BEWARE THE MLMs

There are many liquid vitamin products on the market. But finding good ones at reasonable prices can be a bit of a challenge. You may already be familiar with some of them because there are many product promoters that use email gathering techniques and spam people. They sell products that use Noni berries, or mangosteen fruit, or acai berries. They use "as shown on TV" style promotions. I have gone to some of these sites to view their products. They have the usual testimonials and research that demonstrates the "power" of their products. The sites are very convincing...until you stumble upon their pricing. Then it gets a little complicated.

Their pricing is almost always about fifty dollars a bottle for 32 ounces, supposedly, a months supply. And depending on your level of income, that might seem like very little money or a lot of money. If you are only buying for yourself, well then its no so bad. But still, it comes to 600 dollars a year. Additionally, you find that in order to buy the product you must be a "member". And then, you are encouraged to "sell" the product to your friends. After all, you would be doing them a favor to let them in on this great product you have found. In addition, you will get a "kick back" on their purchases. Usually 10 percent or so. And of course, your friends are then encouraged to complete the cycle again and sign up someone they know. And more and more "kick backs" will go to them, and to you. Often they have pyramid charts showing how you can earn "residual income" for showing and selling the product to just a few of your friends. You went to the site to buy a good product and now you have become a part time sales person.

You have stumbled upon an MLM scheme. Multi Level Marketing has taken to the supplement industry in a major way. Some companies actually hire vitamin manufacturing labs to generate a "recipe" for their products, and then they become the distribution portal at the top of the pyramid. Some of these vitamins are reasonable in price. Generally they will come in a tablet or pill form. But for some reason, when it comes to liquid vitamins, the pricing is always high and difficult to justify.

Take, for example, a family of four. A fifty dollar mangosteen juice product requires you to buy 4 bottles every month, one for each member of the family. Suddenly you are talking about spending $200.00 a month for a vitamin supplement. That's when you close the page and go on with other things. And who could blame you. Buying supplements cannot be a major part of one's monthly budget planning, a larger expense than your cable and internet connection combined. If you can afford that, consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

But there are good products at less than half the price of these MLM products. And purchasing them can be like any other purchase. You find the product you like, you order it, it comes to you and no one insists you have any further dealings or get a monthly shipment, or that you convert your friends into customers. I have found some companies on the web that will do just that. Sell you what you want to buy for a price that is closer to $20.00 or less. That will cost you around $200.00 dollars a year should you want to use the product daily. I will post links to these some of these webstores here to give you a starting point. They will offer high quality products and not bother you to become an agent. Additionally, returning customers often can receive discounts, making you yearly vitamin budget that much sweeter.

One such webstore is Vitapal, pronounced vita pal. Take a look at this site, they have pages of organic liquid vitamin and mineral products from reputable producers. Once at the site, just key in "liquid vitamins" in their search box and have at it. There are products for kids as well as adults, and most require 2 tablespoons a day. Its a good idea to take a dosage in the morning in a glass of apple or orange juice or your favorite cold tea. Just takes a minute, and you can be on your way.

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THE CASE FOR LIQUID VITAMINS

Once you have made a choice, in my case, to look for organic vitamins derived from natural foods, you are still faced with the question of the type of vitamin. And here, the case for liquid vitamins is strong. The ease of absorption offers many advantages. All forms are valuable, pills, gels, powdered greens, but organic liquids vitamins are available faster than other forms. There are times when faster is better...when you are sick...after heavy physical exertion.

Particularly if you do not have a regimen of daily supplementation, but use supplements only occasionally, based on how you are feeling, whether or not you have a cold and so forth. Liquid vitamins can be marshaled into the small intestines that much quicker, and into your bloodstream in a very short period of time..

When you are sick, your body is already spending a large amount of energy to fight off a cold, the flu, or the virus of the day. The food you eat will take 3 to 4 hours to have nutrients available. Liquid vitamins can be absorbed, and pass into the bloodstream in less than half an hour. For that reason alone, its worth it to have them in the home. Even if you are only using them on an emergency basis. Lots of people have supplements in the home and they only think about them when they are sick. Then its tons of vitamin C for the duration of the cold and then back to "normal". Since the point is to make it easier on the body, go the extra step and get the vitamins in liquid form, let your body spend its energy breaking down real food instead of pills.

There are many products that are also easy on the tongue. There are a variety of fruit based drinks that are much the same as beverages. There are concentrates that only require a couple tablespoons to get the nutrition you need, and they can be added to other foods or drinks. Add them to yogurt, smoothies, top off an ice cream sundae.

Others, like amino acid concentrates have a flavor similar to soy sauce. They add flavor to rice, or a salad. The first time I encountered liquid amino acids I was visiting friends of mine who are very knowledgeable about organic foods and their preparation. I looked forward to visiting them because I knew there would always be something very tasty on the menu. On their dinner table you find the regulars like salt and pepper. But also there was a bottle filled with something that looked like soy sauce. They would use it in a similar fashion. Add a bit to rice, potatoes, carrots, sprinkle it on salad. I had never seen it before so I asked what it was.

They told me that it contained amino acids and that it had a nice taste. I personally like the taste of salt on vegetables and rice and in my salads. I don't usually use soy sauce because it has a blend of flavors that don't "hit the spot" for me. But this product they were using was absolutely perfect. It became my salt substitute of choice. I didn't skip a beat, and didn't miss the salt at all. Many of these products are much like seasonings that you are already comfortable with. If no one told you, you probably wouldn't even know they were in your food.

To be honest I don't think that liquid organic vitamins are the only way to go. I think the most important thing is to try to find and use products that are derived from real foods, mostly plants. And having a caplet, or pill form, which dissolves more slowly is much the same as eating, it will be bio-available in a "time released" fashion.

However, in some products,there are materials which are primarily incorporated in pills that are there only to make the production of the pill "easier" on the manufacturing equipment. This seems to be the role of things like silica, magnesium stearate (which is also a natural component in fat) and some powdered sand. I don't know that these are detrimental they are in all the synthetically produced vitamin pills, and many companies that use food derived vitamins also include them. Its difficult to find products without them. But there is some controversy about their usage. They are less likely to be found in liquid supplements.

One of the issues with these additives is that a person who is taking many pills on a daily basis will end up compounding the concentration of them. You aren't just talking about one pill a day. Many seniors, for example, take five or ten pills a day. Some of these things are prescription medications as well as supplements. But you could end up with a significant amount of silica when you are taking higher numbers of pills than the average person does. To me its a battle that doesn't have to be fought, organic liquid vitamins just simplify the issue.