5 Facts You Must Know About Meal Supplement Quality
Not All Meal Supplements Are Created Equal
In the modern North American diet, replete with junk food and short lunch breaks, finding time for the appropriate number of square meals is difficult. Correctly incorporating a meal supplement into daily dietary needs can present a unique opportunity to add essential components to daily uptake. These dehydrated, energy-packed products are ideal for athletes and civilians alike, but not all meal supplements are created equal which makes it all that much more important that your supplements of choice come from an NSF certified facility such as Dure Foods.
These 5 facts about meal supplement quality will give you an essential rubric for evaluating these products for sale and consumption.
Low Calorie Content Is Important
This isn’t necessarily just an indication of the products usability in the fields of weight loss or fat burning, but also represents the products constituent ingredients. High quality meal supplements will likely contain a fraction of the calories of lower quality competitors, likely averaging around the 50-100 calorie per serving range. At the same time, empty calories located in artificial trans fatty acids are not only an indication of poor ingredient quality, but also represent potential health hazards.
Low Quality Means High Sugar Content
This is certainly not a hard and fast rule for all meal supplement products, as certain brands may offer items that are responsibly sweetened with natural ingredients. However, a high sugar content will likely represent the brand looking to compensate for the bad taste of inorganic ingredients. At the same time, use of bleached or inorganic sugars can be a health hazard. Look for products that offer natural sweetener alternatives such as Stevia. This will lower the overall calories and provide a more effective sweetening alternative that is healthier, sourced naturally, and tastes better.
Not all Proteins Are the Same
Protein is essential to rebuild muscles, provide energy, and help round out the nutritional content of meal supplements. In many cases, the more protein a meal supplement offers the better, but some proteins are difficult to digest and therefore less effective. Though the constituent chemicals may be the same or similar, such as amino acid content, looking for protein components which are more soluble will lead to more effective protein intake. Some good choices are:
1) Whey Protein
2) Soy Protein
3) Hemp Protein
Whey protein is potentially the best example, representing about 20% of the protein found in milk. This protein is not only easily digestible but will also dissolve well when mixed with liquids, ensuring a more pleasant consumption experience.
Dietary Fiber Is Extremely Important
This factor is often overlooked by health conscious consumers, or individuals looking to locate the best quality meal supplements. Appropriate consumption of dietary fiber has important effects on digestion, and will make you feel full faster. However, not all dietary fibers are created the same. Some natural sources such as roughage and grains have certain health effects that artificial fiber sources do not. There is a plenitude of research on the importance of dietary fiber, as well as the deficiency in the average diet. However, there is no effective evidence which proves artificial alternatives provide the essential benefits received from whole food sources. Looking for a meal supplement that has a high percentage of fiber, derived from natural sources, will demonstrate overall quality.
Meal Supplements With Natural Ingredients
Based on the four preceding facts about meal supplement quality this may seem obvious, but it cannot be stressed enough. Natural ingredients are overall much better for the quality of the product. This includes sugar, protein, and fiber sources, but also includes essential vitamins and minerals. A high-quality meal supplement will provide more than just the bare bone essentials of fat and protein. Look for a product that has a high daily serving of essential vitamins and minerals. Plus a recognized food standard inspection certification such as NSF.
