Powdered forms of medicine and nutritional supplements

[hyperdimension]

I've found that tablet or capsule forms of medicine and nutritional supplements are always much more expensive than powdered forms, maybe by 5 to 10 times. I guess the cost of making tablets or capsules are high.

However in Thailand powdered forms seem rare (except for sports / bodybuilding supplements, e.g. protein powders).

Does anyone know sources in Thailand for medicine and nutritional supplements in powdered form?

Does anyone know any sources on the internet that does not have problems in delivery to Thailand? iherb orders now get here fine but does not stock much powdered forms. powdercity.com looks like the perfect source on the internet but their delivery charge is a bit high and I haven't yet found anyone reporting experiences of ordering from Thailand.

The cost savings are so huge that I'm fully willing to undergo slightly more inconvenience in consuming powdered forms of supplements (put powder in a bottle, add water or juice, close the bottle, shake, then drink).

[Maestro]

For medicines, ask at any pharmacy whether what you need is available as a powder.

[hyperdimension]

For medicines, ask at any pharmacy whether what you need is available as a powder.

I think chances are quite low that powdered forms would be available anywhere in Thailand. Even iherb's range of powdered products is only a small proportion of their enormous product range.

But I guess it's worth to try, after asking for the GPO-made product.

At the moment it seems only the body-building community is accustomed to taking powdered forms of supplements. I wish or hope that the wider health-conscious community would become interested in powdered forms too.

Maybe the containers need to look "flashy" to get the required attention:

I myself don't care what the container looks like; all that matters is what's inside.

Edited May 7, 2016 by hyperdimension

[xylophone]

Have you tried, Good Karma Online Health Food Store. (Google it).

They are based in Thailand (Phuket I think) and have many powdered foods/supplements.

[JayBird]

What types of Nutritional Supplements (exactly) are you looking for?

[hyperdimension]

What types of Nutritional Supplements (exactly) are you looking for?

An example is Grape Seed Extract. I did a cost comparison in a different thread which showed that the cheapest I could find in Thailand was almost 10 times as expensive as that sold by Powder City (before accounting for delivery charges):

250g of Grape Seed Extract at powdercity.com has 95% proanthocyanidins and costs 19.95 USD or 700 THB. This equates to 700 / (250 * 0.95) = 2.947 THB per gram of proanthocyanidins.

250mg * 90 capsules of Now Foods, Grape Seed, Extra Strength at iherb.com has 90% polyphenols (which includes proanthocyanidins; let's assume they are the same for simplicity) and costs 587.35 THB. This equates to 587.35 / (0.250 * 90 * 0.9) = 29 THB per gram of proanthocyanidins. This is still cheap compared to Thai prices (e.g. 175 THB per g for Mega brand). However, compared to the powdered form (2.947 THB/g), it's almost ten times as expensive.

Edited May 9, 2016 by hyperdimension

[hyperdimension]

Have you tried, Good Karma Online Health Food Store. (Google it).

They are based in Thailand (Phuket I think) and have many powdered foods/supplements.

Thank you. They have some interesting products, mostly natural / herbal. But no grape seed extract.

[hyperdimension]

Another supplement I'd like is 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). It's 41.95 USD for 100g (14.67 THB per gram) at Powder City. The powder is 100% pure.

I could only find 5-HTP in capsule form at a small exotic supplements stall in Central Plaza Lat Phrao and the cost per weight was 2000 THB / (120 * 0.1) = 167 THB per gram. Again, the cost difference is around 10 times.

Imagine if you could cut a 3000 THB monthly expense down to around 300 THB per month!

Edited May 9, 2016 by hyperdimension

[hyperdimension]

Melatonin probably has the most extreme differences in cost depending on the source and form:

Merchant                   | Form    | Total pure weight (g) | Price (THB) | Price per weight (THB/g)
powdercity.com             | powder  | 49.10                 | 781.46005   |    15.9156833
iherb.com                  | capsule |  0.54                 | 270.62      |   501.1481481
swansonthailand.net        | capsule |  0.36                 | 390         |  1083.333333
Lab Pharmacy Silom Complex | tablet  |  0.03                 | 570         |  9500
Boots Silom Complex        | tablet  |  0.03                 | 630         | 10500     

So Melatonin from Boots is 660 times as expensive as that of the powdered form, despite being exactly the same substance!

Edited May 9, 2016 by hyperdimension

[JayBird]

Sorry mate, not really into getting them at that raw state I normally buy them already pre-packaged/bundled (animal, universal nutrition, etc.) From what I did see tho, nothing cheap pill form