USANA products are specifically formulated for humans. Although some might be appropriate for pets or animals, USANA scientists cannot make firm recommendations because our expertise is centered in human nutrition, not animal nutrition.

Optimal nutrient amounts vary greatly from species to species. For example, the only animals that require dietary vitamin C are humans, some primates, guinea pigs, bats, a few fish and some birds. Other animals are able to produce vitamin C endogenously, limiting the amount they need to obtain from dietary sources.

Simply put, there is no one-size-fits-all nutritional supplement for pets. If you would like to give USANA products to an animal, consult with a veterinarian to determine which products might be appropriate for a particular species.

Irradiation in the post office and x-rays at the airport will not significantly affect the quality of USANA products. The following is a statement from the U.S. Postal Service:

U.S. Postal Service position on irradiating the mail

“Following the terrorist attacks on the American public and postal employees through the mail, Postmaster General John Potter ordered extraordinary measures to ensure the security and safety of the mail.

As always, protecting the health and safety of our employees and the public is our top priority. The Postal Service will continue to take the lead and full responsibility for selecting and implementing the best technology available to carry out this task.

Among the measures being implemented is a process for irradiating the mail to destroy the presence of any biohazardous material. We are currently leasing irradiation facilities in Ohio and New Jersey to decontaminate mail.

We have issued contracts for future purchases of irradiation equipment and these contracts remain in place. We have said all along that irradiation will be used on targeted mail, not all mail, and that has not changed.

Recognizing the extraordinary expense these national security measures will take, the Postmaster General has testified before the Senate that the Postal Service would need $1.1 billion through June to implement full safety and security measures, including protective equipment for employees, detection and filtering equipment to be placed at our mail processing equipment, and irradiation and mail decontamination equipment.

We continue to utilize a variety of technologies and will use all methods that prove efficacious, safe, cost-effective, and are able to be integrated into our mail processing system. We are fully committed to detecting and removing biohazards from the mail. The safety of our employees and the public is paramount and we will do whatever it takes to ensure the security of the mail.”

USANA supports the U.S. Postal Service in taking these protective measures. Irradiation and x-rays will not significantly affect the potency of USANA products.

USANA does not manufacture or sell products that would alter the natural blood pH of your body. The acid-base balance of the body is kept in a tight state of equilibrium, and intentionally altering this balance could lead to serious illness or even death.

best supplement

best supplement

Determining the best supplement delivery system is difficult, because of the huge variety of options available. Common pill forms, popularized by the pharmaceutical industry, include tablets, hard capsules, and soft capsules. Other vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant supplements take the form of powders, lozenges, liquids, gels, and gummy vitamins.

Recently, even vitamin injections have become common. Technically, the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) considers injections to be drugs, not supplements, but we’ve included a discussion of them below.

Deciding what is the best supplement form, comes down to the active ingredient and the audience. Children, for example, need special consideration when designing a supplement. Most young kids are much happier eating a chewable, gel, or gummy vitamin. And they might struggle swallowing tablets. However, these kid-friendly forms need special planning and have some drawbacks compared to swallowed tablets or capsules.

Tablets and Capsules

A well-made tablet or capsule provides a very effective delivery system, making it the chosen form of most pharmaceutical medications. This is because years of carefully controlled clinical studies have confirmed they’re reliable, efficient delivery systems for medications.

These products can also provide an increased amount of active ingredient (much more than a liquid, gel, or gummy). This results in fewer excipients. An excipient, is an ingredient that does not serve an active nutritional purpose. They may be included for stability, digestibility, manufacturing, or other similar purposes.

In general, the stability and shelf-life of tablets are also superior to liquids or gummy vitamins.

Tablets and capsules are best used for vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant supplements that do not need large (> 2 grams) doses. Vitamin C, B vitamins, iron, iodine, etc., all have typical daily doses small enough to easily be included. Many of these nutrients also have a bad taste that can be difficult to hide in other forms.

Tablet and Capsule Pros:

  • Long shelf-life
  • Concentrated delivery of active ingredients (fewer excipients)
  • Hides bad tastes

Tablet and Capsule Cons:

  • Difficult for some to swallow
  • Not appropriate for large active ingredient doses

Chewable Tablets

Like other tablets, chewables are best used for ingredients only taken in smaller (< 2 grams) doses. They also share the benefit of a long shelf-life. Chewables may be the best supplement for those who have trouble swallowing whole tablets or capsules.

Because the tablets are chewed up, bad-tasting ingredients must be masked with sweeteners and flavorings. This limitation means chewable tablets typically have some sugar in them. Some chewable multi-vitamin, multi-mineral products are also missing essential minerals—like selenium, chromium, magnesium, and zinc—because it is hard to mask their flavors.

Chewable Tablet Pros:

  • Easy to consume
  • Long shelf-life

Chewable Tablet Cons:

  • Not as concentrated as swallowed tablets
  • May be missing key ingredients
  • Added sweeteners (although typically very small amounts)

Gummy Vitamins

Gummy vitamins, like chewable tablets, are much better tasting for children and those who have trouble swallowing tablets. Despite their taste, gummy vitamins are not candy and should not be taken beyond the recommended dosage.

They are even more limited than chewable tablets in what types of ingredients they can contain. Gummies often have very few minerals, and most essential minerals are usually absent. For the ingredients they do contain, doses are often much smaller, as well.

The best uses for gummy vitamins are typically select ingredients that are compatible with gummy vitamins, that only need to be taken in very small doses (< 100mg).

Gummy Pros:

  • Easy to consume
  • Great tasting

Gummy Cons:

  • Not compatible with many ingredients
  • Added sweeteners

Powders

Powders have the benefits of being easy to consume and can include larger doses (> 2 grams) of some nutrients. The active ingredients found in powdered supplements will be tasted, so they must either have a pleasant or easily masked flavor. They must also contain ingredients that are soluble in the liquid or are easy to shake up.

Protein powder is one of the most popular powdered supplements, and it is an ideal candidate for this delivery form. Protein delivery requires doses too large for a tablet or capsule, it is easy to make taste good, and mixes easily with water.

Other ingredients that are commonly found in powdered mixes are branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), creatine, and caffeine. Immune-boosting formulas are also commonly found in stick packs, which can easily mix with water.

Powder Pros:

  • Inexpensive to transport
  • Can include large doses of active ingredients

Powder Cons:

  • Less concentrated active ingredients (more excipients)
  • Added sweeteners and excipients

Liquids

Liquid supplements generally have the same types of ingredients, benefits, and drawbacks as powdered supplements. The one difference is they are already mixed with a liquid.

Liquid supplements are best for ingredients often found in powders, like protein, branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), creatine, and caffeine. Micronutrients often found in liquid supplements include most vitamins and minerals, and other antioxidants.

Since they are already mixed, liquid supplements typically have a shorter shelf-life than their powdered equivalent. Liquid supplements may also require many more “other” ingredients. This includes emulsifiers, solvents, preservatives, stabilizing agents, coloring, flavoring, and more.

Liquids Pros:

  • More convenient than mixing powders
  • Can include large doses of active ingredients

Liquids Cons:

  • More expensive and difficult to transport
  • Difficult to add non-soluble ingredients
  • Less concentrated active ingredients (more excipients)
  • Added sweeteners and excipients
  • Often a shorter shelf-life

Vitamin Injections

Certain vitamins can be injected intravenously (IV) or by intramuscular injections. Injections are a great option for delivering select nutrients in large doses. Vitamin B12 is one nutrient that has shown therapeutic benefits in some populations.

One concern with injections is that many nutrients are not safe to inject. Of those that are safe to inject, very few of them offer extra measurable benefits to the average person over eating the nutrient. Because of this, injections should only be given under a doctor’s recommendation.

Injections also bring additional risk factors. At the very least they can be uncomfortable. IVs also pose a risk of infection, bleeding (hematoma), embolism, and more.

Vitamin Injection Pros:

  • Can deliver high-doses of select nutrients

Vitamin Injection Cons:

  • Limited nutrient compatibility
  • Uncomfortable
  • Potential health risks

So, What is the Best Supplement Form?

The large variety of supplement forms have their own benefits and downsides. Ultimately, the best supplement form will depend on you and your individual needs. It also depends on the active ingredients you need, and individual preferences for swallowing tablets, taste, and convenience. Special medical needs may also determine the form a doctor recommends.

The best advice when deciding the best supplement is to consider all the factors listed above. Do the pros outweigh the cons? Is the form being used for its real benefits, or is it just a marketing tactic to be different?

Many manufacturers add synthetic masking agents to their products in an attempt to hide the natural scent and/or taste of certain raw materials. USANA does not add fillers to its products, so some supplements may possess a noticeable scent upon opening. This is not generally a cause for concern.
The USANA supplements with particularly strong scents have natural ingredients added to offset the effect. For example, BiOmega contains a small amount of lemon oil to offset the fishy aftertaste associated with high-potency fish oil supplements.

Because most USANA supplements contain naturally derived ingredients, the scent of certain products may vary slightly from batch to batch. Natural variations in scent and appearance are not generally a cause for concern.

The raw ingredients used in USANA products come from a variety of sources. Many are derived from natural sources. These natural sources (usually plants) can vary in color from one season to the next and from batch to batch. Because of the natural variations in plants, the tablet color may also vary slightly from one batch to the next.
However, this should not be viewed as a quality concern. USANA always tests for the chemical markers (active constituents) of these compounds to ensure they are both pure and potent.
Many companies color their tablets to mask naturally occuring color variations. USANA does not add any colorants to its tableted products.

Heavy metal poisoning is a potentially life-threatening condition.  If you believe you are suffering from heavy metal toxicity, please discuss treatment options with your local health care practitioner.

A number of websites provide free databases of glycemic index values. Here is one of the more established, comprehensive ones:
http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm
Another website – designed by the University of Sydney – provides a searchable database where you can search by food name, glycemic index, or glycemic load:
http://www.glycemicindex.com/ (Select the GI database link from the left-hand menu)

Bioavailability is defined as the degree and rate at which a compound is absorbed into a living system or is made available at the site of biological activity. Different vitamins and minerals have different absorption rates regardless of whether they come from a tablet, liquid, powder, or food. Calcium, for example, has a relatively standard absorption rate (between 25 and 35 percent).

The delivery form does not generally make a significant difference if an individual is healthy and intakes are adequate. However, there are many factors that can affect the absorption of vitamins and minerals in the human body. Some of these factors are a function of the person taking the nutrient and are dependent on an individual’s age, digestive system integrity, overall state of health, gender, whether the supplements are taken on a full or empty stomach, and even the time of day.

People whose nutrient needs are greater – such as growing children, pregnant or lactating women, and those who are currently deficient – may have significantly enhanced absorption rates for certain nutrients. Even absorption of minerals from food sources can vary significantly. Boron, molybdenum, and iodine can be absorbed at over 90 percent, while the average absorption rates of zinc, copper, and selenium can range from 30 to 80 percent.

It should seem reasonable, then, that stating an overall absorption rate on a package or in advertising can be misleading.

A well-made tablet provides a very effective delivery system and is the chosen form of most quality multivitamins and pharmaceutical medications. Tableted products allow for a higher level of active ingredients – almost 3 times as much as a capsule and much more than a liquid or spray. In general, the stability of tablets is also superior to liquids.

USANA tablets are formulated to meet United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) standards, which require full disintegration within 30-45 min. They are also formulated to meet standards for dissolution. Because USANA tablets are formulated to these standards, the vitamins and minerals found in USANA supplements are properly absorbed into the body. Innovative formulations have been developed to optimize nutrient bioavailability.

Each lot of USANA tablets is tested against finished product specifications to ensure that it meets standards for identity, target weight, hardness, thickness, disintegration, potency, purity, and microbial counts. USANA provides its vitamins and minerals in amounts and forms so that, in conjunction with a healthy diet, customers will receive maximum bioavailability, full effectiveness, and uncompromised safety.

(Note: this article specifically targets multimineral and multivitamin formulations. There may be certain products, such as children’s medicine or single nutrients, that are appropriate in a liquid form. However, these are the exceptions and not the rule.)

It is not possible to provide a general recommendation on whether any particular athlete needs extra supplementation. Athletes can benefit from a good multivitamin/mineral product in the same manner as non-athletes. In many cases, athletes are more likely to eat a better diet, increasing their intake of key nutrients. However, the extra physical and mental stresses many athletes experience may also increase their requirement for certain key nutrients.

Either way, the recommended intake of the CellSentials or HealthPak should cover the basic nutritional needs of nearly all athletes. Although exercising increases oxidation to a certain extent, the body of an athlete who regularly trains is also more efficient at dealing with increased free radicals and may not need any more antioxidants than a non-athlete. Whether or not to supplement, and with which products, is a matter that needs to be examined on an individual basis, as it will depend on age, diet, training regimen, and other nutritional and health factors.