Today’s topic is super important because it could be impacting your daily energy, performance and health. If you take supplements, you’ll want to stick around and hear our tips for making sure you are using top quality supplements.
With so many supplements on the market and the supplement industry being largely unregulated in the US, how do you know which ones are “good” and which ones are junk?
TIP #1: Watch out for Proprietary Blends
What ingredients do you check for when you are looking for a supplement? Or do you even check?
If you do check, you might be surprised to find that you won’t be able to find out exactly what is in your supplement. “Proprietary blends” are very popular. While that term sounds very exclusive and high quality, “Proprietary blend” is a term commonly used in health & wellness supplements to label a blend of ingredients which are listed one by one, however, no precise amount of each ingredient is given on the label. This can mean very little of the effective ingredients are actually included in the formula. So be sure that you trust the distributor and manufacturer before purchasing any proprietary blend formulas.
This lack of quality and transparency is why we decided to develop our own supplement Stoixeion and why we recommend it for our clients to improve mental and physical performance as well as combat against molecular aging.
Dr. Randy Nelson, ELW Co-founder, designed Stoixeion to the highest standards to achieve the biochemical needs of the 40+ high achiever who is always on the go and always leveling up to the next challenge. Our label fully describes each ingredient, the dosage and daily requirements (if applicable) – no proprietary blend filled with junk or fillers in Stoixeion!
TIP #2: Look for evidence about how well the ingredients work in scientific studies from credible publications (e.g: PubMed, not a blog site!)
In addition, each ingredient in Stoixeion was chosen because it works synergistically with the others to support the energy biochemical pathways in your body. Not only that, the ingredients in Stoixeion were chosen because they have multiple benefits:
- Ergogenic
- Age Related
- Molecular Wellness™ / Protein Health™
For example, let’s take creatine – everyone knows the benefits of creatine in the sports performance world – it can be one of the most effective supplements for increasing lean body mass and improving body composition, strength, and high-intensity performance.
HOWEVER, creatine is included in Stoixeion because it also has age-related benefits including retention of lean muscle to fight against sarcopenia and it has also been shown to improve cognition in aging adults.
PLUS, creatine contributes to Protein Health ™ as a potent anti-AGE (advanced glycation end products). Advanced glycation end products are proteins or lipids that become glycated as a result of exposure to sugars. They are a bio-marker implicated in aging and the development, or worsening, of many degenerative diseases, such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, chronic kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.
So be sure when you’re deciding on a supplement that you understand why everything is in the bottle and the science backs it up.
TIP #3: Look for quality manufacturing standards
It was important to us to find a custom-formulation partner who takes quality assurance, safety and efficacy seriously. As a result, we did an extensive search to make sure Stoixeion was manufactured to our exacting standards.
As we said before, the supplement industry is largely unregulated in the USA. That means that anyone – without any qualifications or quality assurance practices in place – can manufacture and sell supplements. This creates many, many issues like product safety, consistency and quality to name a few!
We wanted Stoixeion to be ELITE in all ways including manufacturing. We’ll share what was important to us so you can review your supplements for the same high standards (and gain more confidence in Stoixeion, should you wish to try it).
FDA Registered:
FDA stands for the Food and Drug Administration, a government agency responsible for the safety of food, dietary supplements, human drugs, vaccines, blood products and other biologicals, medical devices, radiation-emitting electronics, cosmetics, veterinarian products and tobacco products being sold or manufactured in the United States. The FDA also inspects and enforces regulations related to these industries.
Organizations that manufacture, re-pack or re-label products in the aforementioned industries must register with the FDA, with the exception of cosmetics, where registration is voluntary.
The registration process varies depending on the industry but generally involves an annual registration in which organizations are required to list all drugs being manufactured, prepared, propagated, compounded, or processed for commercial distribution in the U.S. Inspection results for FDA registered organizations are available on the FDA website.
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
GMP is a system for ensuring that products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards. It is designed to minimize the risks involved in any pharmaceutical production that cannot be eliminated through testing the final product.
GMP covers all aspects of production from the starting materials, premises, and equipment to the training and personal hygiene of staff. Detailed written procedures are essential for each process that could affect the quality of the finished product. There must be systems to provide documented proof that correct procedures are consistently followed at each step in the manufacturing process – every time a product is made.
Made in the USA
A Made in USA mark is a country of origin label that indicates the product is “all or virtually all” made in the United States. The label is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Stoixeion has been 5 years in the making – you can learn more here:
https://discover.execlevelwellness.com/stoixeion-2
