Why are some supplements more expensive than others?

It’s human nature to want a good deal and save money. However, when it comes to buying supplements, they are not all created equal - and the price often reflects this!

Like the food we eat, the less processed supplements are, the better they are for our bodies. Naturally sourced ingredients tend to be more expensive due to the labour involved with growing, harvesting and processing them. Synthetic ingredients are cheaper to mass-produce thanks to their less time-consuming nature. The cheaper the supplement, the more likely it contains synthetics and poorer quality ingredients in general.

Natural and pure ingredients, that closely resemble how nutrients appear in nature, are more likely to provide the health boost you seek from supplementing your diet.

Extensive testing is hugely important when looking for high-quality supplements. You want to know that whatever supplement you’re taking has been tested by independent laboratories using scientifically valid methods and ethical lab practices. The unfortunate truth about most of the supplements you may find on grocery store and drugstore shelves is that they are not required to go under the same FDA test for safety and effectiveness as prescription drugs. In fact, the FDA only tests 1% of the 65,000 dietary supplements that are on the market.

Many of these products are loaded with fillers and synthetic ingredients, with little to no active ingredients, so that the supplement companies can save costs. Many manufacturers are also cutting costs by putting in the inactive parts of specific herbs and botanicals, which don’t offer the same healing effects as the herb itself. So a supplement may say that it contains Saw Palmetto, but it doesn’t contain the part of the plant that actually has healing benefits (even though you’re paying for it.)

Quality supplements and herb products are sourced from organically grown farms and wildcrafted herbs farms. Many of our Supplement companies also source herbs from other regions where climatic conditions are more appropriate for that herb. For example, Devil's Claw is best grown in the climatic conditions of the Kalahari Desert. As the indigenous community which grow these exotic herbs are reliant on their herb crops for their income they also take great care to ensure the sustainability and quality of these crops. Not all herbs contain the same levels of active constituents. Not all herbs are grown or harvested or dried or stored in the same way. Not all herb growers', suppliers', or manufacturers' standards are the same and not all methods to determine quality are the same.

That’s why at Balanced Body Wellness Centre, we take steps to ensure we are providing our patients with high quality, professional-grade supplements that meet rigorous testing and quality standards and have been proven effective clinically.

So instead of throwing your money away on shoddy, ineffective supplements, invest in quality supplements. Yes, they cost more but they are proven to get results.