Consumer labs did a recent test of common Ashwagandha supplements and found many to have only small amounts of withanolides. What’s surprising is the brands found to be insufficient were good companies:
Life Extension
Pure Encapsulation
Swanson
Now and Nature’s Way did well in the testing.
NOW is emerging as the top supplement company for quality.
I’m also a member on Consumer Labs, it’s a good source of information, not just on quality but on efficacy.
Now is my go to. They have been in business since 1968 and I have never seen a bad test on their products. I avoid the new/small “flavor of the day” brands.
Did they test bulk powders?
If it’s pills/capsules I usually buy the Now brand. But I prefer to buy powders if that’s an option - for cost and also to avoid the fillers and the capsule itself if possible.
The bulk Ashwaganda I currently have is “organic spice resource” - but no idea if it’s good or not.
They tested “feel good” bulk powder and it failed.
This makes me want to renew my ConsumerLab subscription. I recently canceled just when I thought I knew the good brands. And I have a ton of Life Extension brand Ashwagandha, bought during a sale.
Now sells Glycine and some other amino acids in bulk powder form. I usually buy BulkSupplements for my amino acid powders or Nutricost. Usually the best bang for the buck. I used to use NOW for Glycine in the past.
My conclusion is there are no trustworthy supplement brands. Do your best to choose well. Look carefully (do not trust) to see if the results are forthcoming in blood and performance. Work hard to not need supplements forever.
For you or anyone,
Do you feel quality is company specific or it could just be product specific ?
(Meaning, a certain brand produces an excellent xyz, but their abc is lacking?)
Many variables in play. Each batch can be different: ingredient suppliers can change, what else was made using same machines right before? How the bottle was treated during the time post manufacturing to in your house (temperature avg, high, low)? How old is the batch?
“Quality” brands get sold to companies who need to make quarterly profit targets. Hmmm.
Ingredients used to make supplements are bought from other companies who might have bought the raw materials from yet other companies. Who are these suppliers and what laws do they operate under? So they say they test the raw ingredients…really? Every batch?
What else is in the supplement? Binders to hold the pill together. Coloring. Preservatives.
This is one of the reasons I decided to shrink my stack down to 10 things. Minimize polypharmacy and be able to afford to buy the best reputation products to test the effect on me. No way to test or no effect…I stop buying.
EXCELLENT feedback. I’d love to know what your 10 supplements are and from which brands, if you care to share.
@Beth Here are my current 10 supplements. The list changes as I give up on things or downgrade to pickup something new. 7&10 are new.
I’m not seeing any of my priority supplements. Interesting. No fish oil, no Magnesium, no vitamin D.
I’m also a ConsumerLab member, and I love their weekly research updates as well as the product analyses. NOW usually seems to pass testing, also I’ve noticed over the years that Doctor’s Best always seems to pass, and they have some fairly innovative products with great prices (I’m currently taking their nattokinase capsules, which come in a bottle of 270 small caps at 2,000 FU each, so it’s easy to take 6-10k FU per day).
I’m really surprised that Pure Encapsulations failed the ashwagandha testing. Their prices are SO outrageous that I’ve always assumed that at the very least their quality is good, but clearly it’s possible have the worst of both worlds.
Consumerlab has so much more to offer than just 3rd party testing. They do such a good job at displaying all the scientific evidence for so many different things.
Not high enough priorities for me to make my 10 cutoff.
Fish oil: I eat fish everyday. My omega 3 index is 12%.
Vit D: I make sure to get regular sunshine (I’m at 34.8 degrees Latitude). I eat eggs and fish and Greek yogurt daily.
Magnesium: I’m not aware of a magnesium deficiency. I eat oats, many bean varieties, salmon, almonds nearly daily.
Let us know how #10 goes! I just found the discussion about it on the other thread and I’m intrigued!
I received my real mushrooms 5 defenders and was slightly nauseous from the flavor (Imma wimp) so I’m going to make my own capsules with it!
Any “longevity drugs” taken?
My rule is nothing just for longevity but I do take several pharmaceuticals that also may have “longevity” benefits :
Rapamycin — joint pain (now allergy also) (12mg/14 days)
Dapagliflozen — blood sugar (10mg/day)
Metformin — blood sugar (500mg XR, 3-4 days every 14 days)
All but rapamycin are on the chopping block if I can figure out how to solve my metabolic decline (blood sugar above). My latest effort will be in losing the 5-10lbs of body fat I have in my abdomen.
I am also ramping up my physical activity to increase my tolerance/ ability to recover from HIIT and resistance training. I hope for more youthfulness as a result.
I am reluctant to buy supplements or even vitamins that are not from Now, Thorne or Nootropics Depot due to quality concern.