Sudafed or Wal-Phed: Which would you choose?

Nine times out of 10, pharmacists and doctors will buy the generic version of aspirin, rather than a brand-name like Bayer. Likewise, professional chefs prefer store-brand sugar, salt and baking powder instead of brand name ingredients.

In short, the most informed consumers usually buy generic products, claims a new paper by economists from Tilburg University in the Netherlands and the University of Chicago.

Their research estimates Americans are wasting about $44 billion a year on name brands, when they could be buying the exact same products if they switched to cheaper store brands. Store brand products cost on average about half the price of national brands.

Take that bottle of aspirin for example. A 100-tablet package of 325 mg Bayer Aspirin costs $6.29 on CVS.com. The CVS version? Just $2.27 when it's regularly priced, and $1.14 when it's on sale.

They both have the same dosage, directions and active ingredient. But about a quarter of sales on headache remedy drugs in the U.S. go to brand-name products. So why then are some consumers paying so much for Bayer?

The paper suggests ads are more likely to mislead all but the most knowledgeable consumers. College-educated shoppers, for example, are less likely to get duped into buying the more expensive brand-name than the broader public. Meanwhile, the experts -- like pharmacists and physicians -- are the least likely of all to buy the brand name drug.

Whereas the average household buys brand-name pain killers like Bayer, Advil and Tylenol 26% of the time, pharmacists buy brand names only 9% of the time.

A similar trend turns up at grocery stores.

Whereas the average consumer pays for brand-name salt, sugar and baking powder 40% of the time, the most informed foodies -- professional chefs -- only buy these brands 20% of the time,

The study used Nielsen data tracking 77 million shopping trips by about 125,000 households. In addition to aspirin and baking supplies, it also tracked groceries like milk and eggs, soda, and cereal, and other healthcare products like cold remedies, bandages and contact lens solution.

Contact lens solution was the only healthcare product where the smartest consumers perceive "true quality differences," the study said.

I buy generics for the few pharmaceuticals that I purchase,  but I do buy quality name brand supplements, I can actually tell the difference with those.

Marsha

We don't buy things for just the product.

It's the buying experience and the owning experience:  consumerism.

If it was just for the product, we'd all buy our clothes at Goodwill and wear them until they drop off our backs.  We'd all drive white Ford Tempos or whatever car can make it from Point A to Point B.

But instead we are people with passions and like to associate ourselves with brand names.

I remember as a kid my grandmother would by generic Froot Loops.  They didn't even come in a box with a toucan bird - just a big plastic sack.  I see those in the store today I feel depressed.   :cry:

Consumerism is wrong and unchristian.  But if I enjoy commercial art and branding.  And I think I can fit genuine Froot Loops in my budget.

There are two problems with this thread.  One is that the FDA is controlled by the wolves (pharmaceutical companies).

"Why would the FDA approve such a dangerous drug? An investigation by the Washington Monthly and the British medical journal BMJ found that at least four members of the advisory committee have either done work for the drugs’ manufacturers or licensees or received research funding from them. The members reported their industry ties to FDA, but FDA decided it didn’t matter and didn’t make the disclosures public.

Each of those four panelists who received money from the pill’s manufacturer voted in favor of the pill. Interestingly, the committee’s ruling that the drug’s benefit outweighs the risks was decided by a four-vote margin."  
see whole article here

Secondly, as mentioned above, the pharmaceutical industry has little to do with "health care", and A LOT to do with business.

" The FDA has repeatedly allowed potentially dangerous drugs to remain on the market, even after it revealed that their approvals were based on fraudulent data, with no warnings to the public
The current medical paradigm is designed to profit from your ill health. Taking control of your health can help you avoid the deadly drugs being pushed on you by the drug companies and the FDA "

see more here . . .

The American medical establishment in particular is TOTALLY corrupt.  There are effective conventional medical treatments out there, but they are shunned by the establishment.  In addition, a great deal of conventional dietary/nutritional advice is driven by either pharmaceutical pressure or pressure by particular food industries.

Anyone who is truly interested in their health, needs to do their own research.  

Quote from: Cato

We don't buy things for just the product.

It's the buying experience and the owning experience:  consumerism.

If it was just for the product, we'd all buy our clothes at Goodwill and wear them until they drop off our backs.  We'd all drive white Ford Tempos or whatever car can make it from Point A to Point B.

But instead we are people with passions and like to associate ourselves with brand names.

I remember as a kid my grandmother would by generic Froot Loops.  They didn't even come in a box with a toucan bird - just a big plastic sack.  I see those in the store today I feel depressed.   :cry:

Consumerism is wrong and unchristian.  But if I enjoy commercial art and branding.  And I think I can fit genuine Froot Loops in my budget.

I'll take the Tempo that gets from A to B  if you don't want it. :)  

Let's hear it for Ford! (Tempo)  -- but Ford promotes equal rights for Sodomites. Hmmm...






I can sort of relate to your Froot Loops syndrome, but for me it was Lucky Charms:



Why is someone always after me Lucky Charms?  Because they're magically delicious.
Besides, that "Box Tops for Education" cut-out is worth TEN CENTS to your school.  



And why are imitation Lucky Charms just not quite the same ball park?  
Because there's no magic in them, and nobody's always after them.  Simple.

.