Are bespoke vitamins a waste of money?
They promise a perfect prescription for your needs — but, at up to £150 a month, some are simply a bitter pill to swallow...
Decide you want to take a vitamin supplement or two, and you f ace a barrage of choice — in price, formulations and health claims — and it can be impossible to know which are the best for you.
This confusion has led to a rise in the popularity of online companies that promise to provide a tailor- made supplement ‘prescription’ based on aspects of your health, such as your diet and any medical concerns.
internet supplement sales are growing fast and personalised services are leading the charge. The UK supplements market is worth more than £442 million and in the U.S., where ‘personalised nutrition’ is more established, the sector is growing 7 per cent every year.
it is a simple formula: you click through an online quiz — which asks you basic questions about your age, health, and what you want to achieve from supplements — and the results are fed into an algorithm that pumps out a ‘personalised’ prescription. The supplements are then delivered monthly to your door. Prices range from £20 to £150 each month, and you can retake the quiz at any time to adjust your prescription.
i set out to investigate what these personalised supplements were like and what they’d recommend for me — a 56-year- old woman with all the usual health niggles that appear in middle age.
each time, i’d do an online quiz. Some were quick to fill in, others took about 15 minutes. Some asked about my diet (given the option, i said pescatarian and l actose i ntolerant), others about When menopausal symptoms or medication.
taking the quizzes, i would click on the boxes indicating i was looking for supplements to support good health — my main problems being poor sleep, poor digestion, occasional lack of energy, brain fog, and stress.
My ‘prescription’ would promptly appear on screen and the results were worryingly varied.
i tried eight firms, entering the same information. But no two had the same prescription.
Based on my medical history (and the fact i am on hormone r eplacement t herapy or hRT), i should have been offered a multivitamin and mineral supplement, probiotics to aid my digestive problems; and fish oil for omega-3 (for brain and eye health, as well as being antiinflammatory), says Margaret Rayman, professor of nutritional medicine at the University of Surrey.
in particular, the multiv i t amin and mineral supplement should contain the government-recommended daily amounts of vitamin d (10mcg, or 400iU), plus the nutrients i lose out on as i can’t have dairy: calcium (for strong bones), i odine ( f or making t hyroid hormones that help metabolism), and vitamin B12 (for red blood cells and nerve function), particularly as i am over 50.
So how many of these personali sed services prescribed the supplements i really needed? i took my prescriptions to Professor Rayman, who rated them.
BIONIQ
£150 per month, en.bioniq.com CLAIM: An at-home blood test measures 35 parameters, includi ng cholesterol, vitamin and mineral levels and hormones such as insulin (which controls blood sugar levels). This is combined with the results of an online quiz to formulate a personalised mix of slowrelease ‘granules’ to sprinkle over f ood or add to a smoothie. You can message an ‘agent’ via WhatsApp, and have a new blood test after t hree months to check improvements.
MY PRESCRIPTION: One scoop twice a day, which contains: vitamins A, B 3( ni ac in),c,d,e, K2, as well as copper, beta- carotene, bioflavonoids, coenzyme Q10 and lutein. MY VERDICT: A phlebotomist arrived at my house to take blood (an extra £97 if you live outside the M25) and the results appeared on my online account a week later, followed by the supplement in the post. My blood test revealed elevated cholesterol and triglycerides (blood fats), low levels of copper, but higher than average levels of zinc and vitamin e.
i was shocked that my cholesterol and blood fats were higher than they should be, so i told my Bioniq agent via WhatsApp, who suggested i mention it to my GP, reassuring me that the coenzyme Q10 and niacin in my formula would help address that.
This is a sleek offering, but extortionately expensive and i think it might be easier to swallow a few pills than to scatter granules over my food twice a day (although they taste pleasantly nutty). EXPERT VERDICT: A blood sample can give useful information on micronutrients as well as blood sugar and cholesterol readings.
however, these supplements will not correct elevated cholesterol levels. it also seems wrong that these contain high l evels of vitamin e, when your blood test shows you already have enough.
And the formula only contains one B vitamin (niacin), and no B12 — surprising as our need for this vitamin rises in later life. Someone over 50 could benefit from 25mcg of vitamin B12 daily.
There is no iodine or selenium (which is antiviral and required by the immune system), which would also be useful in mid-life, yet the supplement contains carotenoids and bioflavonoids, which have unproven benefits. The high cost cannot be justified once the blood tests are paid for. 1/10