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Can you elaborate more on what frustrates you about how supplements are bought, the misleading labeling, the lack of regulation, and the incentive structures de
by lumb63 4y ago
Can you elaborate more on what frustrates you about how supplements are bought, the misleading labeling, the lack of regulation, and the incentive structures designed to keep people in the dark?
I ask because I consume and browse a lot of supplements and have never come across (or have never noticed) most of the above on any supplements I’ve ever considered.
Also, adding my two cents on things I care about when buying supplements:
- does this contain as much as it says it does?
- how does this ingredient benefit me?
- how bioavailable is this form?
Comparing the above is a huge time sink because the information is either hard to find or unknown or speculative.
- bumby 4y agoMaybe I’m misunderstanding your post, but are you saying you’ve never come across mislabeling in the supplements you personally take? How would you know if you’re not getting them independently tested? (Maybe you are? If so, I’d be curious about which supplements/brands you’ve tested that seem consistently legitimate).
- lumb63 4y agoIndependent labs exist that perform testing. I typically use LabDoor. The supplements aren’t perfect by any means, so I suppose there is some “mislabeling”, and maybe the supplements that are tested aren’t representative of what’s shipped to consumers. So, it’s about as accurate as anything else that’s sold to consumers with a nutrition facts label, in my opinion.
- richarlidad 4y agoAn incentive issue I am referring to is LabDoor is funded by companies - their business model is affiliates + requiring a fee from companies to list their products. Also their selection is very limited and testing methods opaque. I want to populate the table with one click access to CoA's and product testing.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y agoconsumerlab.com
- edmundsauto 4y agoThis is a super interesting question. If you don't know, and it's difficult to find out, isn't your market going to be limited by the rate of consumer education? that is a difficult goto market strategy, because you have multiple funnel fallouts happening - people who don't want to get educated, can't get educated, don't believe the education. Then they enter your "do they want to buy your product" funnel. Tough space, but it sounds like it's a problem - good luck!
- richarlidad 4y agoYes! Actually, bioavailability was one of the first things that I wanted to track as there are studies w/ bioavailability data but they are often conflicting - having said that is solved by giving a generic range x%-y%. Again, if we go by the label then we suffer from the issue of trusting companies - so the medium term game is to produce CoA's since these companies are so reluctant to do so. Since this is the top comment at posting - best way to request features is to follow on twitter https://twitter.com/backoflabel https://twitter.com/backoflabel signing up and logging in currently gives access to 4000+ rows (double the preview)
- lumb63 4y agoAnother thing which makes bioavailability difficult is competition inhibition by other supplements, e.g. zinc and copper. There are also genetic changes between individuals that make it hard to track; e.g. impaired folate metabolism due to MTHFR C677T gene. And then there’s the “does any of that really matter with respect to any metrics I care about” question, because presumably people are supplementing with some goal in mind beyond changing levels of minerals in their blood.