Which Supplements Are Equal Across Companies?

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program. I frequently recommend supplements from brands that are either tough to find or more expensive, like AOR, Genestra, Thorne, Metagenics, and others. Those tend to be my preferred providers, because they make supplements that fit my criteria. And no, I don’t have a financial interest in any of these.

This isn’t an article that goes into details about how to tell the difference between similar-looking supplements. After all, what’s the difference between one multi-vitamin, and another? Or the difference between one vitamin C and another? Apparently, pretty big. But I covered that in an article called “Nutritional Supplements: How Do You Determine Quality?” That article basically tells you what makes a supplement “Igor-approved.”

So I was recently asked when quality is fairly universal across supplements. When the quality between, for instance an AOR supplement and a good ol’ Jamieson or Kirkland (which can be found at Shoppers Drug Mart and Costco) isn’t all that big.

Original source: here.

B Complex, B12 and Vitamin D 

The answer to that question is “not many.” There are vast differences between a good multi-vitamin and a Jamieson/Kirkland multi-vitamin. Same goes for most other supplements, like probiotics, joint health formulas, fish oils, neurological formulas, and others. And by the way, I pick on Jamieson and Kirkland just because they’re so popular and well-known. There are A LOT of other really bad supplements.

But in some areas where quality is fairly even across is the B complex. Another one is isolated B12.

And lastly, vitamin D seems to be of equal quality throughout.

Basically in my mind, I have an idea of what makes the “perfect” supplement. Again, that’s covered in this article. And because generic brands seem to fit those criteria, I have no problem recommending those in these cases.

This, by the way isn’t an exhaustive list, and I’m sure there are likely other supplements that are pretty even in quality across companies, but these are just a few examples.