E017: The Dark Side Of The Supplement Industry - The Optimised Health Show

Episode Summary:
 
We’re back (again)! After a *slightly* longer-than-planned break, we are hitting the podcast waves again. Welcome to the shiny, rebranded *Optimised Health Show!* This time, we’re on a mission: consistency and no-fluff health advice. In this episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on the supplement industry’s shadiest secrets. Ready? Let’s go!

What We Got Into:

1. Our Rebrand Story:  

• We’re back, renamed, and fired up. Say goodbye to *Healthy Living with the Laws* and hello to *The Optimised Health Show!* Same us, different name.

2. Life Lately: 

• Moved from sunny Ibiza back to the UK. Goodbye endless summer, hello Amazon Prime deliveries and very British weather.

3. The Supplement Industry’s Dark Side: 

• Dodgy Regulations: Did you know supplements are classified as food, not medicine? Wild, right?
• Quality Horror Stories: Fake ingredients, useless dosages, and shady production practices.
• Testing Matters: Why you should demand Certificates of Analysis (CoAs) to ensure what’s on the label is in the bottle.
• Sneaky Marketing: From “miracle” claims to sketchy proprietary blends — it’s buyer beware out there!

4. How to Protect Your Health:  

• Read the Fine Print: Look for brands with third-party testing.
• Skip the Junk: Say no to fillers and bulking agents.
• Fish Oil Alert: If it’s oxidized, it’s toxic. Gross.
• Get Personal: Tailor supplements to your health needs — your DNA might thank you.

5. Our Insider Tips:  

• Ben spills trade secrets from running a supplement brand.
• Sarah shares expert nutrition tips, including what to take (and what to toss).

Quick Wins for Better Health:

• Ask for the Receipts: Get those Certificates of Analysis!
• Get Professional Help: Book a consult for custom advice (details below).

Thanks to Our Sponsor:
Want supplements that *actually* work? Check out Love Life Supplements and use code BEN10 for 10% off your order.

Thanks to Our Sponsor:
Want supplements that *actually* work? Check out Love Life Supplements and use code BEN10 for 10% off your order.

Book a Consultation with Sarah: Free Wellness Discovery Call

Let’s Stay Connected:  

• Ben: @benlawprimal
• Sarah: @sarahlawuk

Thanks for Tuning In!  
Enjoyed this episode? Drop us a 5-star review and share it with your health-loving crew. Stay tuned for our next episode — we promise we won’t ghost you again!

Transcript

Sarah 0:16

Welcome to the Optimised Health Show with your hosts, Ben and Sarah Law. Hello. So we are back. And we have had a lovely rebrand. As you can see, we are now called Caused? We are now called the Optimised Health Show instead of Healthy Living with the Laws. And we we started the podcast in lockdown, didn't we? It was our lockdown project many rooms ago.

Ben 0:42

So long ago now, I can't even remember.

Sarah 0:44

And one word for the podcast was inconsistent.

Ben 0:49

Basically. I think we've averaged about two podcasters a year. Yes. We're doing well. Very inconsistent. So. I think the last one was a year, just over a year ago.

Sarah 0:58

So we're doing well. So I hope you've been waiting in anticipation for this next one. So we've decided that we are going to be more consistent. That is the word consistent, aren't we, Benjamin Law? Well, we say that. No, we are. I want to be. If Ben doesn't do up to the point.

Ben 1:12

Let's not make any promises we can't keep. Let's just say.

Sarah 1:15

I had many people say that they liked our podcast and they wanted to listen to more, so therefore we need to.

Ben 1:20

But I don't know if we can produce more because we're rubbish.

Sarah 1:22

We can. We need to listen to the public. We need to help them.

Ben 1:25

The public has spoken.

Sarah 1:26

Yes, they've spoken and they want our advice. So I hope you like the new logo. We'd like to.

Ben 1:31

That might be a little loud on the microphone there. That's okay. It's your Volk on voice. Oh well, sorry, I'll tone myself down. Uh rebrand is just not it's not just about podcasts, is it? No, it's of things to come. We'll keep maybe keep that. Shum. But you just exciting uh with the optimized brand.

Sarah 1:51

Things on the horizon that we're very excited about, but the podcast is the start of this. So if you if you listen to Healthy Living with I cannot speak. Healthy living with the laws. This is it, basically. But it's different. Oh no, we're like the same person. Weird. Anyway, so why where have we been? Where are we now?

Ben 2:11

I think we just every time. Where have we been? What have we been doing? And now we're in a We've been basically in a different land.

Sarah 2:18

We were in a beta in the last podcast when we did Ben Law's History. Now we're back in sunny UK. It's 4 p.m. and it's dark already. It's grey. I'm not sure. People all ask us, and we don't know, basically. But why did we leave the sunshine? I'm not sure. And I'm there are mornings I wake up sad. Regretting the sort of thing.

Ben 2:40

No, no, there were many, many reasons for it. Do we want to go into all of them?

Sarah 2:43

The reasons were deliveries, not to get organic foods.

Ben 2:47

I guess we don't live as normal lives, do we? And there's certain things we require like supplements and foods. Quality food. That we couldn't get. You required a lot of specialist stuff.

Sarah 2:58

There was also some interesting stuff in one of the WhatsApp groups that I'm in at the moment about in a beetha this happens every year where there's planes spraying lots of chemical crap over the whole of the island, basically. I think it's to do with I can't remember whether it's to do with the caterpillars or something to do with infective trees. They're trying to get rid of them. But yeah, this chemical shit storm, basically, that they spray over the entire island. It's not good.

Ben 3:24

And they're not they're not hot on pesticides and herbicides. No. As in, the regulations around them are pretty weak, aren't they? You can spray anything on anything, which obviously not and then moult mould issues in a lot of the places. Very humid little island. And of course, Brexit, so you can actually legally stay anywhere.

Sarah 3:44

No. No, there's so many things we love about the island. What's going on with the logo?

Ben 3:49

One second.

Sarah 3:50

What's happened? There we go, we're back in business. So many things we love about Ivetha, beautiful place, made some great friends. I really miss my friends, the sunshine. It's gorgeous. But there's just some frustrating things. Which we used to call Paradise Tax, that's what people call it.

Ben 4:04

A lot of frustrations, weren't there? We we were grow our businesses and start new ventures. And it's just more conducive to doing it here than on a tiny island in the Amazon.

Sarah 4:15

And Mr. Law, you took full advantage of Amazon when we first moved back, didn't you? I think there was a point where we were having about seven Amazon deliveries a day.

Ben 4:27

Obviously, anything that takes about three weeks to get an Amazon delivery if it turns up. Well, if you can get it. I got a bit carried away with same day delivery. So it's calmed down a little now.

Sarah 4:37

Well, comes along and we're not going to be here either, are we? That's for the next adventure.

Ben 4:41

Well, off we go again.

Sarah 4:43

Keep you posted on uh what's next for the laws, but it's not a few years.

Ben 4:47

For the time being we're in yeah, Leeds because of a few friends that live round here, so we thought we'd try the north of the UK. It's very beautiful, but very cold and grey. Quite right. Very cold, very grey. It's uh it's a bit of a shock to the system, wasn't it?

Sarah 5:02

Yeah, we really threw ourselves into the deep end. It's great for cold showers. I've never experienced water quite so cold in my life, I don't think.

Ben 5:08

I guess you can call that a bonus.

Sarah 5:10

The Optimised Health Show is brought to you by Love Life Supplements. If you're looking for clean, effective, high-quality supplements that are thoroughly tested and GMP certified, head over to lovelifsupplements.co.uk and use the code BEN10 for 10% off your entire order. Anyway, that's not what this podcast is about today. The podcast is about the dark side of the supplement industry. Yes. So this is something that we're both hugely passionate about. Obviously, me being a functional nutritionist and Benjamin being a supplement owner.

Ben 5:41

Um a few things about supplement.

Sarah 5:43

We know quite a lot. And for me, the amount of conversations I have with women before they become clients of mine and I ask what supplements they're taking, and I'm just like, oh dear. Lots of random things that they may not necessarily need, but also quality-wise are just shocking. And because they're cheap, they buy them, and I'm like, oh, buy cheap bedwars. So you really wanted to dive into this today and give you some insights into why you need to be really mindful about what supplements you're buying and actually how some that you're buying could actually be doing more harm than good. So take note. So firstly we want to talk about why there's such a lack of regulations in terms of supplementation. And because people often say, well, surely if it's on a shelf or surely if it's online and I buy it, it's got to have some kind of regulations behind it and it's got to say it's got to have what it states in the label. And that is not true, is it?

Ben 6:37

No. I don't know why it's so unregulated. But actually anyone can pretty much start a supplement company tomorrow and speak to a manufacturer and get anything made.

Sarah 6:49

I think some of the reason it's so unregulated, not necessarily unregulated, but why nothing's done about it is because it would take enough people to complain in order for anything to be done. But the problem with supplementation is it's not like you take a supplement and you notice a huge difference straight. You're not like you take something and you're like, woo-hoo, I feel like a different person. So we often take things and we don't know if they're having an impact or if they're doing anything, so we just keep taking it as we think it might be. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Ben 7:14

It's because of their officially class as food, not drugs. So they don't have the same rules around them as pharmaceutical drugs, even though eatments can have profound effects on the body. They're called natural food, food products, but they're not Well, they're not a food, are they?

Sarah 7:29

Because they're in high physiological doses. When you get something in a capsule and it's itself, you can take a natural herb or something, it can have dramatic effect. Absolutely, in a good way or not a good way. Licorice, don't ever mention that word. It's like dirt to me. Never put me near licorice ever again.

Ben 7:46

It massively increases cortisol, right?

Sarah 7:48

It it stops cortisol clearance, which can be incredi incredible for some people if you're deactivating a lot of your cord sole into cortisone and you've got low cordsol, it can be great because you it keeps it in your system for longer. However, if your cord cell is uh quite high um and then you take it, it it's not fun. I experienced that and I ended up like a big puffball, didn't I? There's some great pictures of me with like my swollen face, you go to see in your life. It was not fun. So yeah, yeah, they can have huge effects because it is like the concentrated version of that food or whatever it is that you're drinking in a capsule, isn't it?

Ben 8:21

I think there are more regulations coming in but I mean it's a bit of a wild west and dodgy companies.

Sarah 8:29

They were very clever with their marketing, and this is the problem that we see a lot. Like you'll go onto a website and you'll say some of the buzzwords like no bulking agents, no fillers, created by functional medicine doctors or whatever, and people on in white coats on the label or on the website, and it's like that they can get away with so much, and it's like actually what is going on behind the scenes there.

Ben 8:51

Is it There There are rules around what you can put on labels so weakly regulated it's not in force almost. So that's weird. MHRA will you're not allowed to do that, but then people do it and they get away with it. It's bonkers.

Sarah 9:03

So we wanted to talk about like what things you need to be looking out for and then give you some insights onto what you should look for in brands. So firstly, let's talk about testing procedures. So what testing procedures do the company use and do they test their raw ingredients for purity, safety, efficacy, contaminants, etc., before going into the end product and then test the end product again? Uh there can be a lot of contaminants in individual ingredients, can't there? So there could be things like heavy metals. What else could be in there? So there's mould, mycotoxins.

Ben 9:38

Delicious.

Sarah 9:39

Yeah. So it's really important to foreign objects even.

Ben 9:42

Wow. What do you mean by a foreign object? Just some the actual bits of metal or plastic or stuff.

Sarah 9:50

Nice. So you could just be eating a bit of plastic rather than taking a supplement that's going to help you. That's really nice. So it you want a company that makes sure that they test the raw ingredients, right?

Ben 9:59

They want to be testing each or the manufacturer does want to be testing each ingredient that comes into the the manufacturing facility. Before going into end product. Well, firstly you have to assess the supplier. So supplier has to meet if for a good manufacturer, they'll assess the supplier, so make sure they meet all these standards. So our supplier has a very comprehensive thing, list of things. Your supplier is crazy. Good. Their lists of lists of things that they have to adhere to, or they'd even approve the supplier. Then they approve the supplier. Then they have to approve their manufacturing facility. So where they actually make the raw ingredient. And then they test the raw ingredient when it comes to them for everything we've mentioned. So heavy metals, microbiology, which is all the reliance salmonella and stuff like that. And then if you want, you can you can request further testing. They're the kind of under tests.

Sarah 10:50

Amazing.

Ben 10:50

And then if they're really, really good manufacturer, then they'll test again the finished products. So once it's put into a powder or into a capsule, then they'll test that again. Exactly, to make sure that the end products. So those are the they're basically testing that there's been no contamination during the manufacturing process. So the raw ingredients have been tested, then the capsule has been tested almost.

Sarah 11:11

And this is why they only recommend certain brands, but there's just too much crap out there. People are taking it, and I'm like, oh, so I I will only ever recommend you, obviously, because I know. Of course. Another brand that I work with called Arbon, and then practitioner-grade supplements are the ones that I always recommend to my clients because I want to make sure that they're having the best quality and actually we're improving their health, not the opposite.

Ben 11:33

But that that's the testing on the contaminant side. Then there's the next level of testing is it's which we've we we start to go to the that next level testing the that it has a level of active ingredient that you claim on the label.

Sarah 11:49

Yeah, so there was an interesting uh study done, wasn't there, by was it now Now Foods? Now supplements, now foods?

Ben 11:55

Our foods of comprehensive testing of uh lots of different brands. Lots of other people's brands. Just really interesting. What we want to do.

Sarah 12:01

You could look on Google and find that study that they did. But basically what they discovered was 70 to 80% of single ingredient products on Amazon didn't actually meet the label claims, and 20 to 30% had no active ingredients in at all. So you're taking something which says it's something and none of it's in there at all.

Ben 12:19

Massively the not in there or very, very low dose under what they're claiming on the label.

Sarah 12:25

So what you're paying for is not what you're getting at all. You might as well even if it's you're spending five pounds on a supplement, it's still five pounds that is a waste of money because it's not actually anything. You might as well not bother. So that's crazy to think about. I wanted to just mention organic as well. So organic doesn't necessarily mean the best. So with organic, it doesn't take into consideration whether there's been runoff. So you might have an organic farm, let's say some herbs or whatever are produced on an organic farm, but it doesn't take into consideration whether there's been runoff from a farm next to it that's not organic. So again, it I think we often go by the standard of, oh, it's organic, it must be good. And that's not necessarily always the case. And again, if you have a a company where they look at all of the manufacturing processes where they know where the ingredients are sourced from and each indiv individual ingredient is tested, then that's actually going way above and beyond what organic is, isn't it?

Ben 13:18

I'd rather buy an ingredient that's been fully tested than organic that's not been fully tested. And if you have both, then that's the gold standard, really.

Sarah 13:25

Yeah.

Ben 13:26

If a non-organic product has been fully tested, then you almost know it's it meets the standard of organic anyway. Because it doesn't have the pesticides and herbicides. Exactly. It's tested negative for all those things that non-organic products would normally have.

Sarah 13:39

Don't be fooled by if it says organic on the label as that being okay, it's all good then. That's what we're trying to say in terms of that. So quality is king. I wanted to just briefly touch on like fish oils. What?

Ben 13:52

Just to read my writing. No. Going back to testing. So how does the end consumer know that it's been tested? Yes. And this is where the COA. Oh no, we're talking about testing, it might as well talk about the COA. Okay. It's called certificate of analysis. And every company should be able to put provide a COA for every batch, not just every product, but for every batch of product they produce. And in that COA, it should have all these test results, the expected value and the value they've achieved. Like I said, the heavy metals and the microbiology enemum. But then if they go a step further, like active ingredients rose. So we know that what it states is what it is. And preferably by a third-party someone like Eurofins or certified labs.

Sarah 14:39

Yeah, you know, not been doctored in-house. So I wanted to talk about fish oils, because they can be incredibly helpful but incredibly harmful. And the reality is for so many on the market, about 40% of fish oils are actually oxidized, which isn't good. You don't want to be taking oxidized fish oils, do you?

Ben 14:57

Not really healthy.

Sarah 15:00

No. So you want it to be pure and make sure that it's not oxidized. And again, that can happen through manufacturing processes, storage, etc., can't it? So it's important like if you're just taking a fish oil, which are many people are buying them from high street stores or some online, just random, and again, you're like, gr great, fish oil is pretty beneficial because it's high and omega-3 and it's anti-inflammatory and it's great for my heart health. Maybe not if you're taking poor quality ones, and again, so you you really need to look at things like the COA's practitioner grade, highly reputable brands when it comes to things like fish oils.

Ben 15:35

I guess with fish oils, you want one with uh what is it, an antioxidant in vitamin E or Astaxanthin. And that's where krill oil is good. Because it's naturally occurring astaxanthin in it, which helps preserve it. So that's why we sell krill oil.

Sarah 15:50

It's really important to have that antioxidant with it, isn't it, to protect it. So make sure you're looking out for that. Incorrect doses. So again, like we mentioned, in terms of like has it actually got what it states in the label? And sometimes it actually might be in a way higher dose if it's not been tested than what is right for a human body. It's rare as uh overdose. It is, but it could be. And if it is, for example, like with something like vitamin D, you know with things like that. Vitamin D is a hormone and it needs to be in the right dose for your body. And so if you're taking a a dose and it's way higher than it states on the label, that could actually be doing a lot of work.

Ben 16:25

Or if they state it on the label, is that high because there's there's drench wars on Amazon. You just think the highest is the same. The highest bigger the more the better. People just produce stronger and stronger products, which could be, they say, detrimental.

Sarah 16:38

So yeah. Your body might not need that. And that's why testing is so important for certain things as well, because again, people just think, oh, vitamin D it's great for me, it's fantastic for your immune system, etc., bone health. But you don't want to overdose on vitamin D.

Ben 16:51

It's like um I guess because disposal disposal agents as well can be too strong and tank your blood sugar. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Sarah 16:59

And again, depending on you as a human person. As a human person, not a animal person, whether you need that and what your body is actually dose your body needs. Genetics. So this is obviously not to do with supplement quality, but it is to do with what to need in terms of like whether your body can actually convert that into its active form. So let's take, for example, folic acid. So folic acid is super important, everyone knows the importance of folic acid, but if you've got a mutation on your MTHFR gene, which a lot of the population actually do, like block or a partial block on that gene, you then can't convert folic acid into the active form of folate. And if you don't do that, it can actually create a buildup of homocysteine, which is not good. That folic acid that you maybe are taking in a supplement would actually block the absorption of folate from your foods, etc. So super important to I'm a massive fan of knowing your genetic makeup. I think it can be incredibly useful as a tool in knowing how to really hone in and personalize your nutrition and your supplementation to make sure that what you're taking is actually supporting you and not. And it really helps you, you know, what your weaknesses are. So I know, for example, I'm much more prone to inflammation, I'm not good with recovery, I'm more prone to poor estrogen detox. I'm basically a bit genetically screwed, to be honest. Or prone to obesity. So for me, I know that, and that means that I know there's certain supplements that I really make sure I take on a regular basis because they help me reduce inflammation and fight off your active oxygen species, etc., especially if I've exercised. So knowing that kind of stuff can be super helpful. Another thing that I know is I'd be an absolutely terrible vegan because I am small genetically at averting beta-carotene into its active form of a vitamin A. So again, for you, if you don't know that stuff, you might be taking ultivitamin, for example, with loads of beta-carotene in, but are you actually able to convert it? And if you can't, then it's a waste of money.

Ben 18:51

I guess it's just about getting the best forms of the ingredient, right? Because there's a lot of cheap forms and unbioavailable forms of I've just made it up. A good example is mag magnesium oxide is really poorly poo. Great if you've got constipation. But it's super cheap. So people stuff their magnesium products with mag oxide. Yes. And then there's multiple examples, isn't there?

Sarah 19:15

What about another really good example actually of that is iron. So if you have low iron and you go to the doctors, you'll often get put on a form of iron that's so harsh on your digestive system and so just makes you feel rubbish and you don't absorb it very well. So form is really important. So ferrous, the ferrous form of iron is much more bioavailable and absorbable and less harsh on your digestive system. But even with things like iron, you really want to test before you start taking iron willy-nilly because iron is an interesting one. Like you don't want to be overdosing on iron, it just rusts you, essentially. Rusts your inside. So it's very dangerous if you start taking iron and you don't actually need it. So I would definitely recommend getting a full iron panel, not just iron, but things like storage, storage of iron, ferritin and transfer and saturation, total iron binding capacity, lots of things like that, basically.

Ben 20:03

Cofactors and stuff like that, right? Because like zinc. If you take too much zinc without copper, you can deplete copper massive. Vice versa.

Sarah 20:11

Vice versa. And that's why women who have the copper coil often end up zinc is that true deficient, because they've got a steady supply, essentially, of copper going into the system and then not enough zinc if they're not meeting enough zinc or supplementing with zinc. So yeah, it's really important to know with supplementation what you should be taking with what and what you shouldn't be taking with what. Another example of that is iron. If you take it alongside calci uh sorry, alongside vitamin C helps with absorption. But if you take it alongside calcium, for example, it will block the absorption for laphene. It's all very fun and interesting. Now this is why I'm a big fan of supplementation and I really believe that everyone in this day and age needs some form of supplementation, but just guessing what you need, probably not the best idea, really.

Ben 20:57

Is it? Not really. It's a little bit scary that people can just buy anything at a supplement company. Sometimes I just can self-medicate, basically.

Sarah 21:06

That's why you have the option on your website as well for people to have consultations with myself. With moi. So that we can actually look into your health and go, is this actually going to be beneficial? And also, you have to remember you cannot out-supplement a bad diet and lifestyle. Supplements have a time and a place, they're incredible, and in this day and age, we need them more than ever because the quality of our food is not what it used to be, stress levels are higher than they've ever been, the toxic burden of people's bodies is more than it's ever been. So there's lots of reasons why we need supplementation, but you can't just the the question I get asked. Exactly. The one question I get asked the most on my social media is what I'm I'm experiencing this, what supplement should I take? And I'm like, Well, why don't we look at your diet and lifestyle first rather than just going to the supplement? Magic pill, don't they? They do. And there isn't one, unfortunately. Supplements can be incredible, they can help in many ways, but you can't just do one part of health you have to focus on all.

Ben 22:00

So what to look for I think we spoke about overdosing, we didn't speak speak about underdosing in the dosing section.

Sarah 22:06

Oh you go go go for it. Underdosing.

Ben 22:08

Tell me about underdosing. Because the bigger problem is a lot of companies will put a a tiny amount of something in which won't do anything. I think I highlighted on my uh feed the other day with a term specific turmeric supplement. Again, very clever marketing. They'll put a tiny amount in Oh, we didn't talk about propriety blends either. We'll get to that. They'll they'll just put a tiny amount in just to make the label look good, because they can list that ingredient but just at a very small amount or which won't really do anything, or they'll give the example of turmeric and curcumin that you gave on your story, because that will make more sense. That example was they they just had a very small amount, like fifty eight milligrams.

Sarah 22:46

They had loads of tur it said so much turmeric, didn't it? But the active component in turmeric is curcumin.

Ben 22:52

No, that she said curcumin. And that one. It was turmeric extract. And then they didn't even try to hide it, but they just people don't know, do they? No. Because that was that's fifty-eight milligrams per two capsules, and ours is five hundred milligrams per one capsule, so ten times the twenty times the amount per capsule, which is the studied amount.

Sarah 23:13

It's like something to have an effect.

Ben 23:14

And there's a reason why, like I said in the the real, there's a reason why it's six pounds. Ours is 26 pounds, not just because you want to make a massive amount of money, because it's it costs way more. That's a big red flag. If a supplement is six pounds. Is of six pounds, I might know how much these products cost, and that's a we can't even reduce it for six pounds. So for them to sell it for six pounds, it won't have the testing, it won't have the manufacturing processes included, and it won't have the amount of ingredient ingredient you need. No. Then they'll also hide behind extract ratios.

Sarah 23:47

Yes. So that was really confusing as well. That's uh even I look at those and I'm like, I cannot my brain does not compute those numbers.

Ben 23:54

Talk us about So the extract ratio is like ten to one, say. So you'd require ten times the amount of ingredient to distill down into say for five hundred milligrams of an ingredient, a ten to one extract ratio. You need five hundred milligrams of the material to make fifty milligrams.

Sarah 24:14

I made my brain hurt already. So it doesn't.

Ben 24:18

It's highly concentrated, basically.

Sarah 24:20

So the low the lower the ratio, the better. Yes?

Ben 24:24

Higher the ratio. Oh. The stronger it is, in theory.

Sarah 24:27

So so twenty to one would be higher well, I know that's higher. That would be stronger than ten to one.

Ben 24:32

But on the label, they'll put the war and the raw material value as the value, not the extracted value. I mean so they'll So if it was ganda. They'll say it's five hundred milligrams of ashwagandha. Ashwaganda or curcumin when it's actually only fifty milligrams.

Sarah 24:51

And uh do they even put the ten to one or do they just not even write that?

Ben 24:56

They will have to put it on the ingredients list, but on the f on the front of the label, it will say five hundred milligrams of curcumin or and on the the listing on Amazon it will say the five hundred bigger or even higher sometimes, because some extract ratios are like fifty to one. So they'll say fifteen thousand milligrams.

Sarah 25:12

But it's actually not when you look at the ratio. Interesting. If you are fed up with going it alone on your health journey and you are struggling, you're generally not feeling your best self but are ready to get optimised. Why not book a free wellness discovery call with me, a naturopathic nutritionist and functional health coach, where I'll help you understand the root causes of your issues and guide you in the right direction of which of my programs would be best suited for you, whether that be a group programme or one-to-one coaching. The link to book your free call is in the show notes. And then proprietary can never say that word, proprietary blends. So proprietary blends are an interesting one because mm a lot of the time it can actually just be that they're disguising. Most of the time it's they're disguising saying that it's got all these amazing ingredients in, but when it's a proprietary blend, they don't have to say how much of each ingredient is.

Ben 26:01

It's more so in America than in the UK. I don't know if you can know if you can do it in the UK. Maybe you can maybe you can.

Sarah 26:06

I'm sure you can.

Ben 26:07

So that they'll just say proprietary belly buster blend and then list all the ingredients outstating the amount of each of individual ingredient in that blend. So they could put the most expensive one as the smallest amount, basically. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Sarah 26:20

And then the cheapest one, let's say it had max ma magnesium oxide in that proprietary blend. That could be the the bulk of proprietary blend and then a tiny bit of the other ones. Some companies do do it, like quality companies that I know that I use as a practitioner, some of them do do it because I know they do it to not their formulas stolen. Yeah.

Ben 26:39

We say everything on the label.

Sarah 26:42

Yes.

Ben 26:43

So we uh we've I admit we're fully open to our formulas getting stolen, but then I doubt anyone will be able to produce them at such a high level.

Sarah 26:51

So And this is it. You want a company that has full transparency. That is it. They list everything on the ingredients label, everything. That's it. So things to look out for in brands. Certificates of analysis, we've spoken about. Full transparency of ingredient, testing and manufacturing procedures, procedures, even, bulking agents and fillers. We haven't spoken about that. So you are a master of this. Explain bulking agents and fillers and why it's so hard actually to get products that don't contain those bulking agents and fillers like you told me about with the companies that to run it through the machines. It's not easy to do for some things, is it?

Ben 27:32

So bulking agents. That little moment of I'm just gathering my thoughts. A manufacturer a manufacturer will use a bulking agent to fill up literally to fill up the capsule, because often the material doesn't fill the capsule. So there'll be a gap in the capsule if you don't use a bulking agent. Which for one looks bad to the customer, which I don't really care. But other companies do. And also they some they can't run it through the machine for some reason unless it fills up the capsule. So they'll just have to put stuff. Stuff. But that doesn't really do anything but does cost money. So what we do when that happens, it's happened a million times. I'll either reduce the size of the capsule, because they can go down very small, but some manufacturers don't aren't manufacture all capsule sizes. Some will only do double-O's or slow.

Sarah 28:22

Technical on us now.

Ben 28:24

So in that case, I'll put something else in the product. I'll either increase ingredients that are already in there, just put more of it in, or put another ingredient in there that's complementary or actually improves the product. For example, with our D3K2, I filled up with MCT powder, which is a healthy fat that helps in the absorption of D3.

Sarah 28:45

It's a fat-soluble vitamin. So you need fat to to absorb it properly.

Ben 28:50

So if you look at the ingredients list of many supplements, the first ingredient will be a bulking agent, because it's normally the most prevalent. But it's others think as a waste. It's unnecessary just make your product better.

Sarah 29:02

Also, for some people, depending on their bodies, some people are highly sensitive to things like that. Like there's some clients who you'd give them a supplement with bulking agents in, and both sides.

Ben 29:12

Most of it's I don't think most people have a reaction, but as if someone reacts as there's a person out there that will react to anything like that. Most of it is it's called MCC, microcrystalline cellular. So that's bulking agents. And then then there's processing agents and flow agents and stuff like that that are harder to remove everything. I've had battles with our manufacturers to try and keep everything out, but sometimes it literally won't run through the machine unless it has a flow agent. They can't get the stuff into the capsule. Obviously that doesn't apply to powders because powders are just dumped into the pot. But if it has to go into a capsule, sometimes it's very hard to not use a flow agent.

Sarah 29:51

Can I mention?

Ben 29:52

But then again, we try to use as natural stuff as possible, like bamboo, basilica.

Sarah 29:58

Which actually can have some benefits.

Ben 30:00

Again, you can have it. So it adds a benefit. We used to use UMag, but now we've stopped using that because we had issues.

Sarah 30:07

Anything else?

Ben 30:08

But again, a lot of companies won't have the battles with the manufacturer because every manufacturer wants to make it easy for themselves to get through the machines. So we'll people who other companies might just accept it, but I always push back. It might make it more expensive or slower to run, but I'd rather have the cleanest product possible.

Sarah 30:28

And again, this goes back down to price. What are you willing to pay in for your health?

Ben 30:33

So a big example of this is our essential amino tablets, which I posted on my story a little while ago. That tablets are very hard, very, very hard to not use any amino acids. We had a massive technical glitch there, but we're back. Prime example of this is our essential amino acid tablets. Tablets have very often need fillers and bulking agents just to make the tablet to stick together. Stick all the material together and often make glazed to stop them being powdery. And ours have always been excipient-free from day one, because we've managed to find a way to get them to compress by using it's called DC grade amino acids, so they're direct direct compression or something, amino acids. But they're still very hard to make for the manufacturer, and they hate making them because it almost breaks the machine to compress them hard enough to get them together. So our the manufacturer originally made them just said they wouldn't do it anymore.

Sarah 31:30

Wow.

Ben 31:31

Because it said it was just too much ball ache, basically. So then we had to find a new manufacturer that met all the standards and then to still do it without any fillers or excipients. And they pushed back originally saying we wanted to put this and that in it, bulking agents and stuff. Because the cap the tablets were cracking. And I said no, no, no, we want to keep it as clean as possible. So they finally agreed to do it with with no excipients, no fillers. It was a long process. And even now there's probably I don't know, about 10% of each batch we have to throw away. They have to pick through because it cracks all the tablets. Wow. Also the price has increased because it it's extra manpower for them to go through and pick out all obviously pick out all these tablets, but again.

Sarah 32:18

Worth it.

Ben 32:18

I'd rather have it like that.

Sarah 32:20

Gee whiz, I bet you didn't know. Half of this goes on in the industry. It's a fun, fun world, right? So yeah, but I think that's everything. We wanted to chat.

Ben 32:30

Is that everything? I think so. I thought there was something else, and now your remarkable's closed down.

Sarah 32:35

There's definitely nothing else on my notes that you can't read anyway.

Ben 32:38

There was something.

Sarah 32:40

Well, it's gone, so save that for another day. Otherwise we're gonna be sitting here for forty-five minutes waiting for you to think.

Ben 32:47

Just I guess I wanted to say there's just a lot of Dutchy players up there, clear misleading labels, and it's very hard for the consumer. Yes, it is. I can understand why it's hard. They just say all this stuff and why wouldn't you believe it? They got a load, they'd be on Amazon with thousands of great reviews which they've just got. It's very easy to get reviews. They have processors to get reviews. And they have great marketing and great looking packaged packaging and all the right words and the things like lab tested by professors and a from Harvard or whatever. So but you can't you can't fudge testing documents from third parties. Well, you could just make up the point really. Damn. That's a bad thing. I'm sure the testing company would come after you if you start doing certificates.

Sarah 33:35

So basically what we're saying is buy cheap, buy twice. When you buy from reputable companies, if you don't know what they are, reach out to someone like myself, a health professional, who will guide you in the right way to know which brands to use, what to use, just to use.

Ben 33:52

We put a QR code on every label now, so you just scan it and download the the COA for that batch.

Sarah 34:00

And that's all on episode number one of the Optimized Health Show. We will be back for more, hopefully. Maybe. We're gonna leave you in anti anticipation. Anticipation. Anthacipa. But if you've enjoyed this episode and you like what you hear, give us a rating five start. Because then that helps us spread the word, help more people, and get this kind of information out to the phone.

Ben 34:23

Going forward, we could do these as a live amps as well. I did say that that was the plan, but you were like, no, because it's a different audience and a Well, but then technically wise, we're just winging this at the moment. We've got two phones set up, a laptop. We have. If we had lives as well, we'd have to have iphones or something.

Sarah 34:40

We need a production team, so if we know anyone that could help us.

Ben 34:42

We're literally in the kitchen.

Sarah 34:43

We are in the kitchen and RAM right now. Need a production team. We need some help.

Ben 34:47

But I think this is a good effort. We are very rusty. And uh yeah.

Sarah 34:55

Needs a cup of tea. But yks for listening. We hope you found it informative. Please share with anyone that you think this would really benefit and don't forget to give us a five-star review. Ooh, we'll see you next time. I'm I was gonna say next week.

Ben 35:08

But don't promise what you can't deliver.

Sarah 35:10

I am gonna say we're gonna do it because if I don't hold myself accountable, it's so we're doing it next week. Next week there'll be another one. Stay tuned. Thank you. And stay optimised. Wow.

Ben 35:19

Love it. Goodbye.

Sarah 35:22

Bye.