. Where did the rest go? After a long search, it was found in platelets in the bloodstream. It keeps platelets from premature aggregation, i.e. clotting. Without that storage everyone would develop symptoms of scurvy unless you constantly ate vitamin C containing food. He pointed out the inadequacy of the magnesium level measurement in the bloodstream, and I have mentioned that before. That applies to many things, not just magnesium, so don't get fooled by "normal" blood levels of nutrients unless you know what is being measured. I would put vitamin B6 into the list as well, and it is covered by the B-50/100 supplement mentioned in the video. I believe it is more effective for heart health than the methyl folate, but folate is very important for other things such as nerve development and function. B12 sublingual is very important for seniors, as many of us have a deficiency of intrinsic factor as mentioned in the video, particularly anyone who has a history of stomach trouble or distress of any kind.

    Of course, D3 has been shown to be essential for many things, especially after the Covid debacle, and is a proto-hormone, not really a vitamin, but very essential nonetheless...and its partner K2 for calcium in soft tissues. Vitamin D however, also does many things that K2 is not involved in. Enough form me, I guess;)
     
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  14. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    One thing about expensive supplements is that they sometimes spend their budgets on advertising rather than product quality. I subscribe to ConsumerLab, and their review of Omega XL (the "New Zealand mussel extract" infomercial) says that it contains very little DHA or EPA (the predominant omega-3 fatty acids found in marine oils shown to have potential health benefits.) There are 30 fatty acids claimed to be in the Omega XL, and of those only DHA and EPA are named on the label...the other 28 fatty acids are unspecified. And Omega XL does not provide the quantities (mg) for any of the ingredients, including DHA and EPA. ConsumerLab tested for levels of DHA and EPA.

    By way of comparison:
    -A 14¢ NOW Omega 3 capsule provides 200mg DHA/400mg EPA.
    -An 82¢ Omega XL capsule provides 44mg DHA/58mg EPA (per the ConsumerLabs test.)

    You get the same amount of DHA and 50% more EPA for under $4/month from NOW than you do for XL's recommended dosage costing $100/month (and that's on a BOGO special!) Dunno if the 28 unspecified ingredients are worth the cost, although the ConsumerLab article said that the standards for Omega XL's studies are "problematic."

    Regarding cinnamon...
    The cheap stuff is fine for occasional use (occasional cinnamon toast or as a spice in a slice of pie), but it contains high amounts of coumarin, which can damage your liver when taken "in excess." Ceylon cinnamon has only trace amounts of coumarin, but is more expensive than the regular stuff ($7/bottle versus $1/bottle.) I take it every day and a bottle lasts me 3 months at least. Here's an article on it. There are scams out there, packaging regular cinnamon but labeling it as Ceylon (like some generic Amazon packages.) Simply Organics is a brand that is said to be trustworthy, and I find it in my local Food Lion grocery store...and you can tell that it's not the cheap cinnamon. If you take cinnamon on a routine basis, you really want to use this one.
     
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  15. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Scientific reviews of both Omega XL and Relief Factor have stated both are essentially worthless scams. For years however, the medical community believed 10,000 units of Vitamin D would be fatal. Like the vitamin C stuff I cited elsewhere, they hadn't tested it. The reviews I read claimed to have examined the contents and the efficacy of both supplements though.
     
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