💊 How To Find Trustworthy Vitamins: Your 8-Step Checklist

The supplement world is sketchy. Here's HOW to find a quality vitamin.

I’ll cut the chase. The vitamin industry can be… sketchy.

This unregulated industry is overrun with poor-quality products, questionable ingredients, and overstated claims.

But a proper supplement can be really valuable for your health when you find a well-made option. Today, I am going to walk you through EXACTLY what to look for when vetting a supplement for quality.

But first, let me guess…

You have likely heard two major different opinions on vitamins in general:

1. They’re absolutely worthless and a waste of your money and “you’re just going to pee them out anyway”, OR

2. They’re a magical cure-all! Full of “This ONE supplement changed my life” rhetoric and other overstated claims.

And, as always, I fall somewhere in the middle. ✌️ While I personally view vitamins, supplements, herbs, and adaptogens as amazing tools that absolutely can have a positive impact on health, I also believe that vitamins should be taken responsibly— not in excess, in accordance with your healthcare plan, annnnnd…

With an awareness that many vitamins on the market may fall into the “waste of money” Category 1, above. That said, there ARE also really good, quality, trustworthy ones out there too! 

And today, I’m teaching you exactly what to look for to tell the difference.

In case you're new to my page, I’m a registered nurse with a doctorate degree specialized in integrative health. In other words, I’m all about natural remedies, vitamins, supplements, herbs, and the like—but I also believe in science and taking a responsible approach to holistic health. ;)

The 8 tips are free + open to everyone! First we’ll dig into what to look for (and what to look *out* for), and then as a little bonus for paid subscribers I’ll share a list of 9 vitamin brands I personally use and have pre-vetted for ya.

I hope this post helps you navigate the wild wild west of supplement marketing! Let’s dive in.

While prescription medications need to pass certain tests for safety and efficacy from the FDA, supplements and vitamins do not — which is something to be aware of.

Because of this, there are a lot of low quality, crappy vitamins out there, and (to be honest) those are most of what fill the shelves in the store. A low quality vitamin means that these products may not actually contain the ingredients and doses that they claim, and also likely have a lot of fillers, artificial ingredients, and non-bioavailable ingredients.

That said, just because the FDA doesn’t regulate all supplements doesn’t mean that all supplements are garbage! It just means you have to dig a bit to find the companies that are willing to practice with integrity. 

If nothing else, read this— the MAIN thing I recommend is looking for a company that third-party tests their ingredients and products.

Basically third-party testing verifies that what they SAY on the bottle is actually in the bottle (this shouldn’t be rare, but… it can be). It’s an extra step to prove that the ingredients are quality, pure, in the proper dose, free from banned substances, etc.

And, trust me, this info isn’t hard to find — if a company third-party tests, they are proud of it! It’s probably on their website, bottles, product descriptions, etc. because it is an extra step they are electing to do.

A quick search “does ____ company third party test their vitamins?” usually opens up the answer to this very quickly. If it’s not blatantly clear on their website or by reaching out to their customer support, they likely don’t.

Why does this matter? A low-quality vitamin company is NOT going to want to be third-party tested (because their products are likely not what they say they are), but a brand that does practice with integrity is proud of it!

If nothing else on this list, research whether the brand third-party tests, and if they don’t, I personally would stay away.

Going off of that, another thing you can look for are certifications that include the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Certification, USP Mark, or the NPA GMP. These are all a good sign that the product is what it says it is, is made in a quality way, etc.

Please note— a supplement doesn’t need these specific certifications in order to be quality, but these are the most common ones you’ll see out and about that are a good sign that your supplement is trustworthy.

Whenever you’re able, purchase directly from your functional medicine doctor, medical provider, or naturopath, because they have access to direct sourcing of these supplements to ensure it is what it says it is. Retail stores are another great way to get the authentic product because they usually purchase right from the distributor.

An area that is a bit more uncertain and risky is purchasing online— I know this is a hard one because, if you’re anything like me, it’s just easier to buy things online and I don’t always have direct access to my naturopath or functional medicine doctor. So when it comes to online I just do the best I can and make an effort to purchase directly from the brand’s website or their official Amazon page, if they have one.

So, for example, if a vitamin brand I trusted was Kate’s Vitamins, I’d buy it directly from katesvitamins .com (definitely the first choice) or the Kate’s Vitamins official Amazon storefront (less ideal), but never, ever a random Amazon seller, a different store, a random website, etc. if that makes sense! 

Is this a “perfect” system? No. But I recognize that many people are going to shop online regardless so I just like to teach them how to best increase their chances of getting the true product from the true brand.

The first thing is making sure you are taking your supplement for a specific REASON— I often see people just taking supplements on supplements on supplements sort of “just because”, and that is simply not needed.

If you are taking 10-20 supplements a day, it’s likely excessive. Remember that most of our nutrients should come from a well-balanced diet.

Before you take anything, chat with your doctor (as always!) and make sure you have a true reason for each one.

When you’re looking at the ingredient list on a vitamin or supplement, just look for things to be as straightforward and simple as possible.

For example, if you’re taking Vitamin D, look for a supplement that contains a Vitamin D as the primary ingredient without a ton of fillers or additives or extra ingredients (you’d be surprised at how many ingredients could be listed on a simple supplement bottle!).

PRO TIP: I would also avoid things that say “proprietary formula” or “complex,” because this can just be a fancy way of saying they are using a blend of whatever they want and you aren’t getting specific ratios of how much you’re taking.

Bioavailability and potential interactions are something I think is so, so overlooked with vitamins.

First things first, you definitely want to make sure your vitamin doesn’t have interactions with any medications or other supplements you’re taking. In addition to chatting with your doc, there are lots of online databases (like this!) where you can quickly type in what you’re taking, and you may be surprised to see some of the potential interactions.

Next, make the most of your vitamin! This is where I want you to think about bioavailability and maximizing the absorption of vitamins you take. Did you know that time of day, way you take your vitamin, and more can really impact the absorption and therefore the effectiveness of the vitamins?

So, for example, if you take iron — did you know that it is better absorbed when it’s taken with Vitamin C, but its absorption is blocked when it’s taken with caffeine and calcium? I once had a patient who was taking their iron each morning, but they were drinking coffee with creamer right alongside it— so that was basically blocking a lot of the absorption of iron!

There’s no need to be perfect with this, but just typing in “best way to take [_____] for absorption” can just help you see simple ways you can optimize the things you’re already taking.

This is probably my biggest tip! Anything that says something like “drop ten pounds fast” or “this is a cure for [x]” or “this will solve [y]” is something that should raise a red flag for you.

Trust me when I say this: the good companies are not being overly salesy; their vitamin is what it is, it’s straightforward, and they’re not making bold, crazy claims. While the saying “if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is” can often be true in a variety of areas, it is especially true in the vitamin world.

So that was a quick rundown of what to look for in a supplement!

I hope these 8 tangible steps above gave you a strong starting place to finding trustworthy supplements of your own ◡̈

But if you’d prefer to skip all of the research required, I took it a step further by doing some of that legwork for you… below, I’m sharing 9 different supplement companies that I personally use and trust with my lovely paid community! I’d love to have you join in.

But, no pressure, of course! Because regardless if you keep reading or not, the 8 hacks above should help you sort through all of the noise out there in the vitamin marketing world (if you found it helpful, please tap that little “heart” ❤️button at the top of this post!)

Okay, now let’s get specific.

While I shared the 8 general qualifications to look for above, it can still feel overwhelming to vet the thousands of supplement brands out there!

So, here’s a quick ‘n’ fast guide to the companies I personally use + trust, that are certified and tested, and who make straightforward, quality vitamins. ⬇️

For example, if my doctor told me I needed to take Vitamin B12 or Vitamin C, this is who I’d immediately purchase from…