If you’ve been a follower of this blog for a while, then you’re probably aware that we’re whole hog into trying to live more ancestrally.  A big part of that is incorporating grass-fed beef organs into our diet, predominantly through taking Heart & Soil supplements (read about our experience with it here.)  However, if you’ve done any kind of Googling on the subject you’ve probably seen another game in town: Ancestral Supplements.  So, how the hell do you choose when you can have your steak and eat it too?

They’re both beef organ supplements

The first thing that you should is that both Heart & Soil (created by Dr. Paul Saladino  and Ancestral Supplements (created by the absolute unit of humanity Brian Johnson  the self-titled “Liver King”) is that they both offer the same essential product: grass-fed, New Zealand-raised beef organs in capsule form.  The second thing is that they both try to fill the same basic (biological, ancestral, evolutionary, whatever) need – to provide the vital nutrients that our ancestors ate before modern living destroyed our diets and lifestyles. 

Pricing

Prices? We’re talking about prices? One of the main things to know is that Heart & Soil and Ancestral Supplements are not much different in price.  A lot of their respective products are either the same price or only within a few dollars of each other.  I will say Heart & Soil tends to be just slightly more expensive, probably due to their packaging (glass vs. plastic bottles).  However, you could argue that Ancestral Supplements packaging is less environmentally friendly. In the end I think it’s a wash.  

The Formulations

Ok, so onto the nuts and bolts of the products themselves, uh, I mean nose and hooves.  Heart & Soil and Ancestral Supplements go about their formulations very differently.  Note: both use liver as their “base,” so no matter what, you’re going to get beef liver in pretty much every production, with limited exception of course.  Thus, it really comes down to whether you want something “systemic” or something “specific.”  Heart & Soil, unsurprisingly perhaps since it was founded by a doctor, is focused on providing “systemic” support and synergistic blends of organs to achieve particular outcomes or symptom resolution (a bit like a compounding pharmacy).   Ancestral Supplements’ products, on the other hand, are more focused on providing specific organ support (although support of one may lend to systemic support as well).  

Specific Ingredients

The last important thing to consider is that Heart & Soil’s and Ancestral Supplement’s products will contain different ingredients (although they will still all be organs) and different ratios.  For example, I have taken both Whole Package and MOFO (Male Optimization Formula with Organs).  They are both the same in that are designed to support male health, performance, and, uh, you can probably guess the rest.  However, they go about it very differently.  Here is a comparison of their ingredient lists: