Bewildered by the supplement-sphere, {Equi London} was dreamed up by two busy women who wanted to boost their wellbeing as quickly – and simply – as possible. Alice Mackintosh (a leading nutritional therapist) and Rosie Speight (investment banker-turned-busy mum) were sick of the lack of high-quality, evidence-based supplements on the market, so when Alice was pregnant she turned straight to Alice for help and advice… We spoke to the wellbeing dream team:
{Cult Beauty} Can you start by talking us through the brand’s beginnings and its ethos? What differentiates Equi London from other wellness ranges?
{Rosie & Alice} We are Rosie and Alice, the founders of {Equi} and also very old friends. Alice is an expert nutritional therapist, and Rosie is an ex-banker turned busy working Mum. During a particularly intense year in her city job, Rosie’s skin flared up and she turned to Alice to help sort it out. Alongside a few tweaks to her already pretty healthy diet, Alice devised an intricate and effective supplement regime made up of 8 different scientific blends only available from specialist websites, and Rosie found that she began to feel the best she had in years, as well as benefitting from perfect skin!
It was clear that there was a lack of effective supplements readily available on the mass market. After such quick results, combining these practitioner-specific supplements into one single product with its own unique tweak and beautiful branding felt like a winning formula that would really help busy women like us.
We combine over 50 of the highest quality and purity, practitioner-standard ingredients which are supported by robust clinical trials. We introduce unique and effective supplements to the mass market, fusing cutting-edge science with nature
Our totally unique, systematic and thorough approach to wellness achieves results quickly and helps women look and feel their best, whilst keeping up with the pace of modern life.
{CB} There’s so much (often contradictory!) information surrounding the supplement realm. How do you identify what’s missing from our lifestyles and create the next, health-boosting blend?
{R&A} We totally agree – like skin care, its so confusing and overwhelming and this is one of the big reasons we wanted to create {Equi}. Our products are targeted, meaning that our Formulas that are specifically crafted for energy, skin, pregnancy or weight loss. This allows us to be really specific about what is needed and leave out what isn’t.
Supplements have come in for a lot of flack in recent years and though we don’t condone pill popping, time and time again research has proven the health benefits of high quality, targeted vitamins/minerals at safe doses in the bio-available forms, as well as stable probiotics, super-grasses/berries (natures multivitamin) and natural botanicals. This is especially the case in the modern world that exposes us to anti-nutrients (like alcohol, stress, poor diet, air travel, pollution, excessive exercise) that can all increase our requirements for goodness.
There are so many low quality products on the market and often without having invested in a practitioner you’re lost. Taking numerous different pills is expensive, unpleasant and time consuming so we wanted to deliver a quick and easy, trustworthy solution for busy ladies.
{CB} With a category devoted to pregnancy care, can you talk us through the most common deficiencies, their negative effects and how to combat them?
{R&A} Rosie was pregnant with her little girl as {Equi} was launched, and this led us to hunt for the best pregnancy supplement out there to keep her feeling energised, mentally sharp, with strong immunity, whilst also ensuring her growing baby got everything she needed.
The results of this search left us frustrated at the low-quality pre-natal products that dominate the mass market. We realised just how needed a better pregnancy supplement was and after almost a year of research to find the best quality ingredients, {Pregnancy Formula} was born (literally!). We’ve already had several fertility experts both here in the UK and in the US say how it’s best pre-natal available globally….which we’re very proud of.
The {Pregnancy Formula} and {Pregnancy Fish Oil} are slightly different to our other Formulas as they don’t contain herbs, superfoods, probiotics or anything else that hasn’t been shown to be 100% safe during pregnancy. Instead we combine the most important nutrients required to grow a baby and keep you healthy such as folate (the natural form of folic acid, see below for more on that!), iron, B12, vitamin D, calcium, zinc and choline to name a few. These nutrients are important for everything from preventing birth defects to supporting development of nervous system and brain, bones, organs etc as well as keeping the mother healthy.
{CB} It’s great to see you catering to women during such a life-altering stage. We’re taught so little about pregnancy until it actually happens – are there any tips or tricks you’ve learned for keeping things in sync and staying healthy while expecting?
{R&A} For many women, getting pregnant is the first time they begin to really consider the importance of their diet and nutrition. No matter whether you worry too much about your own health, we innately all want to grow a perfectly healthy little human, and research shows a great many links between the health of a mother and the health of her baby (as well as the health of the father prior to conception!).
It’s a good idea to eat as well as you can to get these nutrients, but we are realistic about this – pregnancy can be a tricky time when it comes to diet – cravings, morning sickness, exhaustion and brain fog can make food choices difficult. A good multivitamin helps to cover the bases, and is especially important if you are also working hard or busy looking after other children.
Do your best to try and include the following general guidelines laid out by the NHS and aim to get as many ‘wholefoods’ as possible. Ideal options are colourful veg, wholegrains, protein, healthy fats (oily fish x3/week) nuts, seeds and staying hydrated. This won’t always be possible, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it (lets face it we all do enough of that already!!). Rest, relaxation and TLC are hugely important during pregnancy – be kind to your body. It’s growing a tiny human after all!
{CB} We’ve heard that folic acid is important – can you talk us through what it does and why it’s beneficial? How does yours differ?
{R&A} Folic acid is the synthetic, unnatural form of the natural vitamin ‘folate’. So spinach for example is a great source of folate, and this vitamin is really important during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester, as it helps to support healthy development of brain and spinal cord.
Folic acid is cheap and mass-produced, and often gets added to pregnancy vitamins but the problem is that a lot of people don’t use folic acid very well in the body on a cellular level. Research has shown that the body prefers folate, so we include a superior high quality form called 5-methyl-folate. We also combine it with ‘methylated’ (a form that the body can use better), vitamin B12 to support foetal cell division in the early stages of pregnancy, and for healthy neural tube development.
{CB} What else has made its way into your Pregnancy Formula – can you walk us through the key ingredients?
{R&A} We include the following premium ingredients to support mother and baby, all of which are ideal for fertility, conception, pregnancy, breastfeeding and postpartum to help mum recover and keep her energy levels as high as they can be during the demanding newborn stages:
- Top quality multivitamin to deliver all the key pregnancy nutrients.
- Specific vitamins and minerals that help regulate hormone balance in preparation for conception.
- Contains natural ‘folate’ and B12 to aid cell division in the early stages of pregnancy and reduce chances of neural tube defects.
- Choline and omega 3 (in our {Pregnancy Fish Oil}) support baby’s eye health and brain development.
- Vitamin C to help support mum’s immunity to keep her strong throughout pregnancy.
- Energising, readily-absorbable iron to help reduce fatigue. We use Ferrochel®, a pioneering form of iron found to be softer on the stomach (and less constipating!).
- Highest quality, gentle chelated forms of minerals that are well absorbed by the body and can help to discourage cravings and nausea.
- Ginger to help discourage pregnancy nausea.
{CB} And what’s the significance of fish oil?
{R&A} This is a really interesting area because foetal development really needs healthy omega 3, but the problem is that you can’t over-eat fish during pregnancy because it can be contaminated with mercury. A fish oil can really help here but its important for it to be super pure, high quality and rich in DHA which is the type of omega 3 needed to help develop baby’s eyes and nervous system.
Eating DHA has also been shown to enrich breast milk to support infant development. Omega 3s are shown to support joint health and brain function which is important for mum too!
{CB} And what about the inevitable fatigue postpartum? How can we supplement energy levels?
{R&A} Lack of sleep is perhaps the biggest factor here, but low iron is a major contributing issue too especially for women not eating red meat or those who are veggie/vegan. All the energising B vitamins, magnesium and vitamin C are a great boost after you’ve had the baby, helping to restore mum’s nutrient levels.
{CB} And finally, what’s next for {Equi}? Do you have any plans for additional pregnancy (or other) formulas?
{R&A} There are very exciting plans ahead! We’re developing a new ‘Equi Editions’ line of products to compliment our Formula range. These will follow our ethos of using effective and highest-quality ingredients that are often difficult to find on the wider market. The products will be more targeted, contain fewer than the 50 ingredients the Formula range consist of… and have a lower price point. The Formulas are incredibly comprehensive and we’ve seen a demand for additional products to ‘top-up’ certain areas, so we designed Editions to be taken either alongside the core Formulas or on their own.
This range will include more beauty supplements but also mind, immunity and energy complexes. There is definitely scope for other Pregnancy products, however we do feel that {Pregnancy Formula} is market leading and ticks all the boxes. At a time when women are being bombarded with information, we decided to keep it as easy, simple and trustworthy as possible…{Pregnancy Formula} and {Pregnancy Fish Oil} really is all you need throughout this special time.
Also…watch this space as the packaging for the new range is soooo nice!