Seeking Health has over 100 different nutritional supplement formulas. Are you wondering what formulas are best for you, and how to know?
Our goal here is to provide as much education as possible for you to make the best choice for yourself and your family. We also value transparency so that you know exactly what you are taking and why.
Dr. Ben Lynch, the founder of Seeking Health, has created many different types of supplements and names them strategically to help you understand your many options at a glance. Dr. Lynch is well-known for his ability to formulate supplements based on customers’ needs. He is genuinely passionate about customer sensitivities, requests, and desires when it comes to nutritional supplementation.
If you’ve shopped our online store at Seeking Health, you might be wondering whether to choose a “Plus” version or the regular version of Optimal Glutathione? Why are some products called “Methyl-Free (MF)”? Ever wondered what the “X means in our product names, such as “HomocysteX Plus”?
We’ll answer all of these questions and more in this article.
Keep in mind that choosing a supplement requires you to understand your own health and needs and even seek medical advice from a health professional to learn how to use supplements correctly and safely. Always consult with your qualified healthcare practitioner.
Want to jump to a specific section of this blog to learn about a specific supplement? Click the links in the Table of Contents below!
Introduction
Giving a supplement an informative name is important because not all consumers read labels. Part of that is miseducation — we are never taught how to read supplements facts, and many ingredients are confusing chemistry jargon. Most people rely on marketing (such as the product sales page) and the product’s name to choose a supplement.
Dietary supplements are not an easy thing to name. Often, the chemical names are unrecognizable, and names regarding purpose and functionality are restricted by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.
However, small artistic steps of adding letters, acronyms, and words in product names help people understand what it’s intended for and if the product is right for them.
And because here at Seeking Health, we are about radical transparency with our customers, we wanted to share our naming standards to help you find the best products for you.
Below I’ve shared examples of the different names you’ll see on our Seeking Health supplements. We name our supplements strategically, so you can understand at a glance what the product is intended for. Below you’ll see our different categories of product names, such as “Optimal,” “Active,” “Intensive,” “X,” “One,” “Essentials,” and more. I’ve listed examples of products that fall under each category, but please note, these product lists are not all-inclusive. Let’s begin with our signature “Optimal” products.
The word “Optimal” has become a part of Seeking Health branding. When the product includes “Optimal” in the name, it’s considered a signature product and must be unique in one or more of the following ways:
Signature products tend to be top-sellers as well. Many of them are derived from Dr. Ben Lynch’s years of research on a specific biochemical pathway.
When you see the word “active” in the product name, it means that the product’s active ingredients are considered to be in their bioactive forms and delivery.
Though Seeking Health always aims to have products in their most well-absorbed, readily available forms, this cannot always be the case. For example, vitamin B12 is a great option to have in a lozenge format that can be melted in the mouth before swallowing. However, when it's inside a multivitamin with many other micronutrients, the best format is a capsule. Therefore, your body needs to break down the capsule first before absorbing the B12, making it a slower absorption rate than a lozenge format. Thus, our “active” products are in a lozenge delivery method for optimal absorption.†
The word “intensive” in the name means that this product is considered to be stronger than most other comparable products.
If these formulas contain essential micronutrients, they are generally present in amounts higher than 100% of the Recommended Daily Value. Ideally, this name is intended to educate customers on the potency, and therefore should be taken with caution. Intensive formulas should be taken with guidance from a healthcare professional if given to children. It is important to always speak with your qualified healthcare professional before taking any supplement product, especially one that is considered high-strength.
A product name with the letter “X” at the end is intended to signify supporting normal levels of a specific compound of concern, such as homocysteine.
If the product name contains the delivery method, such as “powder,” it is considered to be a unique delivery method for the specific ingredients. For example, PQQ is an antioxidant that is usually found in a capsule format. However, Seeking Health offers it in a lozenge format, so we named this product “PQQ Lozenge.” 
If the product name is just the active ingredients, such as Vitamin D3, it is a standalone ingredient (or two ingredients) that customers can easily recognize. Generally, these products will have just one or two active ingredients. If there are two active ingredients, you will see a “+” or “with” between the names, depending on what makes the most sense for that formula.
If “one” is in the product name, this means there is a single capsule serving for a product that usually comes in a larger serving size. Therefore, the single capsule serving is considered a unique aspect of the product.
Multivitamins, for example, commonly have four to eight capsules per serving to fit all the nutrition in a single day. Multivitamins have multiple micronutrients that are essential for your diet. They may also add herbs, extracts, and other nutrients to support things like antioxidant levels, healthy energy production, and adrenal health. However, if you are someone who doesn’t like swallowing many capsules at once and doesn’t need all the nutrition found in most multivitamins, a single capsule serving will be appealing to you!†
If the product name contains the word “nutrients,” this product is considered a nourishing, protective formula for a specific organ.
“Nutrients” products are most likely is intended to be taken consistently, over a longer period, to provide ongoing healthy support for that organ. These formulas are focused on gently supporting the organ or process rather than a pain point. For example, if you are looking for something to break down gallstones, Gallbladder Nutrients is not the product. Gallbladder Nutrients contains the necessary ingredients needed for supporting overall gallbladder functionality.†
If the product has “Essentials” in the name, it is considered a product that contains ONLY the essentials for that specific health area. These formulas are:
Starting in 2021, Seeking Health has slowly transitioned our formulas that are free from methylated nutrients to being labeled with the acronym “MF” in the name, which stands for “methyl-free.” Methyl-free formulas are a unique aspect of Seeking Health’s supplement line.
With a large focus on genetics, Dr. Lynch has spent years researching why many people are deficient in the critical B vitamin, methylfolate, and how it affects their methylation pathway. From this research, he has formulated multiple methyl-containing products, including methylfolate and methylated B12, to support a healthy methylation cycle. However, we have found that a small portion of our customers experience side effects when consuming these bioactive, methylated forms of nutrients. These side effects include rapid heartbeat, nervousness, and even headaches immediately after consuming B vitamins in their methylated forms.
If you see MF in the name, this stands for “Methyl-Free,” meaning this version of the product contains non-methylated B12 and folate and is free from other methylated nutrients such as inositol and choline. These products are perfect for you if you need a high-quality multivitamin or B complex, but cannot tolerate the methyl groups.
If a product name contains the word “minus,” this means the product is free from B12 and folate, or other essential nutrients, to allow for customized dosing of those nutrients. There are several situations where these formulas can be helpful for consumers.
Remember these “minus” formulas are not labeled as “methyl-free” because they do NOT contain alternatives to B12 and folate; rather, they are entirely free of them.
When a product contains the word “sensitive” in the name, it is considered to be aimed at people with particular sensitivities and may even be free from certain nutrients that cause them issues.
People are becoming increasingly intolerant to certain foods or compounds. For example, many people cannot tolerate supplemental iron, especially if they have inflammatory response dysfunction.
Individuals seeking to support thyroid or adrenal health may benefit from herbs called adaptogens. Adaptogens support a healthy mood, cortisol response, and help to maintain healthy adrenal balance throughout the day. Any endocrine system sensitivities may be well-accompanied by these herbs.†
If “drops” is in the product name, this means it's a liquid format that has a dropper bottle delivery. Liquids that utilize dropper bottles are strategically formulated to accommodate the potency of the nutrient. Some nutrients are doses in micrograms, meaning that a single droplet could be the serving size. Therefore it makes the most sense for the dropper to deliver the nutrient. This also encourages the safe use of the product. For example, Vitamin A Drops contains 1,500 mcg RAE vitamin A per droplet. This dropper effectively and safely allows a consumer to dispense a single droplet.
Ideally, any product with the word “drops” in the name is intended to be carefully dosed in single droplets to encourage safe consumption or titration.
If “plus” appears in the product name, this product has a comparable formation and contains added ingredients that separate it from the original formula. Here at Seeking Health, we take customer feedback and reviews very seriously. Oftentimes, after Dr. Lynch releases a new formula, customers will request an ingredient to be added or removed. Other times customers will mention their sensitivity to the product. Dr. Lynch takes this feedback and creates similar formulas that attend to these requests.
For example, after releasing Optimal Liposomal Glutathione, Dr. Lynch found that some people struggled with increased sulfites and glutamate after taking it. He created Liposomal Glutathione Plus in response, which contains the necessary cofactors to recycle glutathione and to support sulfite and glutamate production.†
If the product name contains the roman numeral “II,” that means the formula is part of a set of products that is an extension of its original formula. This formula has the same name as the original formula, except for the roman numeral added at the end, for example,Trace Minerals Complex and Trace Minerals Complex II.
Each of the products must have a slightly different use than the original formula, but the same overall purpose. For example, both Trace Mineral Complexes contain trace minerals; however, II is free of copper.
Dr. Lynch closely listens to customer feedback on our nutritional supplements. This means sometimes creating several versions of a product with slight variations to suit the nutritional needs of several types of customers. Because of this, it results in many similar-looking products, some with a unique name, some with similar supplement names.
As a supplement company, Seeking Health products are named strategically to help educate customers on our products’ purpose, which helps increase your overall satisfaction and understanding of the supplements. We hope that these product name explanations provided you with more insight into your favorite products. Whether it's an “optimal” product or not, you can rest assured that you are always getting the highest quality formula at Seeking Health.
