DEAR DR. GOTT: Would you please comment on the supposed super vitamins manufactured by a company named USANA Corporation that is listed on the stock exchange? Are they efficacious and worth the exorbitant prices that they charge for their products?
DEAR READER: The USANA Corporation is based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. The company makes nutritional, weight management, and personal skin products, selling through a sales network marketing system of more than 140,000 independent distributors similar to Amway, Avon and other companies. USANA also produces skin and hair care products under a different brand name. I am unfamiliar with their “exorbitant” prices for the merchandise they manufacture, but am advised the company reported sales of almost $375,000,000 dollars in 2006.
I presume part of the expense of their product line is that they might deliver to your front door through a distributor. Consider that a product is manufactured, packaged, shipped to a sales person, and ultimately delivered to your home through a distributor. That’s a lot of middle men getting a piece of the financial pie. With clever advertising, attractive packaging and promises of a better product, any company can feel justified in charging what the market will allow.
Are the products better? I don’t know but I suggest you review the ingredient panel of one of the vitamins you have already purchased from USANA. Then visit your local chain pharmacy or department store to compare ingredients. Are they the same except for the dramatic differential in price? After all, aspirin is aspirin, and many vitamins are — you guessed it — vitamins. You can purchase a well-known brand name or a generic store brand. You’re still getting aspirin or vitamins that give similar results. The decision is up to you. If you are willing, experiment with vitamins containing the same ingredients that cost substantially less and still provide good results. You will be ahead of the game financially. If, on the other hand, you feel you have to spend more to get better results, then stick with a more costly brand.
To give you related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Vitamins and Minerals”. Other readers who would like a copy should send a self-addressed, stamped, number 10 envelope and $2 to Newsletter, PO Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title.
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