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The Importance of Investing in Professional-Grade Supplements

  blog post author icon   blog post published date icon   05/02/19

Supplements  

Many consumers believe that supplements and vitamins fall into a single category of efficiency. After all, if you go to the local store and look at two bottles of the same supplement they probably have the same ingredients listed on them. What more could be involved?

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    In an ideal world, there would be no difference between two bottles containing the same quantity of a vitamin. But if that were the case in the real world, then why would a bottle containing vitamin B12 cost 6 dollars at a local Target and then 30 dollars from some other brands? It's all about quality.

    The World of Professional-Grade Supplements

    The vitamin and supplement market can be a confusing place to navigate. Many herbal supplements are not regulated by governments or third-party organizations. This allows them to make some pretty wild claims on their products without any sort of consequences in the long run. This is in stark contrast to medications, which are carefully analyzed and tested before they hit the shelves.

    While the market may seem to fall into a single category to newcomers there are actually two categories. The first category includes all of the standard vitamins and supplements that you'll find on shelves at your local Target, Walmart, or CVS. It also includes a large portion of the supplements that you find sold online. These are known as standard-grade or consumer-grade supplements.

    The second category is known as professional-grade or pharmaceutical-grade supplements. These are the supplements or vitamins that you pick up behind the counter after getting a prescription from your doctor. You can also find these available on some websites that specialize in selling high-grade supplements.

    You may not be aware that these types of vitamins and supplements exist if you've never been prescribed vitamins by a doctor. But now that you know there's a difference it's important that you stay in the right category when making future purchases. Buying traditional, cheap supplements is not only ineffective, but it could also pose a potential health risk in some situations.

    Let's look at some of the major differences between standard supplements and pharmaceutical-grade supplements. These differences will help you understand why a slightly higher price tag is justifiable when your health is on the line.

    The Benefits of Certifications

    The FDA does not strictly regulate supplements even among companies that sell pharmaceutical-grade products. Nonetheless, these companies want consumers to know that their products are natural, safe, and what they claim to be. The only way to accomplish this is to receive third-party certification from trusted organizations. It's very similar to how some food products receive organic certifications from trusted organizations so that buyers know their products are natural and free from contamination.

    The certifications that professional-grade supplements received are the first step towards differentiating them from the low-grade products you find at most stores. These certifications have strict demands, which will most often lead to increased production costs. Increased production costs translate to a higher cost for the end product. A bottle of 120 supplements costing $5 simply could not have invested the amount of time and money needed to guarantee the highest possible quality.

    Most certifications are represented with three letters much like the FDA. Some of the big names to look for are USP(United States Pharmacopeia), GMP(Good Manufacturing Practices), and NSF(National Sanitation Foundation). The best brands on the market will have various certifications from all three of these categories.

    The Differences Between Certifications

    You'll find certifications provided by the NSF on a number of professional-grade supplements. The NSF is an organization dedicated to testing and certification of health and food products. Their organization was founded with the goal of standardizing the sanitation process of food and related equipment. They have since evolved to include more than 80 different national standards related to health and safety.

    NSF certifications come from their Health Sciences Division. They provide GMP and GLP testing and certification. Their testing procedures are very closely related to those provided by the USP. The USP may be more highly regarded in the supplement and vitamin industry, but that doesn't make an NSF certification any less viable or important.

    The important NSF certification to look for in a professional-grade supplement is a GMP certification. This certification guarantees that a product has the strength, identity, quality, composition, and purity that is listed on its label. This certification alone creates a massive divide between standard supplements and professional-grade supplements. Remember, there are no guidelines saying a supplement needs to be tested or regulated. Many supplements sold at stores do not contain exactly what they list on their bottles.

    USP certification is very similar. It means that the product contains exactly what it lists on its label. If it says that it contains 14 grams of Medium-Chain Triglycerides(MCTs) from coconut oil, then that is exactly what it has. Not 4 grams of coconut oil MCTs, 8 grams of binders and fillers, and 2 grams of some random synthetic ingredient (which is what you're far more likely to get when purchasing a low-grade supplement).

    The 2015 DNA Testing Debacle

    We were able to see the differences between standard and professional-grade supplements in the spotlight in 2015 in New York. The state attorney general(AG) launched an investigation targeting several claims made by vitamins and supplement suppliers. These are the types of claims that would normally be regulated by the FDA or weeded out through third-party organizations like the NSF or USP, such as the purity or permissibility of ingredients.

    The AG relied on a technique known as DNA barcode testing to complete the investigation. This method could be used to measure the purity of a supplement and its included ingredients based on DNA strands. The process works by removing a small portion of DNA from a product and then comparing it to a massive database. The AG performed this testing on a large selection of vitamins and supplements from the state.

    What the AG found was rather alarming. They discovered that roughly 80 percent of the supplements tested did not contain the ingredients that were listed on the label. Some ingredients were replaced by cheap alternatives in a number of products, but not labeled as such. For example, an ingredient called devil's claw was listed in products from 13 companies but was not included in the product. Those companies received cease-and-desist letters from the AG.

    This incident in 2015 helped the industry in a number of ways. It let companies know that their fraudulent actions can still come to light even if they aren't heavily regulated by the FDA. Unfortunately, until true regulation exists, it won't be enough to justify purchasing standard supplements from the grocery store. The greater victory was letting the public know just how important proper testing and certification is.

    If you were to buy 10 supplements from a local store, then chances are that only 2 of them contain what they list on the label. The rest of them are a combination of fillers, binders, and other cheap ingredients simply used to take up space. Meanwhile, when you purchase from a brand that has been certified by the NFS and USP, you know you are getting 100 percent of what is listed on the label. That's certainly worth the extra money.

    What Else Can You Expect From Professional-Grade Supplements?

    Certifications aren't the only difference between standard and professional supplements. Certifications are primarily used to verify the legitimacy of what is listed on the bottle. It's still up to the manufacturer to decide what actually goes in the bottle and on the label. Professional-grade supplements hold themselves and their ingredients to much higher standards. In most cases, this means all natural and 99 percent pure ingredients.

    Consumer-grade vitamins aren't going to clearly list where their ingredients come from because they don't want you to know that the majority of them are synthetically created in a lab. Synthetic ingredients are much cheaper than natural ingredients. That leads to fewer production expenses and a cheaper end-product for the consumer. It also means a product with much lower quality and a number of potential hazards.

    Natural ingredients will always be more expensive to obtain and they will always be more effective. Most professional-grade products like FirstFitness and NuMedica only rely on natural sources for their vitamins and supplements. Studies have shown that the body reacts differently to natural sources of vitamins and that those vitamins are more easily absorbed. Is it going to cost you more? Yes, but it is absolutely worth it.

    Making The Right Choice

    We are a society of savvy shoppers who are drawn to the idea of a "good deal". This means if we see a product that costs $50 and another that costs $6, then we feel the urge to buy the cheaper one. When it comes to supplements and vitamins we need to learn to overcome that urge. Consumer-grade vitamins are cheaper for a reason. They aren't regulated, tested, or certified. They don't use natural ingredients and they aren't honest about what they include in their products. If you are serious about your health and your supplements, then you must rely on professional-grade products.


    Please give us a call at (888) 424-0032 or email if we can help you with FirstFitness Nutrition or NuMedica supplements.

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Author

Jay Todtenbier is an original founder of SupplementRelief.com in 2010 and has operated the business ever since. He is also a tennis instructor and gospel musician. Formerly he spent 25 years in business development, technology and marketing with startups and major corporations having gone through the tech boom in Silicon Valley in the 90s. He became passionate about, and began studying and practicing Wellness as a Lifestyle after experiencing chronic, personal health challenges including depression, auto-immune disorders, and being overweight that impacted his ability to live a healthy, vibrant life. Since then, he has been an advocate for healthier living encouraging others to live better through making small, gradual changes to lifestyle behaviors relating to whole-foods nutrition, stress management, reasonable exercise, proper sleep, and the use of targeted, high-quality supplements.

Learn more about Jay Todtenbier.

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FirstFitness Nutrition
Reseller Order Policy Change
Effective December 1, 2023

SupplementRelief.com has been an Authorized Reseller (Team Member) of FirstFitness Nutrition (FFN) since April of 2020, selling FFN products directly from our website to our customers, handling the payment processing, order fulfillment, and customer service.

Effective December 1, 2023 FirstFitness Nutrition REQUIRES ALL Authorized Resellers, who have formerly sold FFN products DIRECTLY from their OWN website, to refer the PRODUCT PURCHASE to the Reseller's FFN Team Member website.

You may continue placing orders on SupplementRelief.com through December 31, 2023 for the remaining products we have in stock.

SupplementRelief.com's FFN Team Member website is:

supplementrelief.firstfitness.com

On the top right of every page you will see our Team Member name to confirm you are on the correct FFN Team Member website:

Your FFN Team Member: SUPPLEMENTRELIEF.COM

Please BOOKMARK this new website supplementrelief.firstfitness.com for future shopping. You may begin using the Team Member website immediately.

You may also place your order directly over the phone by calling either SupplementRelief.com at 888.424.0032 or FirstFitness Nutrition's Customer Support line at 800.621.4348. Please let them know that your FFN Team Member is SUPPLEMENTRELIEF.COM.

You may continue to use this website (supplementrelief.com) for FFN product descriptions and other Wellness content from our Blog, Education, or Recipes, but on December 1, 2023:

  • The "Add to Cart" button will change to a "Purchase on FFN Team Member Website" button, and your browser will automatically open a new page on our FFN Team Member Website to purchase the product. You can stay on the new site and shop for ALL other FirstFitness Nutrition products without returning to this website.
  • If you formerly had a LOGIN ACCOUNT on SupplementRelief.com, it WILL NOT WORK on the FFN Team Member website. You will be given an option to create a new account on the FFN Team Member Website. You WILL NOT NEED your SupplementRelief.com account on this website anymore, unless you want to see your Order History for orders you placed on SupplementRelief.com in the past.

How Does This Affect Future FFN Purchases?


This means that as of December 1, 2023:

  1. You may purchase FFN products only from an FFN Team Member website.
  2. ALL ORDERS will now be PROCESSED and SHIPPED directly by FirstFitness Nutrition. The company name on your credit card statement will no longer say SUPPLEMENTRELIEF but will now say FIRST FITNESS.
  3. You may optionally create a new account on our FFN Team Member website, or you can shop as a Guest— both options work fine. Setting up a new account on the FFN website is recommended to make placing future orders easier, as FirstFitness will already have your information to process your order once you log on to our Team Member website.

FirstFitness Nutrition's Order Policy


  1. Delivery using UPS in 3 - 5 Business Days
  2. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
  3. Shipping Charge is a minimum of $10 or 8.5% of the retail price of products purchased.
  4. Sales Tax is automatically calculated and is based upon the Shipping Address.
  5. You will receive an Order Receipt confirmation email directly from FirstFitness Nutrition (no longer directly from SupplementRelief.com) as soon as you complete placing your order on our Team Member website.
  6. You will receive an Order Shipment confirmation email directly from UPS (no longer directly from SupplementRelief.com) with the tracking number as soon as your order ships.

Every FirstFitness Nutrition order, from every FFN Team Member website, is subject to the exact same Order Policy. This means that shipping charges and sales taxes will be calculated the same way for every FFN product purchased from every FFN Team Member Website.


FirstFitness VIP Customer Rewards Program


FirstFitness Nutrition offers a Customer Loyalty VIP Rewards Program for savings whereby you can earn future discounts on product purchased.

This is a monthly autoship program (called a Smart Ship) where you choose the product(s) you want shipped to you each month. You can easily create and then log into your Customer VIP Rewards account anytime and change the products on your monthly auto-ship or pause/cancel it.

  • Receive 20% in VIP Reward Points redeemable for Free Products (4 points for every dollar spent - 400 points = $100) after three consecutive Smart Ships
  • Free shipping on a monthly Smart Ship order of $100 or more
  • Incentives to receive additional Reward Points

Learn more about the VIP Customer Rewards Program.


Transition Customer Support


SupplementRelief.com wants the transition to the FFN Team Member website for future orders to be a smooth process.

Faith Hoffman, our Customer Support Specialist, is happy to assist you. We appreciate your business and are prepared to answer questions and provide additional details on any or all of the above information, policies, products, costs, discount opportunities and programs, etc.

Please get in touch with Faith at your convenience:

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Faith Hoffman has spent 23 years in business practices, research, and customer relations for brand products and national companies. Lengthy hospital stays for auto-immune disorders, including the onset of heart and liver disease, led her to research the benefits of quality all-natural supplements and the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.

She became a customer of SupplementRelief.com three years ago. Positive results from healthy lifestyle changes and using quality, targeted supplements compelled her to share and recommend SupplementRelief.com products to family, friends, and clients. Studying through her journey and having a passion for helping others, she joined SupplementRelief.com as a customer support specialist in 2023.

When Faith is not assisting SupplementRelief.com customers, she enjoys singing gospel music, volunteering, and spending time with her family and pets.

Faith can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone or text at (225) 316-5716.

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A safe and accurate address for delivery must be provided at the time the order is placed. Once an order has shipped, SupplementRelief.com is NOT responsible for lost or stolen packages CONFIRMED BY THE CARRIER to be delivered to the address provided for the order.

Since COVID-19, and the ensuing economic challenges in the USA economy, we respectfully ask that you allow some additional time for delivery for the carriers (USPS, UPS, and FedEx). Most orders still arrive on time, or near on time, but some may run late. We make every effort to get your order packed and into the carriers hands the same day, or by the next business morning if your order came in later in the previous day after carrier pickup, but we have no control over any delays that may happen within the shipping carrier's delivery system. Please order earlier for the time being if you are time-sensitive.

Orders that contain only FirstFitness Nutrition products have a shipping fee automatically calculated based upon the actual shipping weight of the items purchased. The charge ranges from $4.95 to $14.95.

For orders with NuMedica products you may choose from the shipping options below on the Order Checkout form in the Shipping Information section on the first line that says Choose Shipping Method.

Shipping Options

Country Option Schedule Cost
United States Standard 3-6 Days $4.95
United States Priority 2-4 Days $9.95
United States Free 7-10 Days $0.00
International FedEx International 4-7 Days $79.95*
International GlobalPost International 12-21 Days $39.95*
*International shipping costs may be higher depending upon package weight and destination. We will contact you for your approval of the additional amount if this occurs.

SupplementRelief.com may use the email or phone number provided on your Order to call or text you regarding Order Status or to inform you of changes to the Order Policy.

When your order ships we will send you a confirmation email with the delivery tracking information.

International Shipping

Shipping anything these days internationally is expensive. COVID resulted in more rigorous customs import processes, and now with much higher energy prices, international shipping rates are higher.

FedEx is the most reliable and faster carrier, at least for now, but they are expensive. Our FedEx international shipping fee is a minimum of $79.95. It usually makes more sense to get several months of supply (3 months or more) in one order to minimize the shipping expense per order over time. While the added weight of additional items may increase the base shipping price by a little (usually 10-25% depending upon total weight and destination), it is usually not by very much relative to shipping an additional small order later.

We also offer a lower-cost international shipping option using GlobalPost International for $39.95. So far, they have been reliable in getting packages correctly delivered but it takes 2 - 4 times as long to get the package delivered. Packages may take longer to process in the receiving country's customs process and status updates may not be reported as quickly. Please be patient if you choose this option to save money.

Some International orders may cost more to ship depending upon weight and location. If that happens we will contact you first and get your approval for any additional charge before proceeding. International orders may also be subject to additional customs fees and duties/taxes based upon the destination country's customs import laws and policies. These fees are NOT known or included on our order form and are typically charged and collected by the shipping carrier when they are delivering the product to it's final destination once the package has cleared the destination country's customs process. It is recommended that the buyer research custom import fees for the products/services they are importing beforehand to be aware of potential, additional fees.

Shipping Refrigerated Products

Our manufacturers formulate their probiotics to ensure their products retain viability until they reach the consumer. Probiotics that are recommended to be refrigerated remain so until the time of shipment, then shipped alongside an ice pack to ensure potency (Note: Ice pack will not arrive frozen, and product may not arrive cold). Orders placed on a Thursday-Sunday requiring cold shipping will not ship until the following Monday.

Cancellations

If your order has not been shipped yet, you can request a cancellation. Your original purchase amount will be refunded within three business days. If your order has already shipped, see Returns and Refunds.

Changes, Returns and Refunds

If you want to make a change to your order, please email us as soon as possible so we can make the change before your order ships. If your order has already shipped you may incur additional shipping charges for the second shipment and the return label for any products returned.

If we have made a mistake on your order, or the product arrives in a damaged or unusable condition, we will make every reasonable effort to right the situation quickly to your satisfaction.

We accept returns subject to when the return is requested and the condition the product is returned in. All returns must first be authorized by contacting us. In your request, please let us know why you are returning the item(s). We will respond promptly with authorization, the return address, and a return shipping label if appropriate.

If your order has already shipped you can return any un-opened products within 30 days of receiving your order for a 100% refund of the price paid for the product, less the actual shipping charges we incurred to get the product to you originally and then returned, less a $10 restocking fee. Un-opened means the protective seal on the bottle or container, or the shrink-wrap on the box or kit, has not been broken and the product has not otherwise been damaged in any way. You may use the original packaging for the return or acquire your own. We will provide the return shipping label. We DO NOT accept returns for NuMedica products once the protective product seal has been broken.

Upon receipt of returned product(s), we will refund your credit card within three business days for the product(s) returned.