You’re at your local health store comparing two supplements. Both claim to give you the same results. They even share many of the same ingredients.
But one is significantly more expensive than the other… and it’s unclear why.
What’s going on here?
Are they the same? Is great packaging the only thing setting one apart? Or is there a real difference?
When choosing vitamins and supplements, no two products are the same. But to understand why we need to clarify the difference between vitamins vs. supplements.
Vitamins are the essential ingredients in health supplements. Your body needs vitamins and nutrients to function correctly, but our diet and environment may not provide the adequate nutrients our bodies need. So, we take dietary supplements to give our bodies those vital substances.
What Makes the “Same” Supplements Different?
While a supplement helps deliver the vitamins to our body, the form and quality of the vitamin differ depending on which supplement you take.
One thing you may notice when inspecting a supplement label is the list of ingredients. Every supplement has non-active and active ingredients.
Some companies choose to include non-active forms of a nutrient that the body will then have to convert into an active form using enzymatic processes or DNA. While this works as intended for some people, others cannot convert all the nutrients effectively.
Products also differ in quality. For example, some manufacturers use cheaper (and lower-quality) ingredients or include fillers and binding agents the body can’t break down easily.
To further complicate matters, when companies use proprietary blends of supplements, they don’t always state precisely how much of each ingredient they include.
I was not too fond of proprietary blends early in my career because I never knew exactly what they used. These blends could have a small amount of a necessary ingredient combined with an unknown amount of everything else. It was tough to tell what was better, so I avoided them altogether.
But then I learned how effective some proprietary blends could be. With the right quality and form of ingredients, the right proprietary supplement can make a huge difference.
How Supplements Are Created to Be Effective
At SNiP Nutrigenomics, we utilize peer-reviewed research and clinical data to inform how we formulate our supplements. For example, as we examine DNA, we look at biochemical metabolic reactions affected by each gene (or SNP) coupled with understanding which nutrients are needed for that particular process to work effectively.
During research and development, we verify our findings with diagnostic measures like lab testing and imaging to confirm and understand the biological effects of our blends.
Then we use only highly validated, scientifically researched ingredients. We’ve studied what happens when we combine them and how it affects each particular enzymatic function and genetic expression.
At SNiP, combining supplemental blends is not a guessing game. Instead, it’s a highly intentional and research-based process.
Vitamins vs. Supplements
We all need specific vitamins every day. But how much of a supplemental vitamin a particular person needs and the form of the vitamin their body can use varies from individual to individual.
Some of us have depletions in certain vitamins, while others get sufficient amounts from our food and lifestyle.
Multivitamins are widely available and extremely popular, but there are two main problems:
- First, most people don’t need additional amounts of every vitamin included.
- The body typically has difficulty converting and absorbing the standard form of each vitamin.
Multivitamins include the spectrum of what’s required by the body to function — but there’s no personalization or accountability for how each person breaks down and absorbs the nutrients. Instead, multivitamin formulas are based on the recommended daily value rather than individual genetic validation.
Also, these daily values are based on recommendations for a healthy person — but we’re all nutrient deficient in some way!
And inversely, if your body doesn’t need a specific vitamin in a generic multivitamin, you’re essentially just creating expensive urine.
Personalized supplementation allows you to get more of what you need and less of what you don’t. By understanding your DNA, we can create a validated supplement designed to give your body the nutrients it needs to perform optimally and eliminate the excess.
Why Proprietary Blends Are Individualized at SNiP
We don’t just provide options for proprietary supplemental blends at SNiP — we individualize each combination we make.
We start by looking at genes to understand how the individual’s pathway and biochemical process work.
For example, a variant in the MTHFR gene cannot correctly convert folic acid to folate. There are about seven steps for this to happen biochemically. For some individuals, not taking the correct form of B9 (5-methyltetrahydrofolate) and co-factors involved in the methylation process, the metabolic processes necessary to enhance our nutrient absorption prefaces enzymatic functions, can be hindered.
The same is true for other genes — you must utilize particular, active forms of nutrients to help the body absorb them, function properly, and put energy in the cells.
We’ve dissected this process to understand each genetic variation’s implications better. Then, based on your genetics, we can identify the exact nutrient in the proper form and quantity to help that pathway function optimally for you. This, combined with a healthy lifestyle and nutrient-dense foods, can ultimately help your wellness journey.
You likely have deficiencies in some nutrients and excess in others. Choosing a blend to include only the nutrients you need (and in the forms your body will recognize and use) maximizes your investment in your health.
Our supplemental blends of vitamins come together with synergistic biochemical processes in mind. They’re not random recipes — they’re uniquely crafted compounds that utilize clinical dosages based on peer-reviewed research and clinical data so your body can work more efficiently.
These blends provide the proper nutrients for the right person in the right amount specific to them. And who wouldn’t choose that?
