Harmony Hub Health
Functional Medicine, Hormone Health and Weight Loss with Michele Postol, CRNP
Harmony Hub Health
Supplement Sabotage: Why Your Supplements Aren't Working
Ever wonder what's actually inside those supplement capsules you're swallowing? From corporate takeovers to synthetic nightmares, the supplement industry is a minefield of quality issues that most consumers never see.
Did you know that Nestle—yes, the chocolate and processed food giant—quietly purchased Pure Encapsulations in 2018? When multinational corporations buy supplement brands, cost-cutting often follows, potentially compromising the purity and efficacy that built these brands' reputations. This corporate consolidation represents just the tip of the iceberg in an industry where quality varies dramatically between products.
Many mass-market supplements contain synthetic forms of nutrients your body struggles to use. Folic acid instead of methylfolate, cyanocobalamin (which contains cyanide) instead of methylcobalamin, and "proprietary blends" that hide exactly what you're getting. For the 60% of people with MTHFR gene mutations, these synthetic forms don't convert properly and can actually build up in the body, creating more problems than solutions.
Amazon has become particularly problematic for supplement shoppers. Counterfeit products, improper storage conditions, and third-party sellers repackaging expired or returned products present serious risks. Quality supplements require specific temperature and humidity controls that simply can't be guaranteed through Amazon's fulfillment system. If your probiotic has been sitting in a 120-degree warehouse, those beneficial bacteria are long dead.
The functional medicine approach offers a better way. Working with a practitioner who has access to professional-grade supplement lines ensures you're getting bioavailable nutrients in therapeutic dosages without fillers or harmful additives. Companies like Orthomolecular Products maintain rigorous quality standards, including in-house manufacturing, third-party testing, and a commitment to science-backed formulations that remains independent from corporate influence.
Ready to upgrade your supplement game and stop wasting money on expensive urine? Book a consultation at Harmony Hub Health today and discover the difference quality makes when it comes to your wellness journey.
Welcome to Harmony Hub Health, where my mission is to provide comprehensive, affordable integrative care that addresses the root cause of health issues. At the Hub, the focus is on individual patient journeys. I strive to optimize health, vitality and longevity, fostering a community where each person can thrive in body, mind and spirit. Today we're going to play a little game called what's really in that capsule, what's in your supplement? And it might not be what you think. From shady sourcing to synthetic nightmares, the world of supplements can be a wild west unless you know who you're buying from, and even then it's worth checking twice. If you're grabbing your supplements from the same place you buy your toilet paper, you might want to reconsider your wellness strategy. Just because it's on a shelf doesn't mean it's serving your cells. Today we're diving into why some supplements are doing what you think they are and why quality, sourcing and science matters. Spoiler alert if your multivitamin sparkles like glitter or cereal and smells like candy, your liver is not impressed. So some of you might remember when Pure Encapsulations was the darling of the clean supplement world, trusted by functional medicine practitioners and crunchy granola types alike. It had a squeaky clean rep until about 2018, when Nestle yes, the chocolate and baby formula giant quietly scooped it up, along with Douglas Labs and a few other supplement lines. Now Nestle says they're committed to science and purity. But let's be honest when a multinational processed food titan buys your supplement brand, it's okay to raise an eyebrow or two. But why does it even matter? Because corporate consolidation often comes with cost cutting and that can mean corners cut on ingredient sourcing, filler usage and third-party testing. So if you're swallowing capsules like they're golden tickets to longevity, it's worth asking who is behind the curtain.
Speaker 1:I know last week we talked about folic acid, which is the synthetic version of folate, often pumped into everything from prenatals to energy drinks. It sounds like a vitamin win, but it really is not. If you have that MTHFR gene mutation, your body may not process folic acid efficiently. You know, instead of converting it to the active form, methylfolate, it builds up like traffic at a four-way stop, clogging up detox pathways and leading to more harm than good. You don't even have to have that genetic mutation for it to cause a problem, and some low-quality supplements don't even really bother labeling what form of folate they use. So you think you're getting support for fertility or cell health, but your body is just shrugging and saying I don't know her.
Speaker 1:And then we have the cyanide surprise. You know cyanocobalamin is a common, cheap form of vitamin B12. It does contain cyanide micro doses, but still, when better forms like methylcobalamin or adenosylcobalamin exist, why are we still playing Russian roulette with our mitochondria? But cyanocobalamin is very cheap. To make it's shelf stable, it's easy to mass produce, just like fake cheese. And then let's talk about your $50 shelf probiotic that's been sitting in the back of your cabinet since your last gut health kick. If it wasn't refrigerated or properly encapsulated, those little bacterial warriors may already be dead RIP.
Speaker 1:The shelf life of probiotics is no joke. Quality brands go the extra mile to ensure strains are viable through the expiration date, not just at the time of manufacturing. That means refrigeration or moisture protection and often specific strains that can actually survive the digestive tract. You know where they're supposed to work. But not all billions of CFUs are created equal. Sometimes you're just swallowing ghost bacteria and placebo dreams.
Speaker 1:This is where we're going to start talking about orthomolecular. If you're looking for a company that's actually obsessed with quality, meet orthomolecular products. They are one of those probiotics that they guarantee when you reach that expiration date of that probiotic, you are going to have the same CFU count as when it was placed in there, and they're not owned by a candy conglomerate. They don't cut corners and they manufacture everything in-house. Hello, transparency. Their motto is because efficacy matters, and they back that up. I love when I get a box in, because I love seeing that on the side of the box. But they do rigorous third-party testing. They do therapeutic dosing, clinical research, no garbage fillers and only bioavailable forms of nutrients. And they never, never, never, never use folic acid or cyanocobalamin. That's an automatic win in my book, and I know what you're thinking. Oh, michelle, you'll probably get a kickback for selling their supplements. But to be honest with you, even if I sold you pure encapsulations or something else, I would still make a percentage. If I do sell you the supplements, this is just the one that I love and prefer, and I am very picky and you should be very picky.
Speaker 1:Supplements are supposed to supplement your health, not sabotage it. So check the label, look for methylated B vitamins, look for active forms of nutrients and clear sourcing. You want to look beyond the brand, so who owns it? You want to investigate that. You also want to partner with a practitioner, so functional medicine pros can guide you to therapeutic grade brands. No, not the ones with flashy Instagram ads and sketchy Amazon reviews.
Speaker 1:Don't buy your probiotics from aisle nine at the gas station, okay? You deserve supplements that work as hard as you do, not ones that are secretly phoning it in with synthetic junk and corporate shortcuts. I guess I'll say Ask questions, read labels and if you're ever unsure, you can come and have me check them at Harmony Hub Health, where I keep it clean, clinical and just a little bit sassy. One thing that I tell people, because a lot of times I ask where they get their supplements and I'm told Amazon. Now, before you clutch your Prime membership and panic yes, we all love the convenience of two day shipping, but when it comes to supplements, amazon is basically the wild west of wellness and there's many reasons why I say don't buy your supplements from Amazon, even though your argument is usually, well, they're cheaper.
Speaker 1:And you know we'll talk about some of the things that have been found. The first one is, you know, counterfeit central. Many well-known supplement brands have issued public warnings that their products are being counterfeited on Amazon. These knockoffs look identical to the real thing same bottle, you know, same label, but the contents questionable at best. Chalk, rice flour, expired pills, mystery fillers it's like supplement roulette. Orthomolecular, for example, does not sell on Amazon at all. If you find it there, it's either being illegally sold or it is not real. And if you look at any of the bottles let me grab one it actually says on the bottle not for sale through amazoncom. I love that. So you will not find good quality supplements on Amazon, and we'll talk about why.
Speaker 1:Next, and this is about mishandling and poor storage. So high quality supplements need proper storage, temperature control, protection from humidity, all of those good things. But with Amazon's third party fulfillment and resale model, your bottle could have spent time in 120 degree Fahrenheit warehouse, you know, a damp basement or someone's garage next to a box of used Christmas lights. So especially for probiotics, enzymes and liposomal products, heat kills. So that deal that you scored might be full of dead bacteria and oxidized oils.
Speaker 1:Repackaging and reselling opened or expired products is a very big known issue on Amazon. Some third-party sellers buy clearance or returned items and they re-sticker them. That's gross. Would you buy an open yogurt from a stranger online? Exactly. So brands like Orthomolecular, designs for Health, zymogen and others are practitioner only for a reason they're potent, they're clinically formulated and they're meant to be used under guidance. So if you're buying those without support, not only might they be fake, but you're also missing critical info on dosing, timing, interactions and personalization. Amazon is also loaded with discounted versions of big name brands, but if the price is way lower than the official site or authorized seller, it's probably not legit. You might be buying expired inventory or a completely different powder in a copycat bottle.
Speaker 1:So where should you get your supplements? First of all, from your licensed practitioner, like Harmony Hub Health, with access to verified therapeutic grade and clinical support. Or you can get them direct from the manufacturer's site or an approved dispensary, like Fullscript or Wellevate. I don't think Orthomolecular does not sell unless it's through a practitioner. I do have a full script dispensary that a lot of my patients know about.
Speaker 1:So it's not that I'm only orthomolecular. I do have a whole directory of supplements at my fingertips, depending on what is wrong, and the other one, you know, is with education, not hype. You want to look for brands that prioritize bioavailability, third-party testing and transparency, not flashy labels or celebrity endorsements. So just because it's easy to click buy now doesn't mean it's safe or smart when it comes to your health. Cutting corners is not a flex. You wouldn't trust a gas station to do your lab work, so don't trust a random online seller with your supplements. You can come see me at Harmony Hub Health. I can make sure your supplements are real, pure, effective and never stored next to a lawnmower, okay?
Speaker 1:So this past week, little old me sat down at starbucks with a mid-atlantic team leader from orthomolecular products this is what sparked this whole podcast, other than I also had a screenshot sent to me this week that just showed me the ingredients and said is this supplement? Okay? No brand, nothing else, just what they had listed as the ingredients. And I did have two people in consultations this week tell me that they in fact purchased their supplements from Amazon. But I met with a Mid-Atlantic team leader from Orthomolecular Products Friday and let me tell you I was low-key fangirling. Not only was he a walking vault of supplement wisdom, but he's been with the company for 11 years and he still lights up when he talks about it. That's rare in any industry and a huge testament to the integrity of the brand. He shared how Orthomolecular is still privately owned, proudly independent and completely committed to science-backed formulations. No parent company, no flashy marketing distractions, just solid research, clean ingredients and the kind of quality control that makes me want to high-five their whole entire team. He even told me that Nestle approached Orthomolecular and put a very large bid to purchase them and they said no.
Speaker 1:So I left that morning with my matcha in one hand and even more confidence in what I already knew, that this company is the real deal. And I was going to spend that morning finishing my certification for ozone infusions. But when he offered to meet me, I was like very flattered first of all, but it was just very exciting to me. So, yeah, we'll talk about then the next hot topic, which would be the FDA. And I wanted to clear something up, because a lot of people mentioned to me that they think the FDA is actively monitoring supplements, testing ingredients and making sure everything on shelves is safe and effective.
Speaker 1:No way, in fact, supplements fall under a completely different regulatory category than prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications. You know there's no pre-approval process. Unlike medications, supplement companies do not need FDA approval before launching a new product. There's no mandatory safety testing, no required clinical trials ahead of time. You know they can slap a label on it, throw it in a bottle and hit the market. You know the FDA only intervenes after there's a proven issue, like adverse effects, contaminations or false advertising. But by then damage might already be done and thousands of people could have used that product already.
Speaker 1:And you know, quality varies wildly between brands, since there's no standardization. One vitamin D capsule might contain therapeutic bioavailable cholecalciferol and another could be mostly filler dust and just hope Some don't contain what they claim at all. In a 2015 investigation, dna testing revealed that many store brand herbal supplements contained zero trace of the herbs listed Zero Yikes. And I find this to be true in a lot of those gummies that are all very pretty with a lot of filler and that's what it is. It's just filler. So companies can make all sorts of claims like supports heart health or boosts energy, without having to prove very much, as long as they toss in that little asterisk that says this statement is not evaluated by the FDA. So it's basically the supplement version of results not typical, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And when the FDA is not screening your supplements before they hit the shelf, you need to become your own watchdog or work with somebody who already is. Hello, that's me. So brands like Orthomolecular go above and beyond what's required. They have their own in-house manufacturing and testing. They have raw ingredient verification manufacturing and testing. They have raw ingredient verification. There is zero synthetic fillers or garbage additives. They have therapeutic dosing based on research and actual results in clinical practice. They don't just meet the minimum FDA regulations. They blow right past them in the best possible way.
Speaker 1:So don't play guessing games with your health. If you've ever wandered the supplement aisle at a big box store or hit add to cart on Amazon thinking you're doing something good for your body, you wanna stop and ask yourself these questions who made it? Is it tested, is it bioavailable and is it even real? At Harmony Hub Health, I don't just sell supplements, I curate them. We vet every brand, we choose quality over convenience and we'll show you how to build a supplement protocol that actually makes a difference. So if you want to upgrade your supplement game, let's talk, let's have a consultation. I'll help you ditch the junk and fuel yourselves with what they actually need. You want to stop guessing. You want to start thriving? Okay, and I'm going to give you now the top five signs that your supplements are trash. Okay, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just here to save your liver and your wallet. So here's the top five.
Speaker 1:Number one we'll go back to it. You bought them on Amazon from a seller named wellness, underscore world, underscore 777. So if it came from a sketchy third-party seller and was cheaper than a drive-thru smoothie, I had one of those. Today it's probably expired, counterfeit or stored next to a lawnmower in someone's garage. Buyer beware.
Speaker 1:This also rings true to me if you're purchasing a vitamin or a supplement from one of those MLM or pyramid companies where the person selling it has no idea what it is or has any type of educational background on the ingredients and they're just trying to make money for their daughter's dance classes. There's quite a few out there selling collagen. What they claim is oh, this is like a GLP-1 or supplements to help you sleep at night or taking something for pain. I'm sorry if I just made anybody mad, but it's very true. You should not be getting supplements from companies like this. Mad, but it's very true. You should not be getting supplements from companies like this.
Speaker 1:Number two if the label says folic acid or cyanocobalamin, these are cheap synthetic versions of B vitamins that your body might not even use, especially if you have that common MTHFR gene. Your liver's already filing a complaint, so you want to look for methylated B vitamins like methylfolate and methylcobalamin. Number three it has more fillers than a reality TV reunion Titanium dioxide, artificial dyes, hydrogenated oils, magnesium stearate. If your supplement reads like a chemistry experiment, it's probably doing more harm than good. So clean formulas only, please. Number four you feel nothing, ever. So if you've been taking it religiously for months and still feel tired, bloated, foggy or like your wellness is in airplane mode, quality supplements should do something.
Speaker 1:If yours are just expensive placebos, it's time for a breakup. And I face this almost with every consultation after blood work comes back and they look at me like, well, I've been taking vitamin D and they don't know why they don't have any in their system. And it really does just go back to the supplement that they were taking, that they had faith in. That wasn't what they thought it was Okay. Number five if Nestle or Clorox owns it yes, clorox does own some supplement lines. Now you might want to rethink your trust. Corporate buyouts do lead to cost cutting and ingredient swaps, so your health deserves better than that. So do not pick a company that was just bought by a giant food conglomerate.
Speaker 1:And bonus red flag we'll throw in here is proprietary blend with no breakdown, so you have no idea what you're actually getting. It's the supplement equivalent of mystery meat sandwich, right, if it says proprietary blend and doesn't tell you what it is. So come and see me at Harmony Hub Health, where the supplements are clean, the testing is real and I read labels, so you don't have to. Next we're just going to talk about then say you are taking quality supplements but you know you're still not having results because you're not what you take, you're what you absorb. So here are some things we'll talk about with why your $90 supplements might be going straight down the drain, and I mean literally. You probably could be urinating out your supplements and making some very expensive urine. And you know I will be brutally honest you could be taking the Rolls Royce of supplements pristine, methylated, third party tested, handpicked by unicorns, and still not feeling a thing.
Speaker 1:And here's some reasons why so top reasons that I see people are not absorbing their supplements. Number one is gut dysfunction. If your digestive tract is inflamed, imbalanced or lined with leaky holes like a colander, your ability to absorb nutrients tanks. Think of your gut like a sponge, and if that sponge is covered in mold, good luck soaking anything up. The common culprits that I run against are low stomach acid, especially since everybody is taking either an antacid or a PPI because they think they have heartburn and too much acid, or they have irritable bowel or, you know, ibs or IBD. Usually I find SIBO, small intestine bacterial overgrowth or a candida overgrowth, or they have a lot of food sensitivity. So hello, inflammation. So that's usually a big culprit. The next one would be poor liver function. So your liver is the ultimate multitasker. It's where B vitamins get activated, hormones get detoxed and toxins get booted.
Speaker 1:If it's overwhelmed or sluggish, you might not be converting your nutrients into usable forms, which means those supplements are just expensive bathroom confetti. And then another huge factor are those genetic variants like the MTHFR. So some people when I say some, I'm talking to 60% of us have this variant. You can't activate certain vitamins like folic acid or B12 due to common gene mutation. So if you don't know your status, you could be swallowing the wrong form altogether and your body just politely ignores it.
Speaker 1:If your body is constantly inflamed, you know if you have stress, if you're taking in sugar, processed foods, toxins, all of those things, it can block receptors and nutrient transporters, so that magnesium you're taking for stress, well, it might not be able to enter the cells that need it the most. And you know there's also timing, pairing and dosage. Like most people don't know that, the fat-soluble vitamins like A, d, e and K you need dietary fat in order to even absorb it. And iron and calcium fight like toddlers so you cannot take them together and some minerals cancel each other out if dosed improperly. So you can have a very synergistic or a very antagonistic reaction on your minerals. So without a solid supplement strategy, even the best products can work against each other, and that is the definition of wasted potential.
Speaker 1:Okay, so at Harmony Hub Health I don't just throw supplements at symptoms. I look at the whole picture your labs, your gut health, your genetics, your lifestyle, your stress, your sleep. We kind of go over everything and then I build a custom plan with targeted supplements. You'll actually absorb lab testing to track progress Adjustments over time as your body heals and changes. This is not a one size fits all and clear education, so you understand the why behind every capsule. And it's not about taking more, it's about taking smarter. So stop guessing and start healing.
Speaker 1:If your supplement drawer looks impressive but you still don't feel like your best self. It's time for a different approach. Book your functional medicine consultation today. Let's turn those supplements into actual results. Your mitochondria will thank you. This podcast is for educational purposes only and not intended to diagnose, treat or replace advice from your licensed healthcare provider. The FDA does not evaluate or approve dietary supplements like they do medications, so choosing clinical grade products like Orthomolecular can make a real difference. Always consult your functional medicine provider before starting new supplements, especially if you're mixing them with low expectations and discount pricing. I'm not your nurse practitioner, but I'd like to be, so reach me at Harmony Hub Health at wwwharmonyhubhealthcom. You can email me at M-I-C-H-E-L-E at harmonyhubhealthcom, or come see me in person at Monarch Beauty and Spa in Manchester, maryland.