Health Food Manufacturers

Health food supplements are one of the hottest products selling on the market these days. Their total billions of dollars of consumer values in the United States alone. Recent surveys show that more than half of adults in the U.S. consume health food supplements in different forms such as tablets, capsules, powders, softgels, capsules and liquids.

The increased consumption of health food supplements can be attributed to public awareness of health issues and improve living standards in our society. Numerous studies have demonstrated a close correlation between health and nutrition. Insufficient supply of nutrients may weaken our defense mechanism of the body, causing diseases of medical problems common to more serious illnesses in the long term.

There are different types of health food supplements, including macronutrients (amino acids, proteins, essential fatty acids), supplementation with micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), enzymes (digestive enzymes and antioxidant enzymes), probiotics ( beneficial bacteria in the gut), and herbal. These supplements have unique functions in our body. They are either essential for life and good health, to modulate the immune system or with liver detoxification, digestion, mental clarity, etc.

Many people argue that there is no need to consume health food supplements as long as you have a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet. While this may be true, the fact is that maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet is difficult to achieve by many people.

In recent decades, the green revolution has changed the farming practices worldwide. We use chemical fertilizers, more pesticides to grow food to increase harvest and shorten the growth period. As a result of soil nutrients, and the population of beneficial soil bacteria are quickly depleted, and the products that we grow today contain less micronutrient before.

A stressful lifestyle, poor eating habits, imbalanced diet and increased exposure to chemicals such as environmental pollutants (air, water) and pesticides, drugs, hormones, heavy metals in foods also weaken our body gradually.

Although health food supplements may be beneficial to our health, consumers should always choose products with care. Currently, there is little regulation on the quality of health food supplements. Composition of some health food products can not match the label and the quality of raw materials and finished goods are not guaranteed. Therefore, consumers should buy only renowned manufacturers of health food products, read labels carefully and read literature like.

Here are some general rules for the purchase of health food supplements:

1) whole food supplements, natural sources are better than synthetic ones. They are more bioactive, can be easily absorbed and less likely to be contaminated by chemicals such as coal tars used in chemical synthesis.

2) Protein-bonded vitamins and minerals (vitamins and minerals in organic form, binding to amino acids) are more bioactive than the inorganic forms.

3) buy supplements using extraction methods safely, such as cold pressed extraction or supercritical extraction. This prevents harmful residues of chemical extraction.

4) Herbal concentrate and extract are generally more effective than raw plants.

5) organically grown or wild herbs are made less likely to be contaminated by heavy metals, pesticides and other chemicals.

6) Read the labels, do not consume more than the recommended dose.

7) Be cautious when consuming certain herbal supplements such as Ma Huang / ephedra, Kava Kava, comfrey, etc. Some studies have shown that these plants can cause serious side effects in some people. Stop use if unusual signs appear af.