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Even if you always do your best to eat a well-rounded diet filled with lots of fruits and vegetables, you likely still have some gaps in your nutrition. Certain vitamins and minerals, like vitamin D and vitamin B2, can be very difficult to get from food alone. This is where taking supplements can come in handy.
Vitamins are especially important if you spend any length of time working out or competing in sports. When you exercise, your body loses important nutrients like vitamin C, zinc, magnesium, and iron. So it’s crucial that you get the daily recommendation of vitamins and minerals in order to maximize both your performance and your results.
And when you imagine buying vitamins and supplements, you probably think of multivitamins, similar to what you might find at Target or Walmart. Unfortunately, the formula for developing a good multivitamin is an imperfect science. How do you narrow down the types of nutrients everyone needs?
The Problem With Multivitamins
When it comes to vitamins, you can definitely have too much of a good thing. Specifically, excessive levels of iron can be toxic and the absorption of too much vitamin A can cause nausea, blurred vision, dizziness, and even liver damage.
So when you go to the store and buy a multivitamin, you may be ingesting vitamins your body doesn’t really need. And most synthetic multivitamins are full of dyes and fillers.
Of course, the best option would be to work one-on-one with a nutritionist who could assess your nutrition, lifestyle, and health history and make recommendations based off of your specific needs. But that’s simply not feasible for most people.
However, there is another solution; there are a number of companies that offer a custom vitamin pack that actually offer more health benefits than what you’re going to find at the store. For one thing, custom vitamins tend to be of a much higher quality than multivitamins.
And a personalized vitamin regimen allows you to specify what kinds of nutrients you need based on age, lifestyle, and medical history. So the result is an individualized plan just for you. So instead of purchasing a generic, one-size-fits-all vitamin you only you get the nutrients your body actually needs.
The 5 Best Custom Vitamin Companies
But now there are a number of companies trying to sell custom vitamin packs so how do you know what the best option is? After all, if you take a quick look at any popular exercise website you’ll probably find hundreds of nutrition brands. And most of these will offer multivitamins in a variety of pill, capsule, powdered, gummy, or chewable forms.
But the majority of these companies will likely go out of business, like Vitamin World, which filed for bankruptcy in September 2017, closing over 50 locations. And there are many other personalized vitamin companies that no longer exist for one reason or another.
So to help you get started, we’ve narrowed down our list of the five best vitamin companies for you to choose from. It’s time to stop being ‘generic’ and time to go for a personalized vitamin solution.
Here is our list of the top 5 personalized vitamin packs:
Persona Nutrition (Vitamin Packs)
Why we like PersonaNutrition.com
- Their easy assessment considers your health & wellness, lifestyle, and prescription medications.
- You get personalized, doctor-approved vitamin recommendations.
- You have support from credentialed nutritionists available via email, chat, or phone
- Prescription medications are cross-checked against a database of over 850 medications to ensure there are no adverse drug-nutrient interactions.
- Convenient packets are delivered to your door and cost 30% less than other premium brands in bottles.
- Their vitamins come in pre-sorted time-coded daily packs. So supplements for sleep are in night packs and energy in day packs.
- Their Persona supplements are made from high-quality easily absorbable ingredients and meet cGMP guidelines.
COUPON: Get 50% off your first order when you use this link! Read full review
Baze
Why we love Baze’s approach:
- It’s no-nonsense. No more guesswork, trial and error, and wasted money on unnecessary pills.
- A painless blood test developed by scientists at MIT shows what nutrients you truly need.
- Your test results, actionable insights, and supplement recommendations are compiled into an easy-to-read report made just for you.
- You get 1:1 support from Baze’s Registered Dietitians.
- Their supplements are made in the USA and tested according to the FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices meaning they’re highly effective and safe.
- Vegan options are available and all supplements are free from GMOs, gluten, lactose, and artificial dyes.
Rootine Vitamins
Why Rootine?
Most custom vitamin brands decide what you need based solely on lifestyle data. Rootine creates a complete picture of your unique nutrient requirements and is the only company to include DNA, blood data, and lifestyle factors when creating your vitamins.
To get started with Rootine:
- Take the 5-minute quiz
- Take Rootine’s at-home DNA test or upload results (e.g. 23andMe)
- Upload blood data from your annual physical (optional)
You'll learn in-depth information about your body and what nutrients you truly need. Rootine produces your custom vitamin packs with microbead technology to reflect your precise vitamin and mineral blend. Rootine microbeads are engineered to maximize nutrient absorption using slow-release technology to mimic the digestion of food.
Read full reviewRitual
In keeping with their theme of simplicity, Ritual only sells one product, and it’s all you need. Their Essential for Women has been made to fill the gaps in your diet with 9 essential nutrients including Folate, Omega-3, Vitamin K2, and Iron, all in forms your body can actually absorb. They’ve left out all the ingredients you don’t need, and their formula is vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, and free of dyes and fillers.
There are no hidden fees or surprises with Ritual. Subscribers will receive a 30-day supply of their Essential for Women, shipped right to their door each month for $30. Shipping is always free, and you can pause or cancel anytime.Read full review
Care/of
When you’re getting started with Care/Of, you’ll fill out a health assessment first. Then the company makes recommendations for nutrients you might need based on your age, where you live, and any health issues you are dealing with. And in your assessment, Care/Of breaks explains each supplement further and describes why it would be beneficial for you to take it.
You can pick your own vitamins and change them each month as needed. Care/Of is unique in that they don’t charge a flat monthly fee. Instead, you pay per supplement, with each supplement ranging from anywhere between $5-$25. And Care/Of will provide free shipping if you spend more than $20.Read full review
Why Do You Need Personalized Vitamins?
Many people who consider themselves to be health-conscious are pretty rigid about reading the list of ingredients. After all, the best way to know whether a portion of food or drink is healthy for you or not is by reading the list of ingredients.
Ironically, most people never look at the ingredient list on their daily multivitamin. Most people simply buy what’s on sale and assume that it’s good enough. Which means you could be buying vitamins that are either giving you too many nutrients or you could be buying low-quality synthetic vitamins.
Either way, there is a better option when it comes to supplementing your diet. By choosing a custom vitamin pack you can ensure that the vitamins you take every day are giving you the personalized nutrition you need. Many people are amazed at the difference in both their energy level and mood after just a few weeks on custom vitamin packs.
Great write-up! I was comparing Vitamin Packs & Care/of, decided to give Vitamin Packs a try. SO excited to try it out.
There’s definitely something to say about taking custom vitamins versus multi-vitamins. We’ve been with Vitamin Packs for a few months now and my recent blood work looks better than ever before.
Other websites comparing the top vitamin packs had some questionable companies listed. Kudos to you for the research. All these companies are definitely legit.
I love that custom vitamins are a thing now! I used to travel with this giant carrying case of pills, now, can’t even contain my excitement. Simple things, am I right?
When I took multivitamin it contains low nutritional ingredients.
As far as I know, to take multi one with optimal dose… will be as big as an egg.
That’s why one reason for custom pack needs.
I’m on month 2 of Persona Nutrition. They rock and the vitamin packs are super easy to travel with.
Rootine, what a unique take on the vitamin packs concept! Got approved for the beta, excited!
The Rootine concept is really cool! I’ve seen a bunch of the lifestyle quiz companies but nothing quite like their DNA + blood + lifestyle approach.
Great vitamin recommendations! It’s important to remember that proper nutrition is most important, then supplementation from the vitamins can assist in living awesome.
While the idea of personalization sounds amazing, how can it be justified that a truly personal solution can be offered at these price points?
Hi Phyllis,
I totally understand your point of view and agree wholeheartedly. Many of these custom vitamin solutions allow you (might require you) to submit blood work, so you’re not ingesting more nutrients than required, which has the potential to be harmful.
The two companies that come to mind are Baze & Rootine, that work directly with your blood work.