Hi Mark in Idaho, it was not my intent to say anything that would result in anxiety for you. I was only trying to explain why user reviews for supplements have sometimes proven helpful for me.

I should also mention that I had a concussion many years ago while playing basketball for my high school team. My parents kept me out of school for a little over a month, but I had symptoms for nearly two years afterwards. So I do understand what some of the people on this forum are experiencing.


Hi Jo*mar, thanks so much for the link. It will be interesting to read the ratings for future supplements when they become available.

I have read lots of reviews. I have written many reviews. I was a participant in a review group at Amazon that received special benefits for reviewing products. Many in the Vines program wrote fluff reviews. The negative reviews often were questionable. Many anxious people write reviews and let their anxiety take control. We are not recommending exotic supplements, nootropics and such. The basics are important. Those exotics are a different subject.

We have many on NT who delay getting started with vitamins and supplements because they are anxious over which brand is best. Getting started with a vitamin and supplement regimen is more important than delaying because of anxiety over the different brands. I've seen people hash out the different brands for months while not starting on even the basic of brain health supplementation. This is counter to getting started with recovery.

Most reviews discuss "effectiveness".... etc.

I posted to the quality of the maker.... whether they are labeling correctly, available to consumers for questions etc, and whether they make grandiose claims and therefore get FDA warning letters, or get closed down.

Companies with quality, and GMP practices do a pretty good job.
Jarrow is Canadian (or was but now has a US address), and I don't know if that lab site tested non US makers. But Doctor's Best, NOW, and Jarrow have always been a quality act. Country Life is also good. I don't use the pricier brands, like LEF or Thorne but they are supposed to be good too. I tested out Puritan's methyl B12 with blood work after using their new product for 3 months. It gave me very high levels.

Most raw materials come from a very few sources, so many places may get their active ingredients from the same place.
Methylfolate is one. (comes from Merck).

At one time Roche was supplying 90% of the world with vitamins they made. I don't know how that is going now, with India and China so active, but historically vitamins typically come from limited sources. So you want a packager and distributor with quality controls in place. You don't see reviews often about this aspect on iherb or Amazon.

Whether something is "effective" and "well absorbed" depends on the studies to reveal value.

So my recommendations here involve quality control, content, and cleanliness....and affordability. I spend alot of time myself selecting quality items for my home, and I share that on this board. At one time over 10 yrs ago, methylcobalamin was hard to find. We used Jarrow for several years here that I bought on iherb.com

But now I can get Puritan's and Costco's for less $$ than iherb so I have moved to those.

I like both brands and use both. I have contacts at both companies that I call when I have questions about a product or dosing etc. At one time years ago when I was out of work at 61 due to job loss, I had gone to Jarrow plant here in LA thinking I'd like to work for them....I'd love to work for a supp company in some capacity, but it didn't work. I'd thought of working for a health food store, but I would "push" grape seed ex so much and they wouldn't like that...gotta "push" everything you can to customers....

This seems like a highly debated topic. I think the LabDoor concept has a lot of promise. They supposedly do third-party testing of supplements. There's a convenient application for iPhone but it doesn't have many compounds listed.

As for the methylcobalmin (vitamin B-12), is there any brand that offers lozenges that don't have some natural or artificial sweetener in them? I looked and all of them seem to have some flavoring.

They all do that I know of. This is because some people still put them under the tongue.

The tablets (except for Jarrow's) are tiny though, not much in them IMO. You can just swallow them. Most are cherry flavored.

Google and you might find one or two companies, but be prepared to pay $$ for it.

Vitacost sells a house brand methyl B-12 without any sweeteners. Here is a link:
http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-vit...g-300-capsules

wow, those only have 500mcg... of B 12.

we've been using the 5000 mcg Kirkland brand (off and on, I need to get back to being consistent)
(but they do have a sweetener if that is a concern..)
the 5000mcg will last about 6 - 7 hours for me energy wise..
I can totally skip coffee even on a dreary rainy day...

I know they are only 500's. People can take multiples. They come in a 300 capsule bottle. The point was to find a version without a sweetener.

Personally, I am opposed to artificial sweeteners, too.

Here is a 1000 mcg version with alcohol sweeteners
http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-met...herry-flavor-2
Alcohol sweeteners are much safer than aspartame or sucralose.

By getting on the vitacost email list, you can learn when nthey have the good sales. Buy one, get one half off is quite common. Free shipping sales are also frequent.

VitaCost is a $280,000,000 company. They have the buying power to offer good values. Last year, the B-12 sub-lingual tabs were sweetened with aspartame. People complained and it appears they responded by changing to alcohol sweeteners.

So is there any danger of toxicity from taking too much B-12?

I'm thinking of just ordering the 5000mcg version but I feel like that's an excessive amount. The RDA's are extremely confusing when it comes to these vitamins.