Health

Do you really know what is in your supplements?

Have you ever stopped to consider what exactly your supplements are made of? We sure have! Just like the wave of clean beauty, we want to set a new cleaner benchmark within the supplements industry. The first step is education, read more about clean, green & somewhere in between supplements.

First things first let’s talk Vitamin C…

Let’s start with vitamin C. You know that oranges have vitamin C, and the chewable tablets taste deliciously of orange – so surely the vitamin C itself is from oranges, right? It is ‘natural’ medicine after all. Well, it might surprise you to know that the majority of vitamin C out there is actually synthetic. And this is the case for most vitamins and mineral supplements that you find at the shelf, they are synthetic – b vitamins, vitamin C, zinc, iron, magnesium.

That’s why at Wanderlust we have deliberately chosen to not use synthetically derived active ingredients. That means every single active ingredient has a plant origin. As opposed to synthetic vitamin C, our vitamin C is sourced from the fruits Amla and Acerola; our zinc is from guava; iron from curry leaf; silica from bamboo, just to name a few. This is because clean supplements is in our nature, we feel strongly that people who are making more considered choices about the chemicals they wish to consume, shouldn’t have to sacrifice their values because they can’t get their hands on cleaner supplement & wholefood alternatives

Animal derived ingredients are also abundant in mainstream supplements.

Animal ingredients are also abundant, which makes finding vegan-friendly alternatives often hard to pinpoint. Some common inclusions can be gelatine, most often used in capsule shells; fish oils; collagen derived from the bones, skin and connective tissue of cows, pigs or fish (and some other animals); vitamin D from the lanolin of sheep; calcium from animal bones; and proteins from dairy. For us we prioritise our ethical and sustainability values, that’s why we chose to avoid all animal ingredients in Wanderlust products. That’s why our omega-3 is from sustainably sourced algae, as is our Vitamin D, and our calcium from calcified seaweed!

So how do you make the switch to cleaner supplements?

Sometimes making the lifestyle change to cleaner ingredients or minimally processed products can be tricky to navigate – we get it! When shopping for supplements it is even harder. In Australia our supplements come under the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA) and are regulated as medicines. This is a good thing; it means you can expect excellent quality products! But it does mean that not all ingredients have to be declared on the label.

Only the ingredients that are therapeutically ‘active,’ or contributing to the medicinal benefit of the product, need to be. All other inactive ingredients, such as synthetic fillers & excipients, don’t need to appear. So, you may not even be aware of everything that you’re taking.

You can, however, access the full ingredient list of any TGA Listed Medicine via the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods: https://www.tga.gov.au/australian-register-therapeutic-goods.

While not entirely avoidable, we are exceptionally diligent when it comes to choosing what excipients we use. So much so, that we have developed a NO list of 20 ingredients we will never use:

• Macrogols
• Magnesium stearate
• Crosscarmellose sodium
• Paraffins
• Gelatine
• Crosspovidone / Polyvinyl polypyrrolidone (PVPP)
• Povidone / Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)
• Polyethylene glycols (PEGs)
• Titanium dioxide
• Iron oxides
• Talc
• Polysorbate 80
• Benzene
• Benzoates
• Polyvinyl alcohol
• Genetically modified (GMO) ingredients
• Colourings (artificial or otherwise)
• Animal products
• Artificial flavours
• Synthetic active ingredients

This list has been developed with the Wanderlust formulating principles front of mind, stepping up to our choice to emphasise natural and 100% plant powered options and avoid synthetic, artificial ingredients whenever we can. Because we believe in empowering people to make more considered choices at the shelf, especially when they are shopping for products to help support their overall health & wellness.