Boost your health: A guide to supplements, vitamins, fat-burners and more

There's a growing market of health supplements, including powders, vitamins, energy bars, shakes and more. But how do you choose which is right for you? We got several local retailers to weigh in on the health supplement craze.

Pre-workout powder supplements are among the biggest sellers at Stack'd Supplements, on William Street in front of West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau.

"They give you more energy, focus and endurance," says Matt Short, who owns the business with his wife, Melissa.

He reminds customers that pre-workout powders have come a long way in tasting better.

"If you haven't done protein powders in a long time, they used to taste terrible," he says. "They are now flavored to taste better, and we carry some of the best tasting protein (powders) around."

The store also sells a variety of vitamins.

"We carry multivitamin packs as well as single-ingredient vitamins and supplements," Short says.

He says he believes everyone should take a multivitamin, regardless of their workout regimen.

"We recommend the vitamin multi-packs because they promote heart, joint, bone and liver health," he says. "Even if you don't work out at all, you should take them for your overall health."

Stack'd also carries a variety of thermogenics, or "fat burners."

Stack d Supplements. (Fred Lynch)

"They keep up your metabolism, give you energy and cut back on your cravings," Short says.

Along with pre-workout supplements, Stack'd offers post-recovery workout drinks from 1st Phorm.

"They are good for protein recovery after you work out," Short explains.

While he sees no side effects from customers who take vitamin packs or use sports recovery drinks, he says there can be some associated with using thermogenics.

"If you're sensitive to caffeine, thermogenics can raise your blood pressure," he says.

Stack'd Supplements. (Fred Lynch)

Fat-burning packs are newer options on the market.

"We carry the ones from 1st Phorm and they are gender specific," Short says. "They are absolutely the best product I've seen for fat burning."

Short tries to lead customers to the products that are going to achieve the results they want.

"We ask a lot of questions and try to guide our customers," he says.

Smoothie King, at the corner of Independence and Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, offers healthy smoothies, enhancers and other snacks.

"We have well over 50 smoothies, as well as a retail section where you can buy things like low-carb meal replacement and fat burning powders to add to the smoothies," says Alle Graham, a team member at Smoothie King.

She says the store's No. 1 selling product is the meal-replacement smoothie, followed by the fat-burning smoothies.

"Then, we also offer healthy smoothies that are just a great-tasting, healthy snack option," she says.

There are a variety of enhancers you can add to the smoothies, including multivitamins, fiber, antioxidants, energy, probiotics, diet down, immune, caffeine and more.

"The enhancers don't have any taste," Graham notes.

Smoothie King also sells an assortment of cleansing products to flush away the body's impurities.

"We have a two-part cleanse-and-flush herbal cleansing system as well as fiber-cleansing systems," Graham says. "We also carry green tea pill capsules for fat burning."

Natural Health Organic Foods, at 135 S. Broadview St. in Cape Girardeau, has health supplements in the form of powder, fresh, loose-leaf herbs, and capsules shakes and teas.

"They offer immune support, good overall health maintenance and sports nutrition," says Becky Brown, who co-owns the store with her husband, Mike.

The supplement products offer support for inflammation as well as immune support and antioxidant support, Brown says.

While she and her staff are careful not to diagnose medical conditions or prescribe health supplements to "cure" those conditions, they do try to help steer customers in the right direction.

"We have a reference library at our kiosk where we feature reading materials such as 'Prescription for Nutritional Healing,'" Brown says.

She recommends eating the cleanest diet possible as a first step, and using health supplements to complement that healthy diet.

"People are wanting more raw, less processed foods and super foods like cacao, acai berries and chia," she says. "And the biggest new food trend is organic and grass-fed dairy (products)."