Product Review

-- Whole-Food Nutritional Supplement, Part 2 --

 

On January 16^th I was approached by Patrick Ross of the Marketing Staff for NutriGold Inc. ( http://NutriGold.com ) to do a few reviews of some of their many products, which Patrick reported as shipped on January 20^th, but didn’t arrive until Feb 9th. Due to the number of products I received in 2 separate packages, I’ve decided to create a 2-part review project. You can click here to find Part 1 …you may notice the intro/outro of the reviews are similar.

Whenever I do a review I look quite closely at a company, read the customer comments, do online research, scan their site, and read the material they send. In this case the company sent a 20-page catalog and the first thing I noticed were 2 symbols on the index page – one for Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and a “please recycle” symbol encouraging people to recycle their product information package.  SFI certifies that the catalog is printed on environmentally responsible harvested paper and the printing inks (EcoTech) are designed to come from 65% renewable content and omit near zero VOC’s (volatile organic compounds).  NutriGold is a nutritional supplement company based in North Orem, Utah (US) that values a challenge, integrity, kindness, health and respect. The company guarantees that they use high quality, clinically validated, certified organic, allergen-free ingredients based on clinical evidence. Their products do not contain GMO’s, additives, fillers, binders, artificial ingredients, stearates, sulfates or dioxides, eggs, peanuts, milk, shellfish or wheat.  The company sources, purifies and manufactures their products in the US.

I received:

Vitamin C ($38.32)

Coconut Oil ($18.32)

Healthy Glucose Support ($48.32)

Men's Multivitamin ($54.98)
...and 6 trial sample packages of omega-3 fish oil (see previous review for information on that product).

Coconut Oil Gold™ comes in a sturdy, white, recyclable plastic tub (16 oz.) with a screw top lid and contains a solid, creamy white substance. This organic product is made using cold-pressed processing (heat taints the nutrients in oils) and is contains 66-77% MCT’s (Medium Chain Triglyceride = fatty acids), lauric acid and vitamin C. I read a post on FaceBook recently that touted some 80 different uses for coconut oil, including using on razor burn. Dave (husband) tried that out right away since he happened to have a shaving rash and found it did not help, in fact it made the area really red and itchy. We know he isn’t allergic to the product, as we’ve cooked with coconut products in the past. He has, however, had great results in using the product on his chapped feet and hands, you can almost watch the skin heal – it works so fast. We use a clean butter knife to scrape a tiny amount out (keeping the product sanitary) and found that 1/8 tsp. melted instantly and was enough to moisturize both hands really well. The hands are greasy for a few minutes but the stuff soaks in fast. My friend Julie swears by coconut oil and says she uses the stuff on her face in place of commercial facial moisturizing cream. The bottle states that the product “rich flavor and aroma – ideal for cooking”; I’m looking forward to trying that.

Healthy Glucose Gold™ supports and maintains healthy glucose balance, pancreatic health and circulation with a special blend of herbs and other clinically proven ingredients. The bottle I received contained 60 vegetarian capsules, and the instructions say to take 1 pill 2 times per day about 30 minutes after a meal. The solid white recyclable bottle (#2) has a flip top lid and is sealed with a plastic wrap for safety.

Vitamin C Gold™ also came in a solid white recyclable bottle (#2) with a flip top lid and was sealed with a plastic wrap for safety. As you are probably already aware, vitamin C is vital for the body and is used in everything the body does but is most important for immune, bone production, eye, aging and heart systems.

This vitamin brand stands out from others because of the organic, full-spectrum berry blend, which provides additional antioxidant protection. Their “nutriberry” blend lists everything from currants, bilberry, pomegranate, lingonberry, grape, blueberry, cherry, elderberry and cranberry, to raspberry and others. The bottle I received offered 90 vegetarian capsules – these are NOT chewable. The instructions suggest taking 1 pill, once or twice a day.

Men’s Multi Gold™ arrived in a brown glass bottle (90 fairly large capsules) with a childproof twist off cap, and a plastic safety seal; the bottle, plastic seal and lid are recyclable. I’ve often wondered what the difference is between gender-based vitamins. Comparing the women’s to the men’s multivitamin/mineral products from this company I saw that neither contained calcium, the men’s had no iron. The men’s has a little bit more B1, and a little less B6 – however there was a lot less B9.  The instructions say to take 3 pills per day with or without food. They use the term “100% whole-food and cultured vitamins and minerals” which got me wondering what they meant by “cultured”.  A little research revealed that there is 100% or more of the RDA for 19 nutrients and it is formulated (cultured) with organic whole food nutrients derived from concentrated fruits, vegetables herbs and something they call “activfood™” – a nutritional yeast blend (probiotics, bioactive enzymes, glycoproteins, lipoproteins, chlorophyll, glucomannan, limoic acid, essential trace minerals, SOD, Glutathione, B-glucans, CoQ10) as well as carotenoids and bioflavonoids. 

I do have some closing comments that I feel are important to mention. All the bottles and jars were topped with an easy-to-peel (non-recyclable) safety seal under the lid. Interestingly the supplement bottles did not contain cotton swab – which although compostable (shred by hand first) is additional “waste” and cost to the company – as such I felt the fact they didn’t include this item is a plus. Sadly the bottle labels have incredibly tiny printing that strained my relatively healthy eyesight. Some other companies have dealt with this issue by using labels that peel back to allow more print space. The website also had incredibly small text – I had to increase the size of the web pages twice.

Currently  http://NutriGold.com is offering a product-wide 40% discount for online purchases, so you might want to take advantage of their 100% satisfaction and 60 money-back guarantees.

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