Supplement Industry Things That Make Me Want A Lobotomy

It’s time for another adventure in Lobotomy Land. Another day, another batch of things in the supplement industry that make me want to become a feral forest animal.

Never-ending Problems in the Supplement Industry

We've got a great lineup this week:

• Greenwashing

• Creatine gummies and drinks

• Superfoods greens gummies

• Some more quality control problems on Amazon

• Angry liposomal supplement questions

• Bad magnesium testing and labeling

Supplement Industry Greenwashing

First up is some serious greenwashing. Greenwashing is when a company markets itself as environmentally friendly, while in practice, it is anything but. One of my least favorite supplement companies, Garden of Life, has ads going about how they are sponsoring plastic cleanup. Garden of Life is owned by Nestle, one of the world's top plastic polluters. Maybe instead of some bullshit ads, Nestle could work on being less horrible and producing less pollution. I know that won’t happen, because shareholders need their never-ending growth in profits, but a guy can dream.

Amazon Oregano Oil Quality Control Problems

Next up is Amazon’s continued claims about cleaning up the quality control problems of the supplements on their site. New testing showed 21 of 35 oregano oil supplements failed to meet label claims. It’s unbelievable that there is no penalty for this type of thing, but as we know, laws and rules don’t apply in this country if you’re rich or a massive corporation. 

Superfood Greens Gummies

These very popular gummies, which I get asked about far too much, are coming in hot at number three:

The core nutrients blend has around thirty-one ingredients (give or take a few, but I went cross-eyed trying to count them) and says it is 8.7 grams (8700 mg). The first two ingredients are tapioca fiber and inulin root powder (there is no such thing as an inulin root, so that could be a few different things, but who knows). The total fiber per serving is 6 grams, which means the 8.7-gram blend contains about 7 grams of tapioca and inulin. That leaves a total of, let’s be generous, 2 grams or so for the other 28 ingredients, which means you are getting less than 100 mg of each on average. That is a perfect example of fairy dusting. This is a very common practice in the supplement industry where companies put lots of ingredients in a product to make the label look good, but they are in only tiny amounts. There’s more than 3x as much added sugar in this product as there are fruits and vegetables. My hat goes off to the marketing department at this company that convinced people that this candy with a spec of fruit and vegetable powder was a healthy addition to their diet. Have I mentioned my feelings on marketing departments?

Creatine Gummies And Drinks

Fourth on our journey, over on curling up in the fetal position lane, are creatine drinks and gummies. Properly made creatine is a great supplement; this is not a bashing of creatine. 

Creatine, as an ingredient, does not tolerate harsh manufacturing and processing methods. Turning creatine into a ready-to-drink liquid beverage or a gummy creates some big problems. When turned into a liquid form and left on the shelf, it breaks down into creatinine. The vast majority of those energy drinks at the gas station, beverages at the health food store, and bodybuilder shops with creatine in them are a complete waste of money because of this. Creatine technology is not at a stage where ready-to-drink beverages can be made with it. 

Making gummies is a harsh process, which creatine is not suited for. That is why independent testing frequently shows creatine gummies with far less creatine in them than what they claim on the label, with many gummy products containing zero milligrams of creatine, as the creatine degrades and breaks down during the process. You should only purchase creatine in powder or pill form. Creatine is very bulky and requires a large dosage, so to get enough, it would take around eight to fifteen large pills. Powder really is the way to go.

Terrible Supplement Testing

Lots of people want to see third-party or finished-product testing for contaminants, heavy metals, potency, etc. While I understand the desire for this, there are a ton of problems with it.

The demand for test results has led to a surge in fake test results or poorly done testing. Still, since very few people asking for these results know how to tell whether they are properly done or fake, companies are often passing off complete garbage as test results, leading people to have a false sense of security that the products are safe and clean.

Here's an example of what I mean:

This product claims 400 mg of magnesium per serving on the label, but its own testing, posted on the product website, shows only 101.278 milligrams per serving. Now, the test results may apply to only one capsule, but they don't show the total serving amount. Even if it only meant one capsule, it would still be about 50% less than the label claims.

In addition to that, you cannot have 200 mg of elemental magnesium glycinate in one pill. That pill would have to be massive, since magnesium glycinate is only about 14% elemental magnesium, meaning the pill would need to be around 1400 mg to supply 200 mg of elemental magnesium. Either the company is completely lying about the amount of elemental magnesium in the pill, or they are mixing it with other forms of magnesium, like magnesium oxide, and not listing it on the label, which is illegal.

Most people would have missed all of these things, thinking, oh, look, it's tested, and the results are good, so I should get it. All the while, they would be getting a product with significantly less magnesium than what the label claimed.

It really feels like I am screaming into an infinite void when I say this, but just because a company provides third-party test results or other testing certificates or certifications does not mean it is a good product or that those test results are accurate or correctly done. This is not meant to be a gatekeeping statement; it's just that you need a lot of experience and training to know whether the results are correct and real. You can read about the problems with third-party testing and what you should look for instead here.

Liposomal Vitamin Pills and Powders

Last but not least in this pain-in-my-brain lineup are companies selling liposomal supplements in pill and powder form. This is not new, but I got asked a lot about them this week. YOU CANNOT HAVE A LIPOSOMAL PILL OR POWDER! 

When a liposome is dried and powdered, it loses its spherical structure.

It is no longer liposomal at that point; it is just a lipid powder. Lipid powders (or powders inside a capsule) are not the same as liposomes and do not offer the same benefits.

It drives me absolutely insane that I have to see companies completely lying about what they are selling, all the while they make millions on those fake products. Some days, I really wish I didn’t have a conscience; apparently, you can make a ton of money without one. 

I want to address a particular question I got on this topic, from someone who appeared to be having a tough day and just wanted to argue (I hope things are going better for you!), that they got a softgel lipsomal vitamin C and it had liquid inside so it must be liposomal and that my blog article on liposomal supplements was incorrect and I need to update it to reflect this information. I can totally understand why someone might feel their pills must be liposomal because they have liquid inside, and I did say liposomal supplements must be in liquid form; however, they missed something very important about liposomal nutrients and compounds.

Besides needing to be a liquid, the concentration of a liposomal nutrient can only go up to a certain amount because the entire functional principle of liposomal formulations relies on the active ingredient being masked, or rather rendered invisible, by the phospholipids. The small intestine thus only sees the phospholipids and absorbs them along with the active ingredient hidden within them. However, if the ratio between the active ingredient and the phospholipids becomes unbalanced and the proportion of the active ingredient is too high, it becomes visible to the small intestine again, and the liposomal functional principle fails.

A standard softgel containing 500 mg of liquid "liposomal" vitamin C would contain far too high a ratio of vitamin C to phospholipids, which would cause the liposomal functional principle to fail. The only way to create a liposomal softgel containing 500 mg or more of vitamin C would be to make it so large that it would be unswallowable.

Here's the thing: I am very open to correcting information on the website if it is incorrect or new research becomes available that shows something we wrote is no longer accurate. We often make changes based on new research or exposés. For example, if a brand starts using a new raw material in a product that is not good, we will discontinue it, no matter how well it sells. I have no loyalty to any brand or products. However, the new information must be based on solid science, logic, and research, not feelings and marketing. For example, in 2020 or 2021 (I cannot remember which), Amazon said it implemented strict new procedures to address its quality control problems with supplements. However, since that time, testing (as I talked about above with the recent oregano oil testing, for example) by multiple organizations has shown that the problems have not been fixed, and poor quality, low potency, mislabeled, and counterfeit products are still rampant on the platform. Which is why I will not add to my Amazon supplements problems blog a statement from them saying they have implemented fixes, since clearly that is bullshit.

I hope I gave you a bit of a laugh and a reprieve in these crazy times. Remember to take care of one another and practice kindness, because all we have right now is each other.