The 3-second check shows you what’s rotten.
This shows you the opposite: how to recognise a manufacturer with nothing to hide.
Five questions. Each under a minute. On every tub. In every shop. Without me.
01 · Does it say the form? Or just the substance?
"Magnesium" is not a specification. Magnesium citrate is.
"Vitamin B12" is not a specification. Methylcobalamin is.
Whoever names the form chose it deliberately and wants you to see it. Whoever leaves it out has made a decision too. Just one they’d rather not talk about.
02 · How much per day? And how many capsules is that?
"High-dose" is not a number. A number is a number.
Look for the daily serving and, next to it, how many capsules it’s made up of. Sometimes it’s four. Then you’re not holding a month’s supply, you’re holding one for seven and a half days. And the price you just compared was the wrong one.
03 · Can you find who’s behind it in two minutes?
Company name. Location. Commercial register number. It’s in the legal notice (Impressum) and you can look it up for free in the commercial register (Handelsregister).
Whoever makes something has an address. If after two minutes you’ve found only a brand and no company, you have your answer.
04 · Who owns the brand?
One search: brand name plus "acquired" or "stake".
A corporation isn’t automatically evil. But when the purchase price goes up, somebody decides on the formula. In an owner-run company, that person sits in the same building. In a corporation, they sit in a spreadsheet.
05 · What does a day cost?
Not the tub. The day.
Price divided by the number of daily servings. Suddenly two tubs become comparable that weren’t before. And the twelve-euro pot from the drugstore is sometimes more expensive than the one you thought was expensive.
What you don’t need for this
Seals. Ask of every one: Who awards it, and who pays for the testing? It’s usually on the seal’s own website. Then you know what it tells you. And what it doesn’t.
"Pharmacy quality". Not legally defined. Allowed on any tub.
Discount codes. They tell you something about a contract between two people. About what’s in the tub, they tell you nothing.
Star ratings. Most of them rate the delivery. Hardly any rate the formula. Nobody saw that before they clicked.
That’s all.
With these five questions in your head, you don’t need a list. Not from me. Not from anyone.
You turn it over. You look. You decide.
That’s exactly what this whole site is about.