Puritans pride vitamin c review
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Let's face it: we don't always get the nutrients we need from our diet. In 2019, 39% of Americans reported eating less than one serving of fruit per day, up from 36% in 2017. There are dozens of factors that affect our dietary choices, from cost and food deserts to personal preference. However, it's still crucial to get enough of the necessary daily vitamins and minerals. We need to get some, like vitamin B12 and creatine, from our diet because our bodies don't make them on their own. Show
Supplements non-food sources of vitamins, minerals, and herbs can help to fill in the gaps of a less-than-ideal diet. More than one in three Americans take a multivitamin and even more take individual vitamins, minerals, or other supplements. Puritan's Pride is a supplement supplier selling hundreds of different vitamins, minerals, and herbs to keep your body functioning at its best. We dug deep into Puritan's Pride and tested their supplements to help you understand if they could be the best fit for you. Our FindingsEditor's Rating4.50 If you’re looking for good-quality, low-cost supplements and especially if you know what type you need Puritan's Pride shines. While they may occasionally use food colorings and some controversial ingredients, their products work, helping you improve your health.
GREAT PICKS FROM PURITAN'SQ-SORB™ Co Q-10 400 mg $34 Reviewed by: Innerbody Research Probiotic Acidophilus $18 Reviewed by: Innerbody Research Vitamin D3 125 mcg (5000 IU) $12 Reviewed by: Innerbody Research In this ReviewHow we evaluated Puritan's PrideWe judged Puritan's Pride on various criteria to ensure we are giving you the most thorough investigation of the platform. Specifically, we looked at how easy the website is to use and the quality, variety, and cost of supplements they offer. Supplement varietyRating: 9 / 10 Puritan's Pride offers all traditional supplements and several nontraditional supplements in effective forms and appropriate doses. There's not much redundancy in their products, so you won't have to compare what looks like the same product across four different containers. No matter if you want it in a softgel, tablet, or capsule form, Puritan's Pride has you covered. The only exception is the more contemporary forms such as gummies or soft chews that are more difficult, but not impossible, to find. Supplement qualityRating: 8.5 / 10 For the most part, Puritan's Pride's supplements perform as advertised: they quickly and easily get you the nutrients your diet lacks. When we tested two popular tablets, we found that they disintegrated quickly, meaning your body will be able to digest them properly. However, some of their products include ingredients that aren't necessary or particularly good for your body, like food coloring or shark cartilage. CostRating: 9.5 / 10 Puritan's Pride's supplements are so inexpensive you'll double-take. The shop frequently runs "buy one get two free" deals and sales up to 50% off the entire store. Combined with the fact that shipping is inexpensive (and free after $50) and that their products are already priced at or below competitors' prices, it's easy to walk away with vitamins and your wallet in bulk. NavigationRating: 8 / 10 It's not always easy to find what you want on Puritan's Pride's website. There are a few categories you can search through by issue or by brand but if you're just aiming to flip through the catalog, you might run into some difficulties. It's easiest to navigate through this site if you enter knowing what you already want, which contradicts the beginner-friendly feeling of the site. Customer SupportRating: 8.5 / 10 Puritan's Pride's customer support lines offer multiple ways to get in contact with them during the day. It's easy to connect to a real person who can help with any of your needs, but you may need to keep an active eye on your order. Despite their claims of sending emails at every step in the delivery process, our testers found that they weren't contacted or notified when there were problems with payment, leading to a serious delay in shipping. Special Offer: Free Shipping On orders $49 or more Why you should trust usOver the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers like you make more informed decisions to live healthier lives. We extensively test each health service we review. Our team has spent over 147 hours testing and researching Puritan's Pride and its close competitors in order to give you an unbiased exploration of your health supplement options, free of marketing jargon or gimmicks. Through a thorough and deliberate approach to every product we encounter, we evaluate services based on adherence to quality, the latest medical evidence and health standards, and a simple question: would we buy the product or service ourselves if it weren't part of our job, and would we recommend it to family and friends? Additionally, this review of Puritan's Pride, like all health-related content on this website, was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy. What is Puritan's Pride?Puritan's Pride was founded in 1973 as a brand of dietary supplements. They now operate as a supplement marketplace, selling dozens of brands of vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other nutritional supplements for people and pets. Puritan's Pride is a parent company for many other organizations and brands as well, including:
Now, their products expand beyond dietary supplements. Their other brands create pet wellness supplements and aromatherapy tools, among other products. Puritan's Pride also carries vitamins and supplements from many other non-Puritan's Pride brands. They are not involved in sourcing or manufacturing non-Puritan's Pride products, so be mindful of the brand if you're concerned about ingredient quality or certifications. The catalog itself is extensive. Puritan's Pride has a wide selection of supplements of all types and potencies. Not only do they have a lot of supplements, but they also have a solid commitment to vitamin quality: all of their products are made and tested in the USA, with transparency about the 106 countries where they source their ingredients. However, no third-party testing companies have certified Puritan's Pride, meaning that we don't know how accurate any of this information is. It's interesting to note that Nestlé owns Puritan's Pride. They made this purchase in August 2021, when Nestlé also bought Nature Made, Osteo Bi-Flex, and other core brands of The Bountiful Company. While we don't know what this change might mean, keep an eye out for potential changes in manufacturing, certification, and standardization, as well as changes to the catalog. You might even see Puritan's Pride more often in your local pharmacy's vitamin aisle. Who is Puritan's Pride for?GeographyWhether you live in California or Copenhagen, Puritan's Pride will be able to send you vitamins. There are few geographic restrictions on Puritan's Pride products, though shipping is more expensive for international customers. The only exception to this is if you live in a country where Puritan's Pride already has a distributor. Since distributors are contracted to sell their products in other countries, Puritan's Pride won't mail vitamins to you directly from their website as that defeats the purpose of the distributor in the first place. Instead, Puritan's Pride will link you to their virtually identical partner website. Countries with distributors include:
If your country is not currently partnered with a distributor, you’ll be able to purchase vitamins through the Puritan's Pride website without issue. Health concernsVitamins are most useful for those who have slight deficiencies and no underlying conditions. Jumping into taking a vitamin to improve potential symptoms or improve perceived health without first testing your vitamin and mineral levels is many people's strategy, but it can easily backfire. Fat-soluble vitamins don't get excreted in excess, making it relatively easy to go over your upper daily limit and cause health problems. For example, taking more than 40mg of zinc per day through a combination of food and vitamin supplements can lead to stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting. Puritan's Pride is generally good at not overdosing their vitamins outside of the upper daily limit (unlike other vitamin suppliers), but be sure to double-check before working each product into your daily routine. Likewise, if you have pre-existing health concerns or conditions, make sure to do some research before beginning a new vitamin or supplement. We always recommend talking with your primary care provider. Some ingredients can interfere with other medications or aggravate conditions. For example, artificial vitamin C can cause some types of chemotherapy to work less effectively and even increase your risk of cyanide poisoning. St. John's Wort is notorious for keeping many medications from working as well, including all major antidepressants, benzodiazepines, anti-nausea medication, and painkillers. If you have any questions or concerns about potential drug interactions, contact your primary care provider for their advice. Puritan's Pride's catalogSupplementsPuritan's Pride offers hundreds of types of supplements. (We use "supplements" as an umbrella term in line with the FDA's nomenclature to refer to anything you'd add to your daily routine as an addition to a healthy diet to work and feel your best.) These supplements include:
These vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other supplements are sold individually and in blends for specific purposes. For example, you could get vitamin C on its own or in a single-pill blend with elderberry and zinc for additional immune support. This way, you can personalize your supplements around your own health goals without having to take four or five pills a day. With so many different supplements to choose from, there are a few ways you can search for what you want. You can filter the marketplace's offerings by:
Despite the multiple options for filtering, the website's navigation isn't always intuitive. There is no option to just scroll through everything that Puritan's Pride has to offer. Instead, you'll need to select a filter from the options above in order to see any products. Clicking on "shop by category" takes you to a page with almost 300 different ingredients, brands, and themes, from top-selling letter vitamins to salmon oil. If you're not sure what it is you're looking for or just want to browse, this setup makes the process more complicated than it needs to be. Once you get into a category and begin looking through products, there are more ways to personalize your search. You can either flip through the pages to find something you need, or refine your search by:
Each supplement's listing includes the name, dosage (potency, if applicable), number of supplements per package (size), and price. If there is more than one listing of the same product (to differentiate potency or size), you'll get a link to compare your other options. It's important to note that none of Puritan's Pride's supplements are USP certified. Since the FDA doesn't regulate dietary supplements, the USP offers a non-mandatory quality testing service to guarantee the supplement's quality. Puritan's Pride's materials and ingredients are all sourced from the USA, and a lack of USP certification doesn't mean that the product is inherently flawed. It just means that the supplements haven't been formally tested to the USP's rigorous standards. In every product summary, Puritan's Pride notes that all of their supplements are tested or inspected up to 15 times throughout the manufacturing process for quality assurance and, ultimately, peace of mind. DosageEach bottle contains anywhere from 30 to 350 pills in varying doses in line with health standards. Not every supplement is available in every dose or size. Ginkgo Biloba standardized extract, for example, only comes in 120 tablets at 60mg potency but can be purchased as 30, 100, or 200 capsules at 30mg. Naturally, there are lots of different forms the supplements come in as well. The most common are softgels and capsules since their outer linings break down quickly so that you can absorb the supplement through digestion. Many types of supplements also come in gummy, tablet, or powder form. However, don't count on finding the exact supplement you want in the form you want: it depends on whether it is water- or fat-soluble. A water-soluble supplement, for example, would be difficult to capture in softgel form, which suspends the vitamin or mineral in oil. Tablets, which are common hard-pressed medications, are the hardest for our bodies to break down. They are the most common form of vitamins and supplements that pass through without disintegration or dissolution. Luckily, more and more supplement companies recognize this and are switching formulas to softgel, capsule, and gummy forms. Puritan's Pride is no exception: we found only 45 items in their entire catalog that are purchasable in tablet form. Food, diet, and sport productsPuritan's Pride offers several products that are not vitamins, minerals, or herbs. These items, packaged as "lifestyle products," align with Puritan's Pride's goal to promote holistic health care and life satisfaction. Many of these lifestyle products are similar to the traditional dietary supplements that Puritan's Pride offers. However, these products fill a more specific lifestyle niche. There are four different types of lifestyle products offered on Puritan's Pride's website:
Much like sorting dietary supplements by health focus, each lifestyle product category is full of everything sold by Puritan's Pride that they believe could advance your health goals. Puritan's Pride offers a mix of organic and non-organic healthy foods. For the most part, these are shelf-stable nuts and dried fruit (including ginger), teas, coffee, and KIND-brand granola bars. While they don't have the same sales as dietary supplements, foods offered by Puritan's Pride are often discounted at steep rates. As a bonus, some of the foods even have recipes in their item descriptions. Their sport and diet section contains food items, protein powders, and supplements associated with metabolism, muscle-building, and weight loss. A few of these products have questionable scientific backing but are trendy diet products, including:
Be careful when you use metabolism-enhancing products, as not all claims are created equally. Beauty productsBeauty products are relatively straightforward for Puritan's Pride. These are primarily accessory ingredients for hair and skin care products, such as castor oil and jojoba butter. They also offer skincare products with simplified ingredients, such as DMAE cream or hyaluronic acid beauty cream, popular in commercial moisturizers. This section is remarkably similar to the "beauty" section of a natural food grocery store, even offering crystal deodorant and fluoride-free toothpaste. Pet suppliesPet supplies feature dietary supplements that are pet-safe but comparable to the supplements people can use, as well as chews and treats specifically formulated for dogs. These include glucosamine, a supplement that helps to slow joint degeneration, and multivitamins. For the most part, Puritan's Pride's pet supplements focus on general multivitamin chews, hip and joint health, and skin care. Pet products from Puritan's Pride center around canine health: out of thirty pet-formulated products, only seven are safe for cats to consume. If you're looking for ample feline health supplies, we would suggest looking elsewhere. Science behind Puritan's Pride's supplementsPuritan's Pride has a robust scientific backbone, but you wouldn't know it just from glancing through their product pages. While some offhand claims raise an eyebrow (such as their about page stating that the FDA has a heavy hand in regulating vitamins and supplements, which they don't have any authority over), a vast majority of their science is sound. Vitamin guideRather than integrating scientific information throughout the site, Puritan's Pride keeps all of their information on their Vitamin Guide page. Here, articles break down each of the major concern categories used to filter supplements on the site. These health goals are:
Clicking on any of these links will bring up a long page loaded with scientific information. Not all links have associated scientific pages; the second half of the list above (digestive support through multivitamins) all pull up recommended products without any scientific information. The pages with scientific information begin with three product recommendations but are quickly followed by easy-to-read and informative science. These sections explain the goal, how it works in layman's terms but with precise textural detail, and then launch into the background of each ingredient they use in their supplements. The immune support page, for example, walks through vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc, as well as smaller paragraphs for echinacea, elderberry, and Andrographis. Each section has footnotes linking to relevant studies explaining where they got their information. Puritan's Pride is one of the only supplement marketplaces that is so up-front in their citations, allowing you to do your research and validate their claims. Immune support provides twelve different articles, including recent pieces such as a 2020 study on nutrition’s role in immune function. The company seems to keep this up-to-date with the latest science, so as we learn things about how vitamins work, Puritan’s Pride makes sure you learn along with the scientists. While Puritan's Pride may not be third-party-certified, this level of transparency provides a little peace of mind. Digital eCatalogIf the general vitamin guide isn't enough detail for you, don't worry -- Puritan's Pride offers an even more comprehensive digital Vitamin Guide. This 60-page PDF includes updated information about their 50 most common vitamins, supplements, and ingredients. This includes:
The final page of the catalog is dedicated to showcasing Puritan's Pride's newest products. Each page of the vitamin guide features one product or ingredient. It gives a summary of what the ingredient is or does and how it supports the body. Another section, titled "studying up on" the ingredient, summarizes a few recent relevant studies about the ingredient's impact on and importance to human health with citations for each study. The bottom of the page highlights a product featuring that ingredient, with the customer rating out of five stars, a snippet of a positive customer review, and a link to buy the product. Of course, Puritan's Pride also reiterates three to five of the biggest perks of the product. ConcernsIt's also important to note that Puritan's Pride still uses some ingredients no longer recommended for human consumption. Shark cartilage takes a feature in one supplement; this is harmful to rapidly decreasing shark populations and environmentally sensitive ecosystems. It doesn't help that claims of shark cartilage decreasing your risk of cancer are not correct. Rather, some studies have pointed out potentially toxic chemical compounds in shark cartilage, including one that may be linked to Alzheimer's disease. Puritan's Pride also sells some products that are not based on any scientific legitimacy. Fluoride-free toothpaste, for example, is less effective at preventing cavities than fluoridated toothpaste, yet Puritan's Pride's beauty section has a few different types of exclusively fluoride-free toothpaste. Some of their products, particularly in the sports and diet category, exist to fill a market trend rather than having real health benefits. These include apple cider vinegar, touted to promote weight loss with mixed results, which Puritan's Pride sells in twelve different products. They never claim that apple cider vinegar can help you lose weight; instead, they say that it is "popular with fitness enthusiasts and those following healthy eating plans." Be sure to do your research before purchasing a product like these that may not be scientifically backed. Do Puritan's Pride's tablets disintegrate?For vitamins and supplements to work, they need to be absorbed through the stomach into the bloodstream. However, this can only happen if the pill disintegrates (falls apart) and dissolves (combines with liquid). Without the disintegration of a vitamin, it'll pass right through without you seeing any of the benefits. Puritan's Pride's high percentage of softgel and capsule supplements is a good sign: those outer coatings break apart easily, revealing the inner contents quickly and effectively. There is no formal federal oversight to verify that vitamins and supplements sold are actually going to work. Therefore, we took matters into our own hands and decided to scientifically analyze the disintegration of some of Puritan’s Pride’s most popular tablets. To do this, we created an artificial stomach-like environment to see how they might respond in your body. While dissolution is difficult to test in experimental settings, we were still able to test if these supplements would properly disintegrate. Unexpectedly, one of the popular tablets had several different types of food coloring on it, which leached into the experimental solution. If you are sensitive to food dyes, be sure to read product ingredient lists before ordering them. All of the tablets we tested disintegrated completely by the end of the experiment. This is promising -- it means that it's very likely most, if not all, of Puritan’s Pride’s supplements will enter your bloodstream and absorb into your body properly. Pricing and discountsPuritan's Pride is well-known for running some outrageous deals on their products. "Buy one, get two free" deals on all vitamins and supplements as long as your purchase costs less than $1,000 total are common, as are sales for 50% off everything in the entire store. Looking at bottles of 100 pills, which is one of the more common sizes Puritan's Pride sells, the prices run between $4.69 and $117.99 depending on the type of supplement. However, a vast majority of products run between $5 and $20, no matter how many pills are in the bottle. If you're not in the market for a bulk order of vitamins, Puritan's Pride also offers trial sizes of twelve of their most popular vitamins. Each trial-sized bottle contains 30 caplets, capsules, gummies, or softgels. The price reflects the smaller size well, costing between $1.29 and $3.99 per bottle. Free shipping kicks in after you've spent at least $49.00 in the United States. If your shipment doesn't quite make that cutoff, base shipping starts at $3.95, which is relatively inexpensive compared to other vitamin suppliers. Customer care and supportReal human beings field concerns in three platforms: by phone, email, or live instant messaging. When one of our testers reached out to customer support by live chat, they were surprised to find that the window immediately opened into conversation with a representative. There were no hoops to jump through or a FAQ to click through before connecting with someone. We had a fix for a complicated error within ten minutes. The representative was able to give more information and explain the answer to the question easily. That said, the question stemmed from the lack of notice that a payment did not go through, despite Puritan's Pride's claims of notifying you at every step of the ordering and delivery process. While there are no hours listed for when customer service representatives staff live chat, you can call their customer support line between 8 AM and midnight ET every day of the week. You can also email their customer support email address and get a response within 24 to 48 hours. Live chat is the fastest and most effective way to get your question answered. How your items arriveDuring testing, the bottles for all of our pills arrived packaged in a branded cardboard box full of packing peanuts. Everything was easy to find and clearly assembled with care, though the bottles were in a bit of disarray after travel. Not only did our testers receive the bottles they ordered, but there were also two additional items included in the box: one flyer advertising an upcoming sale and a packet of coupons and partner advertisements. These partner advertisements were for:
This packet of ads is a clear indication of Puritan's Pride's anticipated customer, as opposed to a supplement shop like GNC that focuses more on athletes. But once again, compare the pricing of Puritan’s Pride supplements to their equivalents elsewhere -- you just might conclude it pays off to shop where your parents and grandparents are shopping. How Puritan's Pride stacks up to the alternativesGNCWhere Puritan's Pride focuses on healthy ingredients and low prices, the powerhouse that is GNC leverages its household name to sell mostly athletic products. Rather than sorting by science or supplement use, GNC has ten major categories of products. Seven of these are explicitly related to athletics; only two are specific to supplements. On the other hand, Puritan's Pride's "sports and diet supplement" section has 43 total products, including several of the same product at different dosages, and does not sell anything non-edible. GNC also has a considerably larger marketplace, selling even more products than Puritan's Pride's already comprehensive catalog. That said, Puritan's Pride is a much less expensive option for the same products. Shipping costs almost three times as much for a slower rate with GNC, at $9.99 for orders under $50 with three-to-five-day shipping. Nature MadeIf you walk into any pharmacy, the chances are high that they stock Nature Made vitamins. As another recent purchase of Nestlé, this brand has more in common with Puritan's Pride than not. Nature Made's website is more streamlined and user-friendly, and the brand has received certifications from virtually every organization that can approve a vitamin or supplement, including ConsumerLabs.com and the USP. On the other hand, Puritan's Pride has no organizational certifications but ensures that all products are manufactured in the USA. The biggest downside is that Nature Made sells more vitamins and supplements in gummy form. Gummy vitamins lose their potency quickly, meaning it's likely you're not getting the nutrients the bottle claims you are. While Puritan's Pride may not have the same thumbs-up as Nature Made, their products are more likely to work as advertised. MegaFoodThis vitamin supplier gets all of their ingredients from five farms in Vermont, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and California. Each farm has an "about" page, complete with the farmers' pictures and stories. The farm pages are the first way MegaFood differentiates their vitamin brand from the others: their dedication to small, local, and environmentally friendly work is front and center. MegaFood is a certified B Corporation with twelve certifications, though none are specifically about the quality of the supplements themselves. Of course, this comes at a price -- vitamins are several times more expensive than Puritan's Pride's catalog. One bottle of probiotics costs three times as much as Puritan's Pride's probiotics. MegaFood's reviews are sparse, but their website is clean and user-friendly. ThorneThorne is one of the best personalized vitamin programs. While there are too many personalized programs on the market to list, Thorne provides a combination of both supplements and at-home health tests. If you are just starting on your supplement journey and don't know where to start, Thorne offers you guidance and the tools you need to find your nutritional gaps at home. Tests vary from fertility to gut health and can be bundled with vitamins for nutritional packages. You can also take a referential vitamin quiz that asks questions about your health history and recommends supplements based on your habits and personal health goals. While Thorne's website rocks a minimalist aesthetic and is considerably easier to navigate than Puritan's Pride, a vast majority of their supplements are more expensive than Puritan's Pride's. Life ExtensionLife Extension has a slick, specific focus on the science of their supplements. This level of scientific detail can be a little overwhelming for many people, but luckily they have two resources that can help you parse through it: a free Wellness Specialist phone line and an Essentials quiz online. They also offer a wide range of products beyond just supplements, including fitness supplies, organic foods, and at-home testing for more than 200 concerns. Much like Puritan's Pride, their vitamin catalog can be difficult to parse through if you don't know what you're looking for, as scientific information and FAQs are scattered throughout every page. Of course, their products are more expensive, but it's nearly impossible to beat Puritan's Pride's prices. Is Puritan Pride a good brand for vitamins?Customer Reviews While opinions may vary, overall, Puritan's Pride has received positive reviews from customers. Many users have reported experiencing positive health benefits after taking their vitamins. Is Puritan's Pride Vitamin C FDA approved?The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises the public against the purchase and consumption of the following unregistered food supplements: PURITAN'S PRIDE PREMIUM B-Complex with Vitamin C. What are the benefits of Puritans Vitamin C?It also plays an important role in supporting immune function. Additional benefits of Vitamin C: supports heart and circulatory health, promotes iron absorption, supports healthy joints, and plays a role in collagen formation, which is beneficial for the health of skin, hair and nails. What company makes Puritan Pride vitamins?PURITAN'S PRIDE® - | Nestlé Health Science. |
