Secret Product Obsession! DHC Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements!

I don’t actually have the discipline of a hardened vitamin taker – my Nan won’t leave the house with out her cod liver oil capsules – but I can’t stop myself from trying new supplements all the time.

I used to give up on them very quickly because I get headaches and itchy skin very quickly if something doesn’t suit me.  When I get odd symptoms, I stop taking it, end of.

One brand of supplements I do react very well to is that of Japanese brand DHC.  They make a huge – and I mean HUGE selection of supplements and vitamins. Quite often the supplements are quite common ones you will have heard of before (ie. St John’s Wort) and some are more unusual (ie. Placenta, Egg Yolk and Garlic, Caterpillar Fungus)  but I seriously never have issues with DHC plus their capsules are always small and easy to take.

I thought I’d show you the DHC tablets I have taken before and my opinion on them!

Bear in mind, I don’t take any tablet religiously, I tend to take ones as I feel I need them (ie. I take the Chitosan one – which is for when you eat fatty food) when I have a fatty meal, I don’t take it every day because I don’t eat fatty food every day).

* With the ingredients list, other things will be present such as binding agents. I am just listing the key ingredients.

To relax – DHC Relax Supplement:

This tablet dosage is 2 a day.

It contains Vitamin E, Lecithin and Theanine.  The tables are small yellow coloured ones in a gelatin form.

I bought these because I am stressed quite a lot, and find it hard to sleep. I really adore these tablets – I take these when I know I am going to be stressed or have a busy day and I sleep very well if I take one before bedtime.

Apparently Theanine is also found in green tea (which I like and drink) although I don’t find it quite as calming as one of these! Very recommended.

Score: 5/5

If you are smelly – DHC Bulgarian Rose Supplement

This tablet dosage is 2 per day.

It contains Rose Oil.

I thought this supplement was such a wacky idea! it’s rose oil and it’s supposed to make your body odour (and let’s face it, we sweat from all kinds of places, not just the arm pits) smell likes roses.

If you keep this up, it does work! You start to smell quite…floral. It takes the edge of smelly BO although, you will probably still use deodorant but it makes your sweat all over, smell sweeter.

Apparently 1 packet of 30 days worth of supply (60 tablets) contains the extract of over 600 flowers!

As I said the only thing with this one is you have to keep it up. Also if you have a very mucky diet then you are going to stink anyway.

Score: 4/5

Multi Vitamin or the fruit deprived – DHC Mix Fruit Supplement:

This tablet dosage is 4 per day.

It contains fruit juice powder from every fruit you can think of…well, apple, oranges, peach, pears, cherry and more!

This small, round, hard tablet smells like a fruit bowl and is remarkably like a sweet! It’s quite tasty really, although I found eating 4 a day a bit much.  I didn’t notice any special effects from this but I guess if you don’t have much fruit this could be a good one to take

Score: 3/5.

For carb lovers – DHC Carb Blocker Fabinol Supplement:

This tablet dosage is 2 per day.

It contains White Bean Extract.

As a carb lover so this supplement really appealed to me. I only have this pre carb meals like chips or rice or potatoes, otherwise I don’t take them just because i can.

This is supposed to help absorb some of the carbs – I don’t know if it works for sure but it definitely changes the appearance of…erm….stools.  I think this does work, I feel less bloated too after taking it. The only this is this tablet is the worst tasting of all of them – it has the white bean smell and whilst it’s not horrific, it’s just not nice.

Score: 4/5

For robots – DHC Multi Mineral Supplement:

This tablet dosage is 3 per day.

It contains Iron, Zinc, Copper, Magnesium, Chrome, Selenium, Manganese, Calcium etc.

Whenever I have something wrong with me, some nut nut will say “Oh it’s because you don’t take enough Iron”.  Because of this, I bought these multi mineral tablets because it sure has EVERY kind of mineral imaginable.

However – big fat however – I found these so hard to take because they smell like grated metal – serious! If you can imagine licking a unpainted car door, this is what it tastes like. I know you can just swallow it quickly but I’m weird, I like to taste what I’m putting into my body.

I gave these to Mr C. Note you should not overdose on these, and it’s not for kids either.

Verdict: 2/5.

For fans of KFC – DHC Fat Blocker Chitosan Supplements

This tablet dosage is 3 per day.

It contains extract of Chitosan, Ginseng and Rice Germ.

This is another one of those tablets I take after a fatty meal but I don’t take it religiously because I don’t always eat fatty meals! I find this works well as a blocker..I think it works for digestion too, to keep things…flowing….

It makes your stools…oily…oh dear. It reminds me of that Alli stuff but at a human scale, I mean there’s no awful orange oil coming out of your bottom, it’s just heavier stools no doubt because the chitosan is sucking up the fat. I like this!

Score: 4.5/5

For dieters – DHC Diet Power Supplement

This tablet dosage is 3 per day.  Take before meals.

It contains forskolin, white bean extract, bitter melon extract l-carnitin and more.

This Diet Power Supplement was a bestseller in Japan so that’s why I bought it as it’s one of the dearer ones (on average they cost about £8-£9, this was about £17).

The Diet Power is supposed to contain a number of ingredients that aid fat burning.  Apparently taken before dinner, it helps burn off excess fat. I think this does help with digestion, I haven’t noticed amazing weight loss though – perhaps it’s helped me not gain any weight though.

Also unlike most diet pills, it doesn’t bloat me or play havoc with my stomach or just basically work as a laxative.  Also it’s TINY – really easy to swallow.

Verdict: 3.5/5 – I think it works but it’s no miracle

For immunity and rabbits – DHC Multi Carotene Supplements:

This tablet dosage is 1 per day.

It contains Lutein, Beta Carotene, Lycopene, A-Cartoenet and more…

I bought this because I wanted something for my eyesight because when I heard ‘carotene’ I thought of carrots and carrots are great for rabbits….

Anyway – apparently this muli-carotene tablets are good for times when you are run down or have low immunity. It also helps with blood circulation!

I thought this was a decent supplement – although I didn’t really feel any more energized or anything during the period I took it. Bear in mind everyone will react differently to supplements. I think my skin looked better when I took this but I didn’t feel any great boost if I’m honest in how run down I was feeling.

Verdict: 2/5

For general nerve goodness: DHC Vitamin B Mix Supplement:

This tablet dosage is 1 OR 2 per day.

It contains Niacin, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, B1, B2, B6, Inositol Pantothenic Acid and more…

I am currently taking this one – I bought these because when I went vegan I read that without meat in the diet I needed to make up by B vitamins. Mr C’s mum then told me how she takes this ‘for her nerves’ as in actual nerves, no shaking in fear nerves and a few people have recommended B vits to me.

NOTE: On mine it says 2 tablets per day. On some other packaging it says ONE a day – you can calculate this by how many tablets you get in the packet, ie. mine is for 30 days and I have 60 tablets.  If yours has 30 tablets it is definitely 1 per day.

I like this supplement, I don’t know if it’s ‘doing anything’ as such, but I feel sort of more energised but also calm at the same time.

Score: 4/5 – why not?!

For eyes – DHC Blueberry Extract Supplements

This tablet dosage is 2 per day.

It contains Blueberry Extract Powder, Carotenoids, Free Lutien, VItamin B1, B2, B6, B12 etc..

This stuff is good for the eyesight, or if you spend a lot of time in front of the computer. I must admit I didn’t take this for long enough as I gifted it to a friend but for the week I took it I guess my eyes did feel a little less achy, but I don’t know if this is in the mind…

I like the idea of something to help with eyesight – I put so much strain on mine, I’d buy these again to try them.

For general wellbeing! – DHC Q10

This tablet dosage is 2 per day.  One in the day and one at night.

It contains Q10 and Vitamin E.

I bought these as a general health supplement – this is supposed to be energy boostings.  Q10 is also in lots of skincare, I think it’s supposed to be anti-aging.

I haven’t started taking these yet (I want to take these daily once I start!) but will report back.  The tablets look quite small and easy to swallow – these are supposed to be quite popular in Japan so I’d be interested to try it and see if it works.

Verdict:

I really like DHC supplements! I’ve tried ones from FANCL before and they don’t agree with me.  I find DHC supplements easy to swallow and generally quite effective too.  I don’t know why, I don’t find regular supplements from say, Superdrug as effective and also the capsules on the high street are horse sized sometimes.

I buy my supplements from eBay and prices vary from £6-£18 for the more expensive ones. Note, most are sold in 30 day supply and come in a foil packet which is re-sealable which cats just LOVE to chew, so beware!

Do you take any supplements? If so, which ones?