You can substitute any number of words to replace those in the heading, but they all amount to the same clever marketing strategy to get your attention. Social media is full of these messages and my emails are also becoming polluted by them.
Why are we so inclined to believe that a particular product is suddenly the answer to all our health woes? Also, why are we increasingly turning to the internet – whether it’s Socials, Chatrooms or Google – for healthcare advice? When did we stop turning to the qualified, fully trained health professionals, and why?
Rarely does a day go by when I don’t get asked about a particular product and “is this good for me?” Some (very few) are, but most are not. Please allow me to explain why this is the case and why these “superfoods” aren’t so super for your health.
The following information [quoted in italics] has been extensively researched and presented by Rachel Arthur who is one of our top practitioners and educators in integrative nutrition and health who is an internationally sought-after presenter and educator in the medical profession.
Let’s begin with protein and collagen products and why a balanced diet is recommended and, should supplementation be beneficial for you based on professional assessment, then practitioner grade TGA-approved is recommended.
While concentrated food-based extracts offer efficiency of intake, their separation from the whole food context removes the natural safeguards that typically regulate our intake. Without the satiety signals, nutrient balance, and volume limitations inherent to real food, these extracts can quickly tip from therapeutic to excessive. Think about protein powders — 20 g per scoop. Pop one in your smoothie and another in your pancakes, and a dollop for dessert. And if a single serve of collagen provides 15 g, then doing that twice a day must be twice as good, right? 30 g — here I go — in spite of the fact that even the highest meat eaters across all of history rarely exceeded 20 g per day.
Another fad that I continue to see is the green powders – many are vehemently marketed by MLM organisations. But consider what you are really getting:
Whether you’re talking about the multitude of green powders made from freeze-dried vegetables, or indeed super greens generally made from a mix of algae, chlorella, barley and wheat grass, all remain utterly underwhelming in terms of what they actually provide per serve. For example: 9 mg of magnesium, 34 mg of potassium, 7 mg of beta carotene — I mean, cook yourself half a cup of kale and you’re getting more. Even a nutrient-enhanced green powder — same superfoods but now fortified with synthetic vitamins and added minerals — remains utterly underwhelming, providing you with 42mg of magnesium and just 100 mg of potassium. Again, I think you’ll find this in about 65g of sweet potato and a whole lot more.
Quality and Testing Matter
I now need to explain the difference between the high grade TGA-approved practitioner-only products and what you can purchase online or in stores. Your qualified naturopath and/or nutritionist must meet educational requirements and continued education in order to remain abreast with most up-to-date research in this field. They are also trained in assessing your individual needs – we are all different – which ensures that you get what your body needs rather than what someone is trying to sell you. And, lastly, when you do the maths on cost, I have found practitioner prescribed products to be more cost effective, not to mention adopting a healthy varied whole-food diet. Here’s the evidence:
Let’s say we’re considering two different iron products. One is regulated like a food because it’s a so-called superfood, and one is a TGA-approved dietary supplement. Both products provide 12 mg of elemental iron per serve. So, let’s compare the pair.
The supplement based on spirulina or beef spleen, for example, because it identifies as a food, uses the one-size-fits-all RDI of 12 mg. So, this product can and will claim it provides 100% of the RDI for iron, with absolutely zero qualifiers. No mention of any exceptions such as menstruating, pregnant, or breastfeeding women — for whom, of course, it does not — yet often constitutes the key demographic they’re targeting with their marketing. And because it provides more than 50% of that RDI, it can claim itself to be, ‘an excellent source of iron’, in all its marketing on the label. In addition to that, it can broadcast lots of general health benefits, from improved energy, immunity, development of the foetus, and so on.
When I am asked about the efficacy of an online product, I often find that the information relating to nutritional analysis is missing. The reason for this is that the company is under no obligation to mention any other nutrient or metal, or their quantities, that are present in this product. They also have greatly reduced requirements for excipient declarations and warnings other than major food allergens. Likewise, they do not need to display any pregnancy-related warnings, for example, in the case of excess vitamin A exposure.
In sharp contrast, when we compare the pair, a TGA-approved iron supplement plays by an entirely different rule book, I’m sure you’ve noticed — ultimately because it’s a medicine, not a food.
Therein lies the difference – supplements that fall under the category of “food” don’t face the same stringent rules as those used in a professional clinical practice.
What always fascinates [and frustrates] me is that these inferior products can make all kinds of claims on their labels, yet the tightly controlled high quality TGA-approved remedies cannot make any claims despite there being [in many cases] years of extensive scientific research evidence. Go figure!
Whether it’s offal for iron or greens for minerals, it’s no surprise that we see so many entirely new brands with no background in the nutritional supplement space, and even individual practitioners — are all launching product lines keen to ride this wave of, well, a lot of white water, a bit of wild washing, and sometimes genuinely leading us all into temptation for that much sought-after quick fix.
What do you need to look for on the product label?
Any product that has been approved by our TGA will have an Aust-L number on the label. No Aust L means no mandate for independent testing of the source materials. That means no verification of the identity and purity of the powder going into the product. No first-hand assessment of the actual iron content or levels of any other micronutrient, for that matter. Nor testing to exclude a range of other contaminants, including PFAS, which have been flagged as a concern, particularly with respect to animal foods, generally, but offal especially, because recent research demonstrates beef liver, for example, contains on average 21 times the amount of PFAS in the muscle of the same animal.
The above fact alone should be enough to turn you right off. As should the fact that not only is purity in question, but also dosing guidelines and batch testing, which is often omitted entirely.
Still not convinced? Let’s look at another example:
A company with no background in medicine making nutritional supplementation buys food-grade offal from an overseas supplier — usually from an overseas supplier because there’s a general trend that offshore raw material is a heck of a lot cheaper. A bag of powder arrives, accompanied by something akin to a product passport that allows its entry into Australia, with specifications provided by the supplier including some very basic information — lot or batch number, date of manufacture, shelf life, country of origin, maybe country of slaughtering and processing, storage conditions, intended use “for human consumption”, some physical and chemical characteristics. In some instances, that supplier, with the specifications, may also include the certificate of analysis to save the Australian company from doing that — that is, the report of the results from heavy metal analysis for the four metals that are tested, and the microbial testing that that supplier provides themselves.
Don’t forget, the above examples have been very well researched and [sadly] reflect what’s really out there.
What you can do?
- Contact the company selling the product.
- Ask for their evidence of independent testing. Not just the mandated stuff — the microbial and the heavy metals — where is their independent nutritional analysis that shows how much iron, how much B12, how much vitamin A, how much selenium? Anything pertaining to the claims they make about their product. [You might also like to ask what forms these nutrients are to ensure they are not synthetic.]
- If and when they give you the links either via email or on their website, click the links. Sounds silly, but you will be absolutely flabbergasted at what they’re using at times as so-called supportive science, or the links alternatively just don’t work!
The best approach for any health-related advice is to consult a qualified professional – your GP for medical advice and a Naturopath/Nutritionist for dietary advice as there are no shortcuts or “quick fixes” when it comes to your health.
The above information is a snapshot of the research. If you are interested in learning more, I recommend you discuss this with your Naturopath or Nutritionist. Your health matters so consult a qualified professional and try and not get sucked in by clever marketing.
Thank you to Rachel Arthur and her research team who always provide the most recent evidence based information for practitioners, who have permitted me to share the above information.