We are Nord Vital
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Why are dietary supplements so important?
Dietary supplements are products that can be taken in addition to a normal diet to provide the body with specific nutrients, vitamins, or minerals. They are often offered as capsules, tablets, powders, or in liquid form and can be purchased in pharmacies, drugstores, or online.
There are many different dietary supplements on the market, designed for various purposes. Some are intended to provide the body with specific nutrients that may not be present in sufficient quantities in a normal diet. Others are taken to support the management of certain health problems or to enhance performance.
It is important to note that dietary supplements are not a substitute for a balanced and varied diet. Generally, dietary supplements should only be taken if there is an actual nutrient deficiency or if a special nutritional supply is required, such as during pregnancy. It is always advisable to consult a doctor or other healthcare professional before taking dietary supplements to avoid potential interactions with other medications or an overdose.
How it all began
We, the founders, are familiar with problems such as exhaustion, lack of concentration, lack of motivation, and many other symptoms of daily life. Many are caused by environmental factors and the daily stress of working life.
We discovered by chance that dietary supplements can help with many of these problems and began to delve deeper into naturopathy and herbal remedies. We tested many of them on ourselves, working our way from one product to another, sometimes with moderate success, sometimes with no success at all, and sometimes with great success. We realized that the problems usually stem from the quality or concentration of individual ingredients.
As we delved deeper into the origin and the supplier, it quickly became clear where the main problem lies: in Germany, the dietary supplement business is very poorly regulated. There is virtually no oversight of the raw material manufacturers/importers, nor of the distributors and the products themselves.
The lack of control is multifaceted; generally, there is no check to see if the raw materials declared on the label match the contents, nor is it checked whether the recipe of the preparation is safe for health, or under what conditions the product was manufactured.
In our observation, this control gap leads to five main problems:
1- Products in insufficient doses:
Especially with relatively expensive raw materials, it's common practice for suppliers to simply encapsulate plant powder, such as maca tubers or echinacea roots. However, this limits the maximum achievable amount of plant substance to the capsule size, typically around 500 mg per capsule. Generally, though, a plant substance needs significantly more to have an effect. The highly concentrated extracts required for this are much more expensive than plant powder. Many customers find it difficult to distinguish between 500 mg of plant powder and 500 mg of plant extract at first glance. Unfortunately, many suppliers deliberately exploit this lack of understanding.
2. Products that are too highly dosed:
The best example is vitamin D3-K2 supplements. There's a real competition surrounding dosages. Manufacturers are constantly launching new products with even higher doses. Since the vitamin D market is so large, the competition is extremely intense. Today, typical supplements contain up to 500 µg of vitamin D3, which, according to EU guidelines, corresponds to the 100-day daily intake of an average adult. It's important to note that, unlike vitamins B or C, vitamin D is not water-soluble. This means that excess vitamin D is stored in fat and muscle tissue and can lead to toxicity and serious health problems.
3. Incorrect declaration:
The suppliers simply don't declare the correct contents. A prime example is silicon supplements. Silicon is present in bamboo extract in the form of silicon dioxide. Only about 75% of bamboo extract is silicon dioxide, and of that, approximately 45% is silicon. As a guideline: 500 mg of bamboo extract can contain a maximum of about 175 mg of silicon. Many suppliers misrepresent the amount of silicon dioxide as if it contained the same amount of silicon. For example, they advertise capsules with 667 mg of bamboo extract that supposedly contain 500 mg of silicon, which is physically impossible.
4. Declarations intentionally give a false impression:
Again using relatively expensive raw materials, many suppliers deliberately use information without reference to a measurable quantity or unit. For example, many suppliers market bromelain supplements with advertising claims like "High-dose bromelain 3600 - FIP." However, they fail to provide information on how much of this supplement contains the enzyme activity of 3600. The entire product information is designed to give the customer the impression that one capsule contains bromelain with an enzyme activity of 3600 FIP, even though this is not the case.
5. Lack of quality control during manufacturing:
The product is manufactured by a contract manufacturer who cannot even meet the most basic quality standards. The production location is vaguely stated as "EU" to conceal the actual location.
Our mission
Having recognized the aforementioned problems in the market, we decided to create our own brand to enable everyone to access high-quality and effective nutritional supplements without extensive expertise or research. Since our founding, we have adhered to four principles that we have always followed and will continue to follow in the future:
- We do not sell products that we would not use ourselves or provide to our families.
- All our products are sensibly dosed. We neither risk the health of our customers nor do we sell products with insufficient dosages that cannot have any effect.
- Only high-quality raw materials are used in our products, and manufacturing is carried out exclusively in Germany under the highest quality standards.
- We explain the product information correctly and understandably.
- Our prices are fair and reasonable.
- We avoid animal-derived raw materials as much as possible.
Nord Vital today
After a relatively slow start, our products quickly gained recognition. Within our first year, we had already established a large and loyal customer base. This motivated us to continuously expand our product range. Today, we still work with the same enthusiasm and energy to develop new products that can improve the well-being of our customers.
Initially, we had some concerns about whether a reputable company could even survive in such an unregulated market. Today, we are proud to see that customers recognize and value trustworthiness, and that a company can stand out from the crowd through honesty.
