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.

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Ben: @benlawprimal
• Sarah: @sarahlawuk
• Book a Consultation with Sarah: Free Wellness Discovery Call

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

Transcription

Speaker 2

[00.00.16]

 Welcome to the Optimist Health Show with your hosts, Ben and Sarah Lau. Hello. This is. I wait for a while o back and we have had a lovely rebrand. As you can see, we are now cause 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 years ago. 

Speaker 1

[00.00.42]

 So long ago now I can't even remember. And one word for the podcast was inconsistent. 

Speaker 2

[00.00.49]

 Basically, 

Speaker 1

[00.00.50]

 I think we've averaged about two podcasts a 

Speaker 2

[00.00.52]

 year. Yes, doing well, very inconsistent. So I think the last 

Speaker 1

[00.00.56]

 one was a year just over a year ago. 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? Well, we say that no 

Speaker 2

[00.01.10]

 we are. I want it to be. If Ben doesn't do it, I don't make 

Speaker 1

[00.01.13]

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

Speaker 2

[00.01.15]

 have many people say that they liked our podcast and they wanted to listen to more. So therefore we need to. 

Speaker 1

[00.01.19]

 But I don't know if we can produce more of the rubbish 

Speaker 2

[00.01.22]

 we can. We need to listen to the public. We need help. I have spoken, yes, they've spoken and they want our advice. So I hope that the new logo we 

Speaker 1

[00.01.31]

 got might be a little louder. The microphone there. That's okay. She will. Foghorn voice. 

Speaker 2

[00.01.37]

 Oh, sorry. I'll tone myself 

Speaker 1

[00.01.38]

 down. Rebrand is just. It's not just about podcasts, is it? 

Speaker 2

[00.01.42]

 No. It's the things that come. 

Speaker 1

[00.01.44]

 We'll keep maybe keep that schtum. 

Speaker 2

[00.01.46]

 But starting with 

Speaker 1

[00.01.48]

 the optimised brand things on the horizon that we're very excited about. But the podcast is the start of this. So if you listen to Healthy Living, I cannot speak healthy living with the rules. 

Speaker 2

[00.02.02]

 This is it basically, but a different favourite. Oh no, we're like the same person. Weird. Anyway, so where have we been? Where are we now? I think we just every 

Speaker 1

[00.02.12]

 time, where have we been, what we've been doing. And now we're in a, 

Speaker 2

[00.02.15]

 we've been basically in a different land. We were in a beta in the last podcast when we did Ben Laura's History. Now we're 

Speaker 1

[00.02.22]

 back in sunny UK. 

Speaker 2

[00.02.23]

 It's 4 p.m. and it's dark already. It's grey. No, 

Speaker 1

[00.02.26]

 in the north of England. What 

Speaker 2

[00.02.28]

 if we leave? I'm not sure people will ask us and we don't know basically where. But why did we leave the sunshine? I'm not sure. And I'm. There are mornings I wake up tired. I 

Speaker 1

[00.02.40]

 know there were many, many reasons for it. Do we want to do any 

Speaker 2

[00.02.43]

 more of them? The reasons were deliveries, not to get organic. I guess we don't live as normal lives do. And there's certain things we require, like supplements and foods. Well, it just 

Speaker 1

[00.02.54]

 appeared. We couldn't get you to buy a lot of specialist stuff. 

Speaker 2

[00.02.58]

 There was also some interesting stuff in one of the WhatsApp groups that I'm in at the moment about any of 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 don't know whether it's to do with the caterpillars or something to do with infective trees, the spirits, they're trying to get rid of them. But yeah, this chemical shitstorm basically that they spray over the entire island. It's not good, but they're 

Speaker 1

[00.03.24]

 not they're not hot on pesticides and herbicides, as in, the regulations around them are pretty weak. And they can spray anything on anything. Yeah. No, no. And then mold issues in a lot of the places 

Speaker 2

[00.03.39]

 with Little Island 

Speaker 1

[00.03.40]

 and of course Brexit. So you can actually 

Speaker 2

[00.03.43]

 legally stay anywhere. No, no. There's so many things we love about the island. What's going on there. Go one 

Speaker 1

[00.03.49]

 second. Does 

Speaker 2

[00.03.50]

 it's happened. Never go back in business. The only things we love about Ibiza. Beautiful place. Made some great friends. I really miss my friends. The sunshine is gorgeous, but there's just some frustrating things which we used to call Paradise tax. That's what people call it. A lot of frustrations when we grow our businesses and start new ventures, and it's just more 

Speaker 1

[00.04.12]

 conducive to doing it here than on a tiny island. 

Speaker 2

[00.04.15]

 And Mr. Lau, you took full advantage of Amazon when we first moved back to you. I think there was a point where we were having about seven Amazon delivery and I had 

Speaker 1

[00.04.23]

 to wake up. I carried away to begin with 

Speaker 2

[00.04.25]

 because trigger happy obviously, 

Speaker 1

[00.04.27]

 and if it takes about three weeks to get Amazon delivery, if it 

Speaker 2

[00.04.30]

 turns out, well, if you can get it, 

Speaker 1

[00.04.32]

 I got carried away with the same day delivery, so it's calmed down a little now, 

Speaker 2

[00.04.37]

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

Speaker 1

[00.04.41]

 Well off we go again. Keep 

Speaker 2

[00.04.43]

 you posted on her. What's next for The Doors? But it's not. But for the 

Speaker 1

[00.04.47]

 time being, we're in the leads because of a few friends that live around here, so we thought we'd try the North at the UK. 

Speaker 2

[00.04.54]

 It's very beautiful, but very cold and grey. Quite wealthy, 

Speaker 1

[00.04.57]

 very cold, very 

Speaker 2

[00.04.58]

 grey. The level of sir. 

Speaker 1

[00.05.00]

 It's a bit of a shock to the system. 

Speaker 2

[00.05.02]

 Yeah. We really throw 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 

Speaker 1

[00.05.07]

 like a single bonus, which is really cold. 

Speaker 2

[00.05.11]

 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 Lovelife Supplements. Co.Uk and use the code Benton 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 and know a few things about. So 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 like, oh, 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 my cheap, bad, worse. 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? No, 

Speaker 1

[00.06.38]

 I don't know why it's so unregulated, but actually anyone can pretty much supplement company and anything and then speak to a manufacturer and get anything made. 

Speaker 2

[00.06.49]

 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. You're not like you take something, 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 if they think it might be 

Speaker 1

[00.07.13]

 theirs because of their officially classes. Food, not drugs. So they don't have the same rules around them as lambs to drugs, even though events can have profound effects on the body. They were called natural food food products. 

Speaker 2

[00.07.28]

 But they're not. They're not food only because they're in high physiological doses. When you get something in a capsule and 

Speaker 1

[00.07.33]

 it's so if you can take a natural herb or something, you have a dramatic effect. 

Speaker 2

[00.07.37]

 Absolutely. In a good way or not a good licorice. Don't ever mention that word. It's like dirt to me. Never put me near licorice. Never again 

Speaker 1

[00.07.46]

 massively increases cause or 

Speaker 2

[00.07.48]

 it stops cortisol clearance, which can be incredible for some people. If you're deactivating a lot of your cortisol and cortisone and you've got low cortisol, it can be great because it keeps it in your system for longer. However, if your cortisol levels were quite high, um, and then you take it, it was not fun. I experienced that and I ended up like a big puffball denier. There's some great pictures of me with, like, my swollen face. You ever seen in your life? It was not fun. So, yeah, they can have huge effects because it is like a concentrated version of that food or whatever it is. These tiny capsule, isn't it? I think there are more regulations coming in. Dominates the Wild West and Northwest. 

Speaker 1

[00.08.27]

 Dodgy companies 

Speaker 2

[00.08.28]

 certainly were very clever with their marketing, and this is the problem that we see a lot. 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 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 is it 

Speaker 1

[00.08.52]

 rules around where you can put labels so weakly regulated. It's not enforced almost. That's weird. MHRA will you know not to do that. But then people do it and then they get away with it. It's bonkers. 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? There can be a lot of contaminants in individual ingredients, can't there? So there could be things like heavy metals, but what else could be in there? So 

Speaker 2

[00.09.35]

 small mycotoxins by salmonella. Delicious. Yeah. So it's really important to 

Speaker 1

[00.09.41]

 foreign objects even. 

Speaker 2

[00.09.42]

 Well what do you mean by a foreign object. 

Speaker 1

[00.09.44]

 Just that actual bits of metal. Wow. Or plastic or stuff. 

Speaker 2

[00.09.49]

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

Speaker 1

[00.09.59]

 They want to be testing. Each, or the manufacturer does want to be testing each ingredient that comes into the stream facility 

Speaker 2

[00.10.07]

 before going into any product. 

Speaker 1

[00.10.09]

 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 that's why it has very comprehensive thing. List of 

Speaker 2

[00.10.22]

 your supplier is crazy good clear lists 

Speaker 1

[00.10.24]

 of lists of things that they have to adhere to that even approve the supplier. Then they approve the supplier. Then they have to approve their manufacturing facility. So where they actually make the raw gradient and then they test the raw ingredient when it comes to them for everything we've mentioned. So heavy metals microbiology which saw the light and salmonella and stuff like that. And then if you want it you can you can request further testing. They're the kind of 

Speaker 2

[00.10.49]

 tests it's amazing. And then 

Speaker 1

[00.10.51]

 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 and the test that again. 

Speaker 2

[00.10.59]

 Exactly. To make sure that the end point those 

Speaker 1

[00.11.01]

 are the that basically testing that there's been no contamination during the manufacturing process. So they're all ingredients tested. Then the capsule test has been tested 

Speaker 2

[00.11.10]

 almost. And this is why they only recommend certain brands. But there's just too much crap out there and people are taking it. And I'm like, also, I will only ever recommend you obviously, because the of course, another brand that I work with called Arbonne 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 

Speaker 1

[00.11.33]

 passive, but that's the testing on the contaminant side. Then there's the next level of testing is which we we start to go to that next level. But testing the idea has a level of active ingredient that you claim on 

Speaker 2

[00.11.48]

 the label. Yeah. So there was an interesting study done wasn't there. Buy it now. Now foods now supplements now foods 

Speaker 1

[00.11.55]

 or foods. It was comprehensive testing of 

Speaker 2

[00.11.57]

 lots of different brands, other people's brands. Just really what you can actually 

Speaker 1

[00.12.00]

 what you want to do because you 

Speaker 2

[00.12.01]

 could look on Google and find that a 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. 

Speaker 1

[00.12.20]

 They're not in there or a very, very low dose. I wonder what they're claiming on the label. 

Speaker 2

[00.12.25]

 So what you're paying for is not what you're getting at all as well. Even if it's spending £5 on a supplement, it's still £5. 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, 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 company where they look at all of the manufacturing processes, where they know where the ingredients are sourced from and each individual ingredient is tested, then that's actually going away above and beyond what organic is, isn't it? 

Speaker 1

[00.13.18]

 I'd rather buy an ingredient that's been fully tested then organic that's not been tested. And if you have both as the gold standard. Really? Yeah. But if a non-organic product has been fully tested, then, you know, almost. No it is it meets the standard of organic anyway. It doesn't have the pesticides and herbicides. Exactly. Tested negative for all those things that no organic products would normally have. Don't be 

Speaker 2

[00.13.40]

 fooled by if it says organic on the label as that being okay, it's all good, then that's what you're trying to say in terms of that. So quality is king. I wanted to just briefly touch on sorry the soils. What just my read, my writing. So 

Speaker 1

[00.13.55]

 getting back to testing. So how does the end consumer know that it's been tested? Yes. And this is where the well, that's 

Speaker 2

[00.14.02]

 the claim going to. Oh 

Speaker 1

[00.14.04]

 no. We talked about this as we talked about the CoA account. It was called Certificate of Analysis. And every company should be able to provide a CoA every batch, not just every product, but for every batch of products they produce. And in that CoA, you should have all these test results, the expected value and the value they've achieved. Like I said, the heavy metals and the microbiology in them. But then if they go a step further like active ingredients 

Speaker 2

[00.14.29]

 rose. So we know that what it states is what it is. And 

Speaker 1

[00.14.33]

 preferably by a third party, someone like Eurofins or Certified 

Speaker 2

[00.14.38]

 Labs. Yeah, they have not been doctored in-house. So I want you 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? Not really. 

Speaker 1

[00.14.58]

 There is to take it. Oxidize 

Speaker 2

[00.14.59]

 anything? 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.. So it's important like you're just taking a fish oil which and many people are buying them from high street stores. Or some online just random. And again, you like great fish oil is very beneficial because it's high number three 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 SEOs practitioner grade, highly reputable brands when it comes to things like fish oils. Yes, 

Speaker 1

[00.15.35]

 with fish oil is one of the was an antioxidant. Yeah, vitamin E or something. And that's where crude oil is good because it's naturally occurring acids anything in it which helps preserve it. So that's why we sell you do 

Speaker 2

[00.15.49]

 krill oil. It's really important to have that antioxidant with it isn't it, to protect it itself. 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. 

Speaker 1

[00.16.08]

 It's rare is overdose. 

Speaker 2

[00.16.10]

 It is, but it could be. And if it is, for example, with something like vitamin D, it with things like that, India is a hormone and it needs to be in the right dose for your body. And so if you're taking a dose and it's a higher than it stays on the label, that could actually be doing a lot of, 

Speaker 1

[00.16.25]

 oh, if they state it on the label is that high, that's because there's there's strength wars on Amazon. You just 

Speaker 2

[00.16.32]

 think the highest, 

Speaker 1

[00.16.33]

 the more the better. People just produce stronger and stronger products, which could be, say, detrimental. 

Speaker 2

[00.16.38]

 So your body might not need that. And that's why testing is so important for certain things as well. Because again, people were saying, oh, vitamin D is great for me. It's fantastic for your immune system, etc.. Bone health, but you don't want to overdose on vitamin D. Hmm. 

Speaker 1

[00.16.51]

 Well, it's like, um, I guess because disposal disposal agents can be too strong to give blood sugar, actually. 

Speaker 2

[00.16.59]

 And again, depending on you as a human person, as a human person, not an 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 you need in terms of 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, who then can't convert folic acid into the active form of folate. And if you don't do that, you can actually create a build up of homocysteine, which is not good. That folic acid that you maybe are taking in a supplement would actually block the absorption of light 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 oestrogen detox. I'm basically a bit genetically screwed to be honest. I'm 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 reactive oxygen species, etc., especially if I've exercised. So knowing that kind of stuff can be super helpful. And another thing that I know is I'd be an absolutely terrible vegan because I am small, genetically converting beta carotene into its active form of vitamin E. So again, for you, if you don't know that stuff, you might be taking a multivitamin, 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 

Speaker 1

[00.18.51]

 because it's just about getting the best forms of the ingredient. Right? Because there's a lot of forms and un and bioavailable forms of the world I've just made up. That's good. A good example is magnesium oxide is really poorly. It's actually 

Speaker 2

[00.19.06]

 pretty great if you got constipation super 

Speaker 1

[00.19.08]

 cheap. So people stuff their magnesium products with mag oxide. Yes. And then there's more good examples in there. 

Speaker 2

[00.19.15]

 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 know its orbit very well. So form is really important. So various 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. You don't want to be overdosing on iron, it just rusts you essentially rusts your insides, so it's very dangerous. If you start taking Ireland, 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 that 

Speaker 1

[00.20.03]

 co-factors and stuff like that. Right. Because like zinc, if you take zinc without copper, you can deplete a proper 

Speaker 2

[00.20.11]

 vice versa. And that's why women who have the copper coil often end up zinc. Is that true? Yeah. Deficient because they've got a steady supply essentially of copper going into the system and then not enough zinc if they're not eating 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 cows, sorry. Alongside vitamin C helps with absorption, but if you take it alongside calcium, for example, it'll block the absorption or caffeine. It's all very fun and interesting, but 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 is 

Speaker 1

[00.20.58]

 it really is a little bit scary that people can just buy anything at a supplement company. Sometimes just can self-medicate. Basically. That's why 

Speaker 2

[00.21.06]

 you have the option on your website as well for people to have consultations, consultations with more 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 lifestyle. You have a time in 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 why should I get asked that diet? Exactly. The one question I get asked the most on my social media is what I'm experiencing this, what supplements should I take? And I'm like, why don't we look at your diet and lifestyle first, then just go into the supplement 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 so what to look. I think we 

Speaker 1

[00.22.01]

 spoke about overdosing. It's been about under dosing in the dosing section. 

Speaker 2

[00.22.06]

 Oh you go go go for it. And I think tell me about under dosing is the 

Speaker 1

[00.22.10]

 bigger problem is a lot of companies will put a tiny amount of something in which won't do anything. I think I highlighted on my feed the other day with a specific turmeric supplement. 

Speaker 2

[00.22.20]

 Again, very clever marketing. 

Speaker 1

[00.22.23]

 Though plutonium out in. Oh, we 

Speaker 2

[00.22.25]

 didn't talk about proprietary blends. I hope 

Speaker 1

[00.22.27]

 we'll get to that. Okay. No, just put a tiny amount in just to make the label look good, because they can list that ingredient, but just a very small amount, which won't really do anything. Or they'll give the example 

Speaker 2

[00.22.37]

 electric and curcumin that you gave on your story, because that makes more sense. 

Speaker 1

[00.22.41]

 That example was they just had a very small amount, like 58mg. 

Speaker 2

[00.22.46]

 They had loads of it. Said so much turmeric didn't it? But the active component in turmeric is curcumin. No, 

Speaker 1

[00.22.52]

 she said I came in and that one it was turmeric extract. I think they didn't even try to hide it, but they just people don't know. Do they know? Because that was that was 58mg per two capsules and ours is 500mg per one capsule. So ten times 20 times the amount per capsule, which is the studied amount. Yes. 

Speaker 2

[00.23.12]

 And so it's like something to have an effect. 

Speaker 1

[00.23.14]

 And there's a reason why the ratio is the reason why it's £6 is £6. Not just because you want to make massive amount of money because it's it costs way more. That's a big red flag. If a supplement is £6 is of pounds I know how much these products costs. And that's a we can't produce it for pounds. So for them to sell it for £6, 

Speaker 2

[00.23.35]

 yes. 

Speaker 1

[00.23.36]

 It won't have the testing, it won't have the manufacturing processes included and it won't have the amount of ingredient you need. So no. Then they'll also hide behind extract ratios. Yes. So 

Speaker 2

[00.23.49]

 that's really confusing as well as even I look at those and I'm like I cannot my brain does not compute those numbers. Talk about extract 

Speaker 1

[00.23.56]

 ratios 10 to 1 say so you'd require. Ten times the amount of ingredients to distill down into, say, for 500mg of an ingredient in a 10 to 1 extract ratio. You need 500mg of the material to make 50mg. 

Speaker 2

[00.24.14]

 I made my brain hurt already. That's the extract strong point. So it's highly 

Speaker 1

[00.24.19]

 concentrated basically. 

Speaker 2

[00.24.20]

 So the the lower the ratio the better. 

Speaker 1

[00.24.23]

 Yes. Higher the ratio, the stronger it is 

Speaker 2

[00.24.26]

 in theory. So so 20 to 1 would be higher. Well I know that's higher. That would be stronger than 10 to 1. 

Speaker 1

[00.24.32]

 But on the label they'll put it raw and the raw material value as the value not the extracted value. The mean. So they'll 

Speaker 2

[00.24.42]

 say 

Speaker 1

[00.24.44]

 let's say it's 500mg 

Speaker 2

[00.24.45]

 of ashwagandha, 

Speaker 1

[00.24.47]

 ashwagandha or curcumin. When it's actually only 50mg. 

Speaker 2

[00.24.51]

 And do they even put the 10 to 1? Or do they just not even write that 

Speaker 1

[00.24.55]

 they will have to put it on the ingredients list, but on the on the front of the label, it would say 500mg of cumin or and on the the listing on Amazon, it'll say the 500 bigger or even higher. Sometimes because some extract ratios are like 50 to 1. So they'll say 15,000mg, 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 optimized. Why not book a free wellness discovery call with me and 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 program or 1 to 1 coaching. The link to book your free call is in the show notes and then proprietary. And I've said that we're proprietary blends. So proprietary blends are an interesting one because a lot of the time it can actually just be that they're disguising most of the time is they're 

Speaker 2

[00.25.55]

 disguising and saying that it's got all these amazing ingredients in. But when it's a blend, they don't have to say how much of each ingredient more so 

Speaker 1

[00.26.01]

 in America than the UK. I don't even know if you can do it in the UK, but you can actually you can. So they'll just say proprietary belly buster blend and then list all the ingredients, start stating amount of each individual ingredient in that blend, so they could put the most expensive one as the smallest amount basically, 

Speaker 2

[00.26.20]

 and then the cheapest one. I'll say it had maximum magnesium oxide in that proprietary blend that 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. I mean, knowing the brand, we 

Speaker 1

[00.26.39]

 say everything. On the label? Yes. So we we've I admit we're fully open to our formulas getting stolen, but then I doubt I will be able to produce them at such a high level. So. 

Speaker 2

[00.26.51]

 And this is it. You want a company that has full transparency. That is it. They list everything on the ingredients, label everything that fillers, everything in 

Speaker 1

[00.27.01]

 the amount of 

Speaker 2

[00.27.02]

 each. 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've told me about, with the companies that to run it through the machines, it's not easy to do for some things, is it? 

Speaker 1

[00.27.32]

 So bulking agents? 

Speaker 2

[00.27.34]

 Cattle? No, no, I'm 

Speaker 1

[00.27.36]

 just gathering my thoughts. They manufacture a manufacturer. We 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 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. It doesn't really do anything but does cost money. So what we do and that happens is 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 then will only do double O's or slow 

Speaker 2

[00.28.22]

 technical loss now. 

Speaker 1

[00.28.24]

 So in that case, I'll put something else in the product. I'll either increase ingredients. They're 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 D3, K2, I filled up with MCT powder, which is a healthy fat that helps in the absorption of D3 

Speaker 2

[00.28.44]

 fat. It's a fat soluble vitamins, so you need to to absorb it properly. So if you look at the ingredients list many supplements, the first ingredient will be a bulking agent because it's normally the most prevalent, 

Speaker 1

[00.28.57]

 but others think as a waste that's unnecessary. Just make your product better. 

Speaker 2

[00.29.02]

 Also, for some people, depending on layer or these, some people are highly sensitive to things like that. There's some clients who you give them the supplement with bulking agents in. And basically 

Speaker 1

[00.29.12]

 I think most people have a reaction, but there's a similar reaction. There's a person out there, they will react to anything. Most of it is it's called MCH microcrystalline cellulose. 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 that batters other manufacturers to try and keep everything out. But sometimes it literally won't run through the machine and 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. Imagine. But then again, when we try to use as natural stuff as possible, like bamboo silica, 

Speaker 2

[00.29.58]

 which actually can have some benefits. Also the collagen, again, 

Speaker 1

[00.30.01]

 you can have it. So it provides a benefit. You used to use Imag. But now we've stopped using that because we had issues. 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 be blessed by the company as much as 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. 

Speaker 2

[00.30.28]

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

Speaker 1

[00.30.33]

 health? So big example of this is our Essential Amino tablets, which I posted on my story a little while ago. The tablets are very hard, very very hard to not use any 

Speaker 2

[00.30.44]

 amino acids. Amino. 

Speaker 1

[00.30.46]

 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 a little material together and often a glaze to stop them being powdery. And others have always been excipients free from day one, because we've managed to find a way to get them to compress by using. It's called DC Creed amino acids, 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 press them hard enough to get them together. And so the manufacturer originally made them just said they wouldn't do it anymore. Well, because it said it was just too much for Blake, basically. So then we had to find a new manufacturer about all the standards and then still do it without any fillers or excipients. And they pushed back originally saying, we want to put this and that and it's bulking agents and stuff because the cut, the tablets were cracking. I said, no, no, no, we want to keep it as clean as possible. So they finally agreed to do it with with no shipping. They fill us with a long process. And even now there's probably a 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. Well, we said the price is increased because it's extra manpower for them to go through and pick out. Obviously pick out all these tablets. But again, 

Speaker 2

[00.32.18]

 worth it. I'd rather 

Speaker 1

[00.32.19]

 have it like that. 

Speaker 2

[00.32.20]

 Gee whiz, I bet you know half of this goes on in the comment section. It's a fun, fun world, right? So yeah, I think that's everything. We wanted to chat. So everything I think so I 

Speaker 1

[00.32.31]

 thought there was something else. And now you're remarkable was 

Speaker 2

[00.32.34]

 closed down. I was definitely nothing else on my notes that you can't read anyway. There 

Speaker 1

[00.32.38]

 was something. 

Speaker 2

[00.32.40]

 Well, it's gone, so save that for another day. That one's going to be sitting here for 45 minutes waiting for you to 

Speaker 1

[00.32.46]

 think. Just I guess I'll say there's just a lot of dodgy players out there, misleading labels. And it's very hard for the consumer. 

Speaker 2

[00.32.53]

 Yes it is. I can understand why 

Speaker 1

[00.32.55]

 it's hard to say all this stuff and why wouldn't you believe it? They got allowed to be on Amazon with thousands of great reviews, which they've just got. 

Speaker 2

[00.33.03]

 It's very easy to get results. 

Speaker 1

[00.33.05]

 They have processes to get reviews, and they have great marketing and great looking package packaging 

Speaker 2

[00.33.09]

 and all the right word, all 

Speaker 1

[00.33.11]

 the right words and the things like lab tested 

Speaker 2

[00.33.14]

 Nobel Prize 

Speaker 1

[00.33.16]

 professors and a from Harvard. However, they can just say whatever. So but you can't can't fudge testing documents from third parties. Well, you could just make up the 

Speaker 2

[00.33.28]

 well, that's true. I'm 

Speaker 1

[00.33.31]

 sure the testing company would come after you if you started trying certificates. 

Speaker 2

[00.33.35]

 So basically what we're saying is buy cheap, buy twice review 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, and looking 

Speaker 1

[00.33.50]

 for demand. Those CEOs who put a QR code on every label now, so you can just scan it and download the the code for that batch 

Speaker 2

[00.33.59]

 marked. And that's all on episode number one of the Optimised Health Show. We will be back for more. Hopefully. Maybe. I don't get to leave you in an anticipation anticipation and has a partial. But if you've enjoyed this episode and you like what you hear, give us a rating. Give us five stars because then that helps us spread the word, help more people and get this kind of information out to us going forward. 

Speaker 1

[00.34.23]

 We could do this as a live well. 

Speaker 2

[00.34.26]

 I did say that that was the plan, but you were like, no, because it's a different audience and well, 

Speaker 1

[00.34.31]

 but then technically wise, we're just winging this at the moment. We've got two phones up, a 

Speaker 2

[00.34.37]

 laptop. We have. If we had 

Speaker 1

[00.34.38]

 lives as well, we'd have to have lovely 

Speaker 2

[00.34.39]

 phones. We need a production team. So if you know anyone that could help us, we're literally in the kitchen. We are in the kitchen and around right now. I need a production team. We need some help. But 

Speaker 1

[00.34.47]

 I think this is a good effort as far as as we've been off for so long and we're very rusty. We 

Speaker 2

[00.34.53]

 are very rusty, and I need a cup of tea, but thanks 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. Oh, we'll see you next time. I was going to say next week, 

Speaker 1

[00.35.08]

 but I promise what you can't deliver, 

Speaker 2

[00.35.10]

 I am going to say we're going to do it because if I don't hold myself accountable. So we're doing it next week. Next week there'll be another one. Stay tuned. Thank you. And stay optimized. 

Speaker 1

[00.35.18]

 Wow. Love it. Goodbye. I.