4 things to watch out for when buying supplements - dr.vegan

Unfortunately consumers are misled every day about what is in their supplements, what they’re paying for and if they actually work.  In our latest daily multi-vitamin customer survey, we found that 4 in 10 people don't know how to check the label, what to look out for, or which ingredients contain nasty additives.*

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This may be because expert nutrition advice can be hard to find and navigate with trust. Our mission is to make the highest quality nutrition advice and plant-based supplements accessible, affordable and transparent, empowering people of all diets to meet their health goals.

You can read tips and advice from our nutrition experts in our articles section, and below we share four things to look out for when buying vitamins and supplements.

1. Fake reviews

You have probably read a lot about fake reviews on Amazon and this sadly is a problem across the internet, including among supplement companies.

Trustpilot is the most credible independent review website, so always look out for their logo, BUT you still need to be careful. Companies can still create and add fake customer reviews to Trustpilot, so when reading reviews on Trustpilot, always look out for a tick with the word ‘Verified’ alongside it - as shown in this image.

Reviews you can trust, verified and with the tick.

The 'Verified' and tick mean the review has been left by a customer who is reviewing a genuine experience after a purchase, which has been verified by Trustpilot. If a Trustpilot review doesn’t have ‘Verified’ and a tick alongside it, it means Trustpilot can't verify if it is a genuine experience, so it could be fake. For example, companies can buy fake addresses and then use these to create fake reviews.

Reviews like this, without a 'verified' and tick, may be not genuine

There are a number of other review platforms such as Feefo and even Google Reviews, however unlike Trustpilot, they don’t have a method of verifying if a review is a genuine experience, so always look out for the tick and 'Verified'.

At DR.VEGAN® we use Trustpilot and all our reviews are easy to find – the good, the indifferent and the bad! We want you to be able to see them all because you deserve honesty. Our customer feedback is also invaluable in helping us improve and learn all the time, and for you in making an informed choice. 

Beware of 'expert' reviews

Independent reviews can be incredibly useful when choosing a supplement. However many people are deceived by misleading review websites, which appear as credible, independent and written by experts, but are very often not.

If you’re looking for expert reviews on supplements, the best approach is generally to look for articles by well known media publications or on nutritionists’ personal websites. Which? has also created a guide to help spot a fake review. 

2. Avoid nasty additives

We’ve written a lot about nasty additives in supplements and you can read more about them in these articles:

• 7 ingredients in supplements to avoid
• Check your label for these ingredients
• Animal ingredients in supplements

As a quick guide, the most common nasty ingredients in your supplements to be aware of and check your label for are:

• Titanium Dioxide - a carcinogen added to supplements to colour them white
• Talc - yes, talcum powder is used in LOTS of supplements, primarily as a bulking agent.
• Palm Oil
• Gelatin
• Magnesium Stearate
• Collagen

And there are many more! Always check the ingredients list – not the nutritional table because it does not list everything in your supplement. The ingredients list is where the nasty additives, bulking and anti-caking ingredients lurk. 

You may be interested in how to verify if a product is safe to use for a professional athlete.

3. Avoid tablets, choose capsules

As a general rule, we advise people to avoid tablets wherever possible.

Tablets are very common because they are cheap to make, but they are also much more likely to contain nasty additives, bulking agents, binding agents and colouring agents. Tablets need to be bound together to hold their shape, generally by an ingredient that is artificial or synthetic, making it an unnecessary additive with no health benefit.

Often the ‘active ingredient’ - the vitamin or mineral you’re looking to derive benefit from - is of such a small size that companies will add in ‘bulking agents’ to make the tablet larger and appear more appealing. Much of the tablet is then simply a bulking agent which can have side effects, such as diarrhoea. Read more about Magnesium Stearate, a very common and unpleasant bulking agent in tablets. 

Companies also colour their tablets, again using artificial or synthetic colours. Titanium dioxide, classified as a carcinogen and ‘unsafe’ by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), is very commonly used in supplements sold online, on the high street and in supermarkets to colour supplements white. Our advice is to stay clear of anything containing Titanium Dioxide!

4. False claims or 'over-claiming' 

All companies obviously try to market their product as the best for you. There are a number of false claims or ‘over-claims’ to watch out for which are very deceptive. Look out for these common false claims…

'Vegan Collagen'

You may have seen adverts for products claiming to be ‘vegan collagen’. There is no such thing as vegan collagen. Vegan collagen doesn't exist and can’t be man-made outside of the human body.

Collagen supplements can only be produced using collagen from animals, mainly cows and also fish (Marine collagen).

Vegan collagen can only be produced by humans when our bodies naturally produce collagen from three amino acids we consume directly in our diet, or when they're created from other amino acids in our body. You can learn all about collagen in this article: 'The truth about collagen'.  

'Natural'

Natural does not necessarily mean healthy. As Maria-Paula Carrillo (MS, RDN, LD) says, “The natural claim isn't really regulated. Take a look at the ingredient list if you really want to know if what you're putting in your mouth actually came from nature."

Read more in "Healthfood buzzwords and what they mean".

'Clinically Proven'

Clinical trials are the bedrock of science and healthcare innovation, and their integrity is something we all need to protect and value.

Robust clinical trials can cost a company up to £15,000 per person to conduct, and add up to millions. For example, a trial of 100 people taking a particular drug or medicine will also need 100 people taking a placebo to act as the 'control group'. Such a study could easily cost at least £2.5m.

Clinical trials are so expensive due to the complexity of isolating the variables of the people taking part in the trial, such as their gender, age, weight, height, diet, hormones, health conditions and hundreds more variables. The measurement of outcomes is also extremely complex, particularly if there's a subjective element in identifying if any outcomes are directly related to the ingredient being tested or as a result of another variable that may have occurred during the trial. This is why clinical trials are big and important business. 

Some supplement companies will claim a supplement with multiple ingredients is 'clinically proven', when in fact only one ingredient in the formula is clinically proven. An ingredient may be clinically proven, but it doesn't mean the formula or other ingredients in a supplement are. Companies can also use ingredients which claim to be clinically proven, but when you delve into the small print, their studies are not robust. One company recently claimed to contain a 'clinically proven' ingredient, yet on closer inspection the clinical trial data showed the trial had been conducted on just 10 people. That is most definitely not clinically proven! Other companies boast 'clinically proven' on their website yet don't provide any links to clinical trials. 

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Additives for ETICS.

In conclusion

These are a few simple 'watch outs' when buying supplements online or on the high street. If you're at all in doubt, you can always our independent nutritionists at who are always happy to help, or visit your local health food store or pharmacy for expert advice.

*Based on a UK survey conducted by DR.VEGAN® of 130 customers, nationally representative, during September . All customer survey findings reflect our own efforts and have not been influenced or verified by any external organisations or third-party entities.

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There’s nothing like the concern of a grandmother to bring attention to food safety.

Hey Coles - can you PLEASE tell me just what is in your Coles Icecream Sandwiches

wrote Mary Salter on the Coles Facebook page, July 31 .

The incredible stability of her thawed ice cream sandwich led people to ask just what awful chemicals must be in the product to have this effect.

Read more: The science of taste, or why you choose fries over broccoli

But most of the food additives that are added to ice cream and other edible items to sustain physical shape are derived from natural materials with no known health risks. And other selected additives – for example, some that increase the palatability and stability of food – are also naturally-occuring plant and mineral substances.

Here’s a quick guide to the science behind some of the food additives with a nature-based history you can look for on product labels.

Bringing together oil and water

Emulsifiers are compounds that allow oil and water droplets to interact in suspension: the resulting product is called an emulsion.

Everyday food and beverage emulsions include homogenised milk, mayonnaise and salad dressings. The presence of emulsifiers prevents the fat from separating from the rest of the product: in milk, for example, this means the cream does not rise to the top, but instead stays incorporated in the liquid.

Emulsifiers work similarly to detergents, which might make them sound a little bit off putting, but many of the emulsifiers commonly used in foods are sourced from ingredients already occurring in natural products. Examples include lecithin from egg yolks or soy, mucilage from mustard, and components of fatty acids (made from glycerol and natural fatty acids).

Even manufactured emulsifiers such as DATEM (diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono- and diglycerides), and sodium stearoyl lactylate are generally recognised as safe.

Smooth yogurt and spreadable jam

Stabilisers and thickeners are added to foods to increase viscosity (thickness), smooth the texture, give body and help preserve their structure. Food stabilisers, thickeners, and firming agents are added in a relatively small amount and enhance the effect of emulsifiers.

They give a uniform consistency to the product and hold the flavouring compounds in the dispersion. This is used in products like jams, yogurts and jellies to stop the fruit from settling.

They also prevent emulsions from separating. Without stabilisers, your salad dressing and mayonnaise would split – separate into their oil and water-based components – in the fridge. Stabilisers also prevent ice crystals from forming in frozen foods, such as ice cream.

Thickeners and stabilisers are mostly polysaccharides (complex sugars) isolated from plant sources, including starches (e.g. corn starch), vegetable gums (e.g. guar gum), and pectin (e.g. from citrus fruits). Some gums are also obtained from microbial fermentation, where bacteria are fed sugars and produce gums (e.g. xanthan gum).

Read more: The chemistry behind amazing meringue and perfect cappucino

Stabilisers from other natural sources include agar (from algae), carrageenan (from seaweed) and gelatin (from animal collagen). Use of stabilisers and thickeners is not confined to recent food history, and many have been used in food preparation for centuries.

Firming agents are often mineral salts such as calcium sulphate, calcium chloride and magnesium sulphate. These bind water and enhance the activity of the stabilisers. Although the names of the mineral salts sound very “chemical”, they are really no weirder than table salt (otherwise known by its chemical name, sodium chloride).

The mineral salts used for firming agents often contain mineral components needed by the body, such as calcium, and the same salts may be used in supplements. Again, these agents have been used throughout history: calcium sulphate, for example, has been used to make tofu for thousands of years.

Keeping food safe and stable

Acids, bases or neutralising agents are added to foods to regulate acidity: this is important for taste and to prevent the growth of microbes such as bacteria. Common acid regulators are sorbic acid, acetic acid and propionic acid.

These may sound frightening (and in concentrated solutions, they might be!) but in small amounts, they are less acidic than our stomach acid and so are nothing to worry about. The human body has its own buffering systems to keep our overall pH balance stable.

Antioxidants are a common component in foods touted as “superfoods”. Antioxidants are also important preservatives in the food industry, where they help foods last longer by preventing reactions with oxygen.

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and tocopherols (vitamin E) are natural antioxidants which can be added to processed foods. They sound much less nutritious when referred to as 300 and 306, which are their additive numbers.

Read more: Kitchen Science: gastrophysics brings the universe into your kitchen

Even synthetic antioxidants such propyl gallate and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) are generally regarded as safe (they are listed on the USA Food and Drug Administration website). There have been some concerns about adverse results of BHA at high doses in animal tests, but at levels ingested by humans, it appears safe.

Additive is not always a dirty word

Processed foods are often energy dense and light on nutrients. They also often contain additives with intimidating chemical names, or referred to just by their standardised additive numbers.

But, the additives themselves are not necessarily the problem. Natural additives can make foods act in unexpected ways, which enhance the consumer experience and often prolong shelf life.

For more information, please visit Additives for Leveling Compounds.