Being Savvy To Natural Ingredients

Is Natural Always Best In Consumer Products?

When seeking any consumer product to be as natural as possible, whether it is in makeup, skincare or healthcare that includes nutritional supplements, label reading becomes a priority. However, it is the little things that can be missed. Certain label names, including natural ones can still be confusing.

For instance, the INCI names that are provided in place of the simple name on a product label can be long and very difficult to pronounce.  This is the main reason I, along with other brands incorporate both in the ingredient list. It reduces confusion and is easy to research when using the simple ingredient name rather than the INCI version.

Natural Versus Synthetically Created Ingredients

For the most part I love using natural ingredients and seek out whole, unprocessed ingredients when shopping for food stuffs. The more processed the food, the more nutritionally deficient it becomes by putting a whole lot of extra junk in your body it doesn’t need.

This is especially true when I am dealing with a chronic illness or something far worse that is devastating to me or a family members health. I am sure most of you would agree, that keeping things as natural as possible is the best choice when available.

Depending on the category within the natural ingredient market, natural (minimally processed), though preferred when it comes to skincare and makeup products, all natural still goes through a process. It is a must for creating a safe and useful ingredient to be implemented in the skincare or makeup product you choose.

The other issue with trusting natural vs synthetic, is scientists and research labs have extensively studied synthetic ingredients for their safety and efficacy for decades. Naturally derived ingredients are still within the learning curve for their safety and efficacy, so their track record has not been perfected and science is continuing to evolve on so many natural ingredients as they are introduced into the market.

Natural In Quality But Is It The Best Choice?

As I continue my research seeking help for me and my hubby, especially after his recent cancer diagnosis, I believe in the wisdom of science combined with a holistic approach, seeking what is best in the natural holistic world and in doing so I find myself reading labels, lots and lots of them. I ignore the promise of something used to captivate my imagination as to how wholesome or holistically wonderful something might be for my skins well being or for me and family’s health through marketing claims.

A prime example as I learned through medical journals that Vitamin B12 becomes more deficient in older individuals and short of eating certain foods, some of which are off the menu for us, we can’t get enough. So, I searched for the most natural form I could get with minimum fillers or artificial anything.

I checked out several brands including the Kirkland brand which as it turned out was the best choice for us and had several kind of weird ingredients, yet through some added research, the addition of these ingredients promoted best absorption in the body. Wow who knew!

This brand has Cherry flavor in a quick dissolving tablet placed under the tongue that is colored from beets. Other brands tout natural and nothing artificial added including colorants…uh that depends on what you consider natural.

Granted in one excellent brand in particular, the colorant that is added may be natural alright if you like eating bug juice otherwise known as carmine, which pretty much canceled out any benefit it may have offered to my body. Uh won’t be ingesting any color derived from a beetle.

Label Reading Is Time Consuming But Necessary

Some of you may go for that product based on excellent marketing or the face label screams out, “we’ve got what you need”. Then you turn the bottle over and in disbelief think “wth”, only to return it to the shelf in dismay being basically lied to on its face, literally, and once again the never-ending search continues.

With search engines at your fingertips, it has never been easier to find out what something is and why a certain ingredient is in your product. What purpose does it serve and what is the safety and efficacy of it.

The Marketing Game

Marketing is a huge part of getting products into consumer hands and the perfect example of this is the amount of marketing of prescription drugs being shown relentlessly on tv ads. I thought that was what doctors were for, best interest of the patient and what works based on his or her experience.

Are drugs needed when our health is in jeopardy such as illness, i.e. diabetes, cancer, etc., absolutely! But when I see ads that seem to have an endless side effect list that appears far worse than the illness it is treating, I can’t help but have the feeling of Big Pharma isn’t creating cures but customers. 

Remember, ingredient labels are required by the FDA for a reason, so you as the consumer can protect yourself from any known allergic reaction, or you need something kosher, or you simply don’t want to ingest or apply dyes, artificial anything like bug juice to your body.

Keep reading labels and continue to be savvy as to what you are consuming and don’t always believe the big loud “Fat Free” on the face of a product only to find out the fat has now been replaced with large amounts of “sugar.”

Wishing you all the best in your journey to continue your search for your good health overall!