Becca Monaghan
With supplements experiencing another social media spike, with more and more people becoming invested in health and wellness, one prominent brand on the market has posed the question: Do you actually know what’s in them?
Celebrity nutritionist Sarah Carolides opened up to Zooki co-founder Jack Morrison about the ingredients of some of the world’s best-selling multivitamins, claiming that some are toxic and only 10 per cent of supplements from online retailers in America actually contain what they claim.
The interview, titled Why Most Supplements Don’t Work, made some shocking discoveries. One of which is that 40 per cent of the 57 supplements contained zero of the nutrients outlined on the label.
A further 50 per cent contained some, but not the full amount. Only 10 per cent of them were correctly labelled.
In a study of 135 supplement brands in Australia, only 20 per cent of them had their ingredients confirmed by lab testing and in the UK’s Which? found supplements from three major high-street retailers that didn’t contain what was on the label.
In an even more shocking revelation, it was found that out of the 57 supplements tested by researchers in America, 10 per cent actually contain illegal ingredients based on FDA regulations.
“Perhaps the most shocking one,” Sarah highlights “is DL-alpha tocopheryl acetate. This is a synthetic form of Vitamin E derived as a waste product from the petrochemical industry.
“It’s a petrochemical waste product that has no business going into the human body. Let alone as a supposed health supplement. It’s not the only one.”
She continued: “Thiamin mononitrate is a synthetic form of vitamin B6 derived from coal tar. Yep, I just said coal tar and guess what else comes from the chemical industry? Chromium III chloride, a completely inorganic chemical that should not enter the human body.”
“Sadly, these are not the only synthetic ingredients in there,” Sarah explained. “There’s the synthetic form of folic acid, called pteroylmonoglutamic acid; synthetic selenium (sodium selenate); phylloquinone (synthetic K1) and cyanocobalamin (synthetic B12). Then there’s calcium carbonate, ferrous fumarole and various other nutrients in here that have notoriously poor absorption. Oh, and I forgot to mention the palm oil and the synthetic bulking and anticaking agents. How this concoction is sold as a health aid is completely beyond me!”
Without third-party testing and stricter regulation, manufacturers are finding ways to cut corners through cheaper alternatives for profit.
Zooki are on a mission to put the consumer first, with high-strength products that actually contain the ingredients outlined on the package. Theirpatent-pending Zooki Liposomal Encapsulation ensures the Zooki Liposomal range of liquid and capsule products are clinically proven to provide nutrients with four times greater absorption when compared to conventional supplements.
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