GNC Live Well (Chermside Shopping Centre, QLD)
Modern food production employs many dubious practices that put a question mark on the nutritional quality of our food. For those who think that a balanced diet would be sufficient to nourish our bodies may be in for a big and unpleasant surprise. Over farming of land has leeched valuable nutrients out of our soil while the use of genetically modified and/or chemical techniques have seriously compromised the nutritional value of food. That is why multi-vitamins are critical for a long and healthy life these days.
However, not all vitamins are made equal. Today Tonight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ow2Bc_yPRM) even launched a story about the very subject and provided a comprehensive list of multi-vitamins, together with each of their scores compared against an “ideal multi-vitamin” that was put together by a team of Canadian scientific researchers.
After the story was broadcast, I was seriously re-considering my vitamin intake and started to hunt down the highest rated multi-vitamins based on the Today Tonight list. To my disappointment, I found out that those multi-vitamins sitting on top of the list, including Usana, cost an arm and a leg, not to mention they were not freely available at the shops. Then I found GNC’s multi-vitamins, which were listed in the mid-range on the list. To put things into context, the top range of vitamins scored somewhere between 40% to 70% (most around the 45% mark) while the bottom range came in under 10% (most commercially available products came under the 5% range). GNC came in at about 30%.
Thinking that GNC was a good compromise from a cost benefit perspective, I went to GNC at the Chermside Shopping Centre to buy my vitamins. I was greeted by a friendly shop assistant named Ben, who was both chatty and informative. He was very personable and was able to give me information I needed off the top of his head. For instance, I picked up the triple strength GNC omega 3 fish oil and wanted to know if I could get away with taking one pill per day, rather than the four Blackmores pills I was currently taking; without hesitation, he advised me that the maximum intake for omega 3 fish oil was 2,000 mg per day but we only needed about 1,000 mg per day for day to day maintenance; therefore, given that the triple strength GNC fish oil provided about 1,400 mg per pill, I would only need to take one per day. I was most impressed with his knowledge and non-pushy sales approach. Needless to say, I bought a whole bunch of stuff off him.
Yes, GNC products do cost more than the common brands one can buy from the supermarkets and chemists but they seem to be better in quality. They also offer a GNC club membership, which I think cost around $15 per year. Once you are a member, you can take adavantage of a variety of deals. For instance, you could sometimes buy 1 GNC product and get another GNC product at 50% off. My membership has already paid for itself and I still have another 10 months to take advantage of the deals.
All in all, I am very happy with the GNC products and if you want good customer service, go to GNC Chermside.
Quick info…
Rating: 8/10
Website: www.gnclivewell.com.au