Since the lockdown years, many of us have taken a more granular look at our health - one that goes beyond just diet and exercise.
I am self-confessed supplement fiend. I have one for my hair, skin and nails, another for immunity, collagen in the hope of preserving my complexion wrinkle-free for the next 50 years and I may throw in an occasional sleep-promoting supp to encourage a sound slumber or a reviving iteration to boost my energy levels if I’m feeling sluggish.
Is this overkill? Perhaps. But I’m not alone. According to a 2021 survey by the Health Food Manufacturers’ Association, 20 million people in the UK take daily supplements, while Mintel reported that in 2022, 38 per cent of Brits take vitamins, minerals or supplements each day. While I don’t believe I’m consistent enough with my usage to warrant serious health concerns like hypervitaminosis, nutritionists are split on whether these pills are actually making any difference at all.
The problem is that every person has varying needs, requiring tweaked supplement cocktails to work for them. Could there be a way to get the nutrients, minerals and vitamins your body needs - without swallowing 20 capsules every morning? Well, consider personalised supplements.
These are tailor-made dietary add-ons to address your concerns and goals specifically. The first step is filling out some rather extensive questionnaires, so the brands can get to work creating customised supplement plans, or, in the case of Nourished, 3D print a dietary add-on based on your answers. Part of the appeal is that everything you need is streamlined into a single capsule, delivered in easy-to-swallow pills or chewable gummies.
When testing out the services below, many of the questions on the form feel superfluous. Recommendations are based on what you’re most concerned about - be it breakouts, ageing skin, overall health, energy depletion, or weight loss, before serving up a concoction of ingredients to suit. On one hand, who knows you better than you know yourself? On the other, what if these are symptoms of a different issue altogether?
Behind each brand is an army of experts who have overseen the supplement suggestions but, as with all things health-related, it’s worth running these by a registered dietician, your GP or a healthcare professional to ensure they are best suited to your health needs - especially if you’re taking other medication. And don’t forget that supplements aren’t a magic pill: you might be able to get the same nutrients simply by adjusting your diet.
If you’re someone who struggles to get the right level of nutrients from food alone - say if you’re vegan and low on vitamin B12 - then supplements are an easy way to counteract deficiencies, and these personalised supplement brands will give you a steer on what you may need.
It’s interesting to see the breakdown of the ingredients and see what each can do, even if you don’t fully commit to purchasing. There are so many different supplements on the market that it can be tough to know where to start, these services may be the solution. The results are educational, informative reads.
See the personalised supplement brands to know to help you get started below.
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Nourished personalised vitamin stack subscription
All-in-one multivitamins are so last century. These personalised vitamin stacks are the latest, hi-tech way to get all the nutrients you need, without needlessly gulping down the ones you don’t. If you’re looking for one tablet to suit all ills, these 3D-printed stacks won’t fit the bill but they are perfect if you want a supplement designed for your unique needs, according to your diet, deficiencies and individual goals.
Before ordering, you fill in an easy quiz to work out exactly what will be in your stack. This covers how well you’re sleeping, how much exercise you do, how often you travel abroad, whether you wear glasses and if you suffer from a range of complaints including depression, IBS and low libido. You’ll also select your top two priorities, whether that’s to lose weight, manage stress better or delay ageing. A box of personalised vitamin stacks arrives in the post soon after and will be delivered every 28 days if you take out a subscription.
Each one is vegan and sugar-free and includes a combination of seven nutrients, selected to best suit your needs. Ours included the unusual Scutell-Up to help relieve stress and regulate sleep, vegan Vitamin D3 to boost natural immunity and support muscle function and Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) to increase energy levels.
The chewy strawberry-flavoured gummy was a delight to eat too so we actually looked forward to taking it every day and really did feel noticeably calmer and less tired almost immediately. We’d take them year-round if we could afford it.
Buy now £35.99, Nourished
Vitl Personalised vitamins
After an emoji-filled, thorough consultation complete with questions related to your basic information (age, sex, dietary requirements, allergies), areas you’re looking to improve - from sleep to immunity via energy and digestion and your diet, energy, stress, sleep and the likes, Vitl serves up a selection of four supplements based on your answers.
The in-house nutritionists have created a product line-up to match your goals and support general well-being and the results are instantaneous. The four-strong selection is targeted to ease different concerns with either a combination of nutrients or spotlighting one specific ingredient.
For example, I was recommended CoQ10 - an antioxidant-rich ingredient that not only protects cells from damage but also plays a crucial role in energy production. To go alongside this, Rejuvenate, a combination of 12 nutrients including B vitamins, magnesium and Korean Ginseng was selected to support and double down on the boost of energy to counteract my fatigue.
Vitl has earned five-star reviews for providing dietary add-ons free from nasties and bulking agents. The composition is stripped back to just the essentials but in such a way as to ensure absorption. That being said, if you’re looking for a more minimal approach to your supplement taking, the brand offers one single daily multivitamin that you can select based on your needs. You can also take it to the next level with one of the brand’s DNA tests to integrate the results for even more tailored choices.
Price is for a 28-day pack, which works on a subscription basis so you’re never without your vitamins.
Buy now £39.95, Vitl
Boots
Far more than just a place to add the latest beauty must-haves to your basket, Boots offers a way to get a health consultation and find the supplements to match on its website.
Through the extensive questionnaire, it determines your goals and then suggests the supplements from its own range to suit. It’s an informative process where there are bios for each of the vitamins that it recommends detailing its contents and what it does and then it’s up to your whether you want to then follow through with the purchase of any or all of the suggestions.
I input that skin, energy and digestion were my main well-being concerns and was served up the Skin, Hair & Nails complete with 14 vitamins and minerals of the zinc, copper, vitamin B2 and selenium variety alongside Omega 3 Fish Oil for brain function, healthy vision and healthy heart function, vitamin D for normal bone function to counteract for the lack of sunlight here in the UK and vitamin C for an immunity boost.
Buy now, Boots
Alyve All-In-One Personalised Vitamins
Cutting through the noise of the supplement market, Alyve was created to save you money and prioritise your individual health with its personalised supplements. The brand is looking to take the guesswork out of nutrition uncertainty by packing one pill with everything that you need to suit your goals.
Much like many of the other personalised vitamin labels on this list, the process commences with a consultation. Through this get-to-know-you game, the brand uses AI to match you with your very own unique formula with ingredients to counteract fatigue, give you healthy bones, work alongside your weight loss goals, and boost energy, mood and brain power.
Before supplying you with your solution, the combinations have been put through their paces by an array of doctors, nutritionists, dieticians and personal trainers, tested and trialled for their effectiveness. The ingredients are hand-selected to be both bioavailable, premium and potent and free from any fillers - all while remaining affordable.
The beauty of this label is that you only need to take just the one supplement and it has the likes of iron, vitamin D, vitamin B, tumeric and biotin combined together so you can push that pillbox aside once and for all.
Buy now £25.00, Alyve
Vitamin Buddy
If you’re still on the fence about the effectiveness of supplements, Vitamin Buddy is the brand you need to know. The brand gives you the ultimate try-before-you-buy experience by offering 30 days of your personalised dietary add-ons for free.
It’s a flexible subscription service model so you can control the frequency of your deliveries but also ensure that you’re never without the vitamins that will match your health and lifestyle concerns. All the ingredients are vegan, made in the UK and are gluten-free.
The process begins with, you guessed it, a quiz that determines your tailored vitamin plan but it’s one of the more minimal fact-finding missions with just 16 questions to determine the results. The supplement selected is done so in partnership with Feel, a brand specialising in clean and research-led supplements that are composed of only the highest quality, proprietary ingredients.
Buy now £19.95, Vitamin Buddy
Everly Personalised vitamins
With Everly, you can be sure that you are doubling down on the vitamins and nutrients that your body needs by taking a smart approach to your supplement intake habits. It begins with a consultation that yields results that allow you to take an educated pick ‘n’ mix approach to select the supportive components that you’re missing in your diet.
When your supplements arrive through the door, it comes packaged up as 28 individual sachets - one per day - so there’s no guesswork involved. The ingredients are gluten and lactose-free and remove fillers, preservatives or components that are hard to digest from the equation. Instead, these are easy to swallow and most importantly of all, shouldn’t upset your stomach as you get all the ingredients that your body needs.
Buy now £13.14, Everly
