Where is the best place to buy vitamins?

[beka1977]

Where is the best place to buy vitamins, supplements, CLO etc... Trader Joes? Whole Foods? Costco? Amazon? Online?

[Marnica]

Most chain stores (excluding whole foods market) don't carry quality vitamins (ie whole food vitamins). They are usually synthetic and full of fillers and crap. No way would I buy from there.

Do your research about quality brands and whole food vitamins first and then worry about where to get them.

I get many of what i buy online. A whole sale pleace in my town also carries certain brands I use.

[EENS]

I buy online with iherb. I know of others who like vitacost. I have found the cost to be way less expensive of the same brand at the local organic market.

[solinox]

I'm on about 30 different vitamins (seems like anyway) for my fibromyalgia, and I've found the best place to buy is at VitaminShoppe.com. Occasionally one of the local stores will have a sale that will undercut them, and then I'll stock up, but overall I do better there. Free shipping on orders over $100 and no sales tax, so it works out good.

[tanyalynn]

I'll buy locally at WF if I've run out unexpectedly or want to try something I'm inexperienced with, to see if I like it, but otherwise I only buy online. A lot of the good brands either aren't available locally or are much less expensive online.

As to where to buy, depends on the brand you want. Most of the brands I want aren't available (or are more expensive) at iherb and vitacost, so I choose a brand and then google for prices. I've used both iherb and vitacost for some things and they seem like good companies. I've rarely had what I consider truly bad customer service anywhere--occasionally a bit slow, but most companies I've dealt with ship in a very timely fashion and are accurate with shipments.

[beka1977]

Originally Posted by Marnica

Do your research about quality brands and whole food vitamins first and then worry about where to get them.

I get many of what i buy online. A whole sale pleace in my town also carries certain brands I use.

Okay, so how do you research quality brands? Because I am having a difficult time finding specific recommendations.

[MoonStarFalling]

Some things like my calcium (Tropical Oasis liquid calcium magnesium citrate) I have to get from vitacost. Multi vitamins, herbs and homeopathics I get through my local co op buying club. Some things I have to buy specially online like Blue Ice cod liver oil.

The local shops usually don't have what I want and if they do it's much more expensive.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by beka1977

Okay, so how do you research quality brands? Because I am having a difficult time finding specific recommendations.

I find recs for good quality brands in the ASD world, people who are working on health issues with autism spectrum disorders and related health issues, either for adults or for kids.

I focus on lack of allergens, good forms of vitamins and minerals that are easily absorbed and lack of weird fillers. We use a lot of Thorne and Perque, there are other good brands as well, GI Pro Health is one, I know there are others.

[Lindy]

www.needs.com

[millefleur]

www.vitacost.com

[WorldsBestMom]

I would say the pharmacy. That way you can go and actually see the products and read the labels and ask the pharmacist questions as it relates to the product.

[VividMel]

Best prices on Vitamins

I just did some research on vitamin pricing and found that although Vitacost is the cheapest, their customer service (in my experience) was horrendous. Turns out that Vitamin Shoppe had decent prices + their customer service and reward program is a good deal. Full comparison is here is you're interested :: http://www.slymiser.com/vitamin_stores_reviewed.php

[Violet2]

I actually paid to join Consumer Labs which tests a lot of vitamins. You would be surprised how many do not contain what they say they do and have nasty extras like lead.

So I would research anything you want to buy to be sure the company makes a quality product.

I would also look to buy at stores like Vitamin World (which has won awards from Consumer Labs for their products) and GNC.

V

[VividMel]

cool!

Is the address consumerlab.com ? How long have you been member and has cost of subscription been worth it? Do they test Vitamin Shoppe Brand and Whole foods brand? If so, I may join. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Violet2]

http://www.consumerlab.com/ is the url

I've been there a few months. They also review the medical literature and talk about whether or not there's evidence that a vitamin does xyz and what dose.

The brands vary but are the brands you see in stores. Vitamin Shoppe is in there.

They have a brand index. You click the brand and it will bring up all the content with that brands products in it.

V

[VividMel]

Thanks!

Thanks Violet2. This is really helpful.
M