How to choose the right food supplements?

It can sometimes be difficult to navigate the wide choice of dietary supplements available on the market. What are the best products for a particular goal? What should you pay attention to on a dietary supplement label? Nutrimuscle guides you in choosing your first dietary supplements.

What is a dietary supplement?

A dietary supplement is a foodstuff, which can be found in powder or capsule form. These foodstuffs are intended to supplement a balanced diet. They constitute a source of nutrients, alone or combined with other substances.

Why take dietary supplements?

Today's diet rarely allows one to reach the recommended daily nutritional intake. With intensive agriculture, soils are depleted and lose their nutrients. The vitamins and minerals that were once abundant in the soil are now present in low proportions.

Animals raised for livestock are now fed soy and corn, foods that are too rich in omega-6 and unbalance the omega ratio. Western countries are the most affected by this: it leads to numerous health problems (cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, obesity, etc.)

The daily lifestyle (stress, pollution, aging, etc.) tends to weaken the immune system, making it more vulnerable to diseases. Therefore, supplementation helps to achieve or compensate for a lack of nutrients, necessary for health or sports goals.

For example, an athlete looking to gain mass rarely reaches the number of calories needed per day. They can use a Gainer, a carbohydrate-rich supplement, to complement their caloric intake to their sports goal. Thanks to supplementation, they can also progress more easily, target fats, improve their recovery, or even preserve their joints.

How to choose a dietary supplement?

It can sometimes be difficult to navigate a wide choice of dietary supplements. What are the key elements to decipher on dietary supplements? How to check the purity of a product? Nutrimuscle lists the easily verifiable criteria for choosing the healthiest and most effective supplement.

• The concentration of active ingredients

The ingredient list should be as short as possible. Obviously, it must comply with European legislation standards.

The concentration of each active ingredient must be mentioned. Be sure to compare the concentrations between different dietary supplements. Indeed, some brands use a low dosage, which is therefore ineffective. Conversely, a dosage that is too high and therefore harmful to health can be found.

Always respect the product's dosage and consume it as indicated. An overdose of vitamins or minerals can also affect the body. For this, pay attention to product combinations that contain the same active ingredients.

• Composition

The addition of other ingredients can affect the effectiveness of the products. Certain additives and preservatives degrade the composition of active ingredients and can compromise health. Most additives are harmless provided they are consumed in small doses.

If a substance is added to a dietary supplement, it must demonstrate real effectiveness for the product. If the addition is not justified, there is a chance that the composition is not optimal.

Beware of heavily discounted dietary supplements. Some brands use raw materials nearing their expiration date, cut with flavorings to extend the expiration date. This is a common and easily identifiable practice since prices are up to twice as cheap. Prefer dietary supplements that guarantee high-quality raw materials by relying on studies or certificates.

Check the bioavailability of the components. Bioavailability refers to the ease with which the body absorbs the ingredient. Good bioavailability is always mentioned by quality suppliers.

The same applies to active forms, especially for vitamins. Each vitamin has an active and inactive form that must be mentioned on the ingredient list.

The mention "standardized extract" for plant extracts guarantees the presence of active ingredients. The extraction process isolates the active ingredients from the inert matter of the plant. The solvents used for extraction must be harmless to health and the environment. Most of the time, they are composed of water and ethanol. The proportion of each solvent is important: the more water in the extraction process, the better the component.

• Origin of ingredients

Sometimes, products bear the mention "natural origin" for certain ingredients. This mention can be reassuring, but it does not guarantee a better product. Indeed, some components can be of synthetic origin and harmless to health, or even more effective. It is relevant to inquire in some cases.

From one region of the world to another, food products are not subject to the same regulations. Check that the list of ingredients complies with European standards (organic, purity index, GMO-free...). A product complying with kosher and/or halal standards must show a quality certificate or a standardized certificate.

On the supplier side, microbiological analyses can be carried out to check the quality of raw materials. In some cases, methods related to their production and their impact on the environment are published on the supplier's website.

The country of origin, extraction methods, and different components of the ingredients can be verified through technical data sheets.

Brands with their own factory are more interesting because they have total control over their merchandise and quality. Information such as supplier names is a positive point: access to certifications is easier and verifiable.

At Nutrimuscle, our factory allows us to supervise our production, from raw material storage to package packaging. Analyses are conducted by external laboratories, and we only work with suppliers who certify the very high quality of their raw materials.

• How to choose your proteins: the aminogram, biological value, and origin

Biological value corresponds to the efficiency of the body in digesting protein. This data is rarely published because it requires a long study process. When the biological value is mentioned, it is interesting to pay attention to it.

The aminogram of a protein reveals its proportion of amino acids. It is specific to each type of product and responds to precise sports objectives. Together, these two pieces of data indicate whether the protein is qualitative.

The more essential amino acids there are in the aminogram, the higher the biological value of the protein will be. In other words, the protein will be of high quality and will allow athletes to achieve their goals more easily. If the protein is deficient in one or two essential amino acids, it is less absorbed and less well utilized by the body.

For example, native whey is preferable to cheese whey. The latter contains few amino acids, a lot of fat, and has undergone high-temperature treatments that have degraded the protein. Native whey, cold-processed, contains all the nutrients necessary for muscle development.

• Know your needs well

Depending on the desired goals, the choice of dietary supplements will be geared towards one range rather than another.

Dietary supplements address different objectives. They can improve lifestyle, health, or sports performance.

If you wish to supplement as part of a sports practice, several types of dietary supplements may suit you: native whey, casein, creatine, gainers... These types of supplements are aimed at athletes concerned with their physical development and recovery.

If you wish to alleviate seasonal fatigue, vitamins and minerals may suit you. It is common to do courses during winter or to use certain dietary supplements occasionally, when feeling a drop in energy. This is the case with caffeine, for example.

Dietary supplements can prevent or compensate for deficiencies. For example, our Women's immune health is a blend of vitamins and minerals enriched with iron, to compensate for losses due to menstruation. There are also products containing only a single vitamin or mineral (vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium citrate, potassium, etc.).

It is often with the practice of a sporting activity that dietary supplements prove indispensable, as they increase performance. Depending on your age, your sporting practice, and your lifestyle, your needs for dietary supplements vary.

Nutrimuscle has created a free and personalized diagnosis, which meets the supplementation needs of athletes according to their lifestyle habits. This online diagnosis has been designed to be simple to use and to make information related to dietary supplements as clear as possible.