Bat Dung + Anything is Still Bat Dung

Dietary supplementation is pretty much a necessity in North America. The food we are consuming is so over processed, over vaccinated, over pesticide treated, over fertilized, and over preserved, that much of the nutritional value has been bleached out. It is no wonder that incidents of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes are reaching epidemic levels.

As difficult as it is to find sound nutrition in our everyday food choices, it can be even more difficult and confusing to find quality supplements. Since supplements are regulated as food, they are ironically subject to the same loose quality standards as the nutritionally poor food they are supposed to be supporting.

There are three things I look for in a quality supplement:

1. The supplement must be manufactured to pharmaceutical grade. Quality supplement manufacturers produce their supplements to the same standards required of pharmaceutical drugs. This ensures that the nutritional information label accurately represents the contents. A supplement produced to this quality will also be guaranteed to have active ingredients that still retain their potency. 
2. The supplement must have an aqueous coating that dissolves easily. Some manufacturers use shellac to coat their supplements so that they can be swallowed easily. Unfortunately, shellac is not so easily broken down in our digestive tract and can result in the entire supplement passing right through our digestive system totally intact without delivering its payload of vitamins and minerals.
3. A supplement produced by a company whose main focus is producing a quality supplement, not a pyramid based marketing empire that sells everything from household cleaning products to cosmetics. While this does not ensure the quality of the supplements one way or another, it does help me feel secure that the premium price I am paying (these things are expensive) is going towards improving the supplement products.

Dietary supplementation may be necessary but it does not replace the need to eat wisely. If you are eating bat dung for food and complementing it with quality nutritional supplements, you are still eating bat dung and that will have negative consequences.

“When diet is wrong medicine is of no use. When diet is correct medicine is of no need.” - Ayurvedic Proverb