Don’t get us wrong: we’re definitely pro-supplement. But with so much information out there and so little transparency coming from brands it’s hard to know which supplements are legit – and worth our hard-earned time and money.
There are endless products that promise to make us feel great and glowy, but not all vitamin brands are created equal. When it comes to shopping supplements, transparency on sourcing and validated research are key. According to subscription supplement brand, Ritual, a daily multi for women some of Team TCM takes daily, there are some nasty ingredients in mainstream supplements that more of us should be aware of.
Partnering with Sindha Agha, a Pakistani-American filmmaker who also recently created the New York Times’ most popular Op-Doc “Birth Control your own Adventure”, Ritual is bringing awareness to the issue of supplement quality in their first ever video story.
Tapping into the truth behind a very frustrating and relatable topic, this video tells the story of Ritual’s industry-shaking entry into the supplement market, making a gorgeous and high-quality product based on the simple idea that we should know what goes into our bodies.
Check out the video above and let us know what you think about ingredient transparency in the comments below. While we wait for the industry to catch up to our standards, here are four questions to ask yourself while shopping for supplements…
what are we taking? According to the video, more than half of all Americans take vitamins daily — but how much do we really know about the ingredients inside? Many mainstream options contain extra ingredients (sometimes up to forty more) and can include creepy add-ins like PVP, Polyethylene glycol, parabens, animal parts, artificial colors, metals, mineral oil and shellac.
why are we taking it? The vitamin and supplement industry is massive, meaning there’s a lot of incentive to sell and little pressure to share details about sourcing standards and production processes. The standards of the industry are a hot mess: Many vitamins out there are formulated with out-dated research, and often made to produce the illusion that its working over making a product that actually works.
What Do We (Actually) Need? Are supplements necessary? Not for everyone, but pros agree that taking certain vitamins and minerals can make a huge difference for our overall wellbeing. According to Ritual’s research, most women are lacking nine essential nutrients: vitamin e, boron, vitamin d3, magnesium, omega 3, iron, vitamin K2, vitamin B12, and folate. These can all be found in food, but that doesn’t gaurentee out bodies are absorbing enough for optimal health.
What’s best for our bodies? If we’re going to commit to taking something daily, we want to know we’re giving our bodies the best. Ritual’s formula is “made by skeptics for skeptics.” It’s obsessively researched and includes nutrients that women don’t get enough of in their diets — and nothing more. Each ingredient is bio-available (meaning a form our bodies can actually use) and sourced with integrity from all around the globe. They’re vitamins from people on a mission to make taking care of ourselves easier, chicer and above all safer.
