The best way to ensure that you are buying a high quality product is to know what to look for and to read the labels. Health food stores/vitamin & supplement stores usually carry several different brands of Deer Antler Velvet extract. First and foremost, liquid DAV formulas are best. If your local health food store doesn’t carry DAV in a liquid form, then you may want to purchase your DAV from another store or online.
Liquid formulas of Deer Antler Velvet are the only type of formula that have a high absorption rate. Many supplement companies choose to sell their DAV formula in capsule form. While it may be more convenient to take, capsule formulas are much less potent than liquids and would need to be in much higher doses to be anywhere near as effective as liquid DAV. The absorption rate of liquid is much greater than capsules as well. The concentrated liquid formula will give you far better results than any capsule ever could.
Many Deer Antler Velvet extract manufacturers do sell their formulas in liquid forms, but the methods they use to house these liquids diminish the quality and potency of the product. Most forms of liquid Deer Antler Velvet are sold in plastic spray bottles. Buying this particular type of supplement liquid in a spray is never a good idea. DAV is made up of many nutrients, some of which are growth factors. Growth factors are specially bound amino acids that need to be protected from light and heat. They can also “bind” to the plastic bottle and tubing connected to the sprayer, making them stay right inside the bottle instead of helping you achieve those amazing health benefits you want.
You absolutely can buy DAV products at health food stores, but you should only buy them if they are sold in dark-colored glass bottles and after you read the ingredient label. Some liquid formulas use chemical preservatives to extend their shelf life. These preservatives can reduce or even eliminate most of the nutrients in the Deer Antler Velvet extract. Try to find a liquid formula that uses alcohol to preserve their DAV. It extends the product’s shelf life and enhances the formula to be even more potent over time!
The list of ingredients on the label of the DAV you choose to buy should be easily understood. No chemicals, no words you can barely pronounce. If the label has an ingredient list that’s too small to read or filled with names of preservatives you’ve never heard of before, keep shopping.
Most preservatives aren’t necessarily bad ingredients, neither are most of the flavor enhancers or fillers. While they won’t hurt you, they won’t help you either Not all brands sold at health food stores are the same quality. With a superfood like Deer Antler
Velvet, purity and strength are important. A lot of brands claim to have high ratios of Deer Antler Velvet in their formulas. Very high. Unfortunately, this cannot be true. With all of the other ingredients (citric acid, xylitol, potassium sorbate, water, flavorings) it would be impossible to fit that amount of real DAV extract in the bottle.
Another point to make is that unlike prescription medications, supplements are not regulated by the FDA and some brands have taken advantage of that fact and overblown the claims on their product.
The Deer Antler Velvet products that are manufactured in large quantities, use chemicals to preserve the formula and cost less than a fairly good meal for two at a restaurant; will not be potent enough to give you the results you want to see.
Quality Deer Antler Velvet extract that is made in smaller batches and tests quality and purity from every batch, made from a brand that farm their own deer (so quality control over raw materials is never an issue) and is dark brown in color- like hot chocolate. Most brands that are mass marketed to the public and sold in stores are light amber/golden or even clear. Real Deer Antler Velvet is opaque and is much thicker in consistency. The products that are clear or amber/golden in color and look somewhat like apple juice or iced tea; are diluted, watered-down and filtered. That not only thins the formula, it changes the actual amount and strength of the Deer Antler Velvet potency.
If the DAV is diluted and filtered to the point that the main ingredient (DAV) isn’t even the same color anymore, how effective is the strength? How can you expect to see the health benefits that have been clinically tested and proven at full strength, if you only wind up with trace amounts of Deer Antler Velvet? The answer is you won’t.
Since the FDA doesn’t regulate most supplements, there really are no boundaries to what some manufacturers can claim. Unfortunately, it’s a buyer beware market. That’s why my goal here is to educate everyone about what to look for (the good and the bad) when purchasing Deer Antler Velvet extract.
Health food stores are great for vitamins, herbal supplements and other natural or organic products. If you want to purchase high quality Deer Antler Velvet at one of these stores, just remember what to look for:
- Liquid formulas only
- No capsules or spray formulas
- Liquids in dark-colored glass bottles with droppers
- Ingredients you can pronounce and preferably preserved in alcohol
Knowing what to look for when buying DAV extract in a health food store can make all the difference between buying a bottle of high quality Deer Antler Velvet or purchasing a bottle of low quality disappointment.