I am a huge skeptic of the supplement industry. Between the general lack of regulation allowing questionable products to slip through the cracks and the lack of transparency into ingredients, the industry doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in me as a consumer. Furthermore, the overwhelming amount of choice of vitamins has always made choosing the right supplements feel like a guessing game. So, afflicted with choice paralysis, I have completely avoided taking vitamins since they were in gummy bear form, despite understanding that vitamins serve essential functions for our bodies and that most Americans are not getting all the vitamins they need. However, after learning about the long-term effects of nutritional deficiencies, I decided to research two companies shaking up the vitamin scene: Ritual and Vitamin Shoppe.
Overview:
Ritual
Based out of West Hollywood, Ritual is a company reinventing the way women take their vitamins by removing the confusion and skepticism from the process and delivering vitamins on a subscription model to your door every month. The vegan, non-GMO, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free multivitamin is known not only for its visual appeal, but for its commitment to complete ingredient transparency: it only includes nine key nutrients that women tend to be deficient in (Vitamin K2, Vitamin D3, Vitamin B12, Boron, Iron, Magnesium, Vitamin E, Folate, and Omega-3) and excludes nutrients like Vitamin A and C, which women typically get enough of from their regular diets. Ritual takes it one step further by allowing consumers to see where exactly every ingredient comes from.
Vitamin Shoppe
Vitamin Shoppe is an American nutritional supplement retailer with both brick-and-mortar and online presence. In addition to their own brands, Vitamin Shoppe carries third party supplement lines, offering over 18,000 items from more than 400 name brands.
Customer Reviews:
Ritual
Pros:
- Simplicity: I love not having to curate my supplement intake and not thinking about keeping my supplement intake up to date. Ritual makes it so easy by giving me just two vitamins per day that have it all, and delivering my monthly bottle direct to door every month.
- “Clean” Factor/Quality Control: With the supplement industry, there is so much confusion and misdirection about the actual contents of your vitamin. With Ritual, I don’t have to think twice about this and can take my vitamins with confidence. There is even a science team that backs
- Consumption: Ritual actually flavors its vitamins with a light peppermint and made the pills as small as possible, so consumption is a breeze, unlike some other supplements that can be bulky and tough pills to swallow (no pun intended).
Cons:
- Women-only: Unfortunately, Ritual is only made for women, so you can’t share the experience with dad/brother/husband/boyfriend/other male figure in your life.
- Price: While Ritual claims that sourcing the ingredients independently to formulate the Ritual vitamin would run you upwards of $200, $30/month isn’t chump change.
Vitamin Shoppe
Pros:
- Selection: With over 18,000 items, Vitamin Shoppe is a one-stop-shop for every specific supplement need.
- Price: With variety of product comes variety in price: Vitamin Shoppe offers nutritional supplements at pretty much every price point possible, so you can stay healthy without hurting your wallet.
Cons:
- Transparency: When you purchase products here, whether it be the store brand or otherwise, you’re trusting that the label does everything it says it’s doing.
- Selection: There is so much to choose from here that unless you do a significant amount of research on your personal needs and each brand, it’s pretty tough to narrow down which supplement truly is best for you. You could of course ask the salespeople for recommendations at the brick-and-mortars, but it’s tough to be sure that they really know your personal needs/preferences.
Pricing:
Ritual
$30/mo with free shipping gets you two vitamins per day!
Vitamin Shoppe
It varies! Since Vitamin Shoppe is a store and not a subscription service, you can choose from a wide variety of multivitamins offered by Vitamin Shoppe. There are some multivitamins that are $5.99 for 100 softgels, and others that are $40 for 60 pills.
Conclusion:
Ritual takes the cake here for taking the complexity and questionability out of nutrient supplements. While it is more expensive, I’m willing to pay a small premium to ensure I only get the absolute best for my body (from both a nutrient and quality standpoint), and to get the vitamins personally delivered to my door. It takes the thinking out of both choosing the right supplement and trekking to the store and going through the whole process again every time you run out.