Naturopath's Guide
With so many stores claiming to offer "natural health" products, Pat Coffey — qualified naturopath, UCC 2005 — shares exactly what separates an excellent Irish health food store from a merely adequate one.
When you visit a health food store, you're not just buying products — you're, in many cases, seeking guidance on your health. A qualified, experienced practitioner in a good health store can be an extraordinarily valuable resource: someone who understands nutrition, herbal medicine, and the interaction of lifestyle factors on wellbeing, and who can help you navigate the bewildering array of products available.
A poorly qualified or commercially-motivated "health store" can, on the other hand, lead you to spend money on products that don't work, miss genuine health issues that require medical attention, or — in rare cases — steer you toward products that interact with medications or aren't appropriate for your situation.
The difference between a great health food store and a mediocre one often isn't visible from the outside. This guide will help you see it.
The single most important marker of a quality health food store is the qualification of its staff. In Ireland, the benchmark qualification for health food retail is the Diploma in Health Food Retailing, offered through the IAHS (Irish Association of Health Stores) and associated training providers.
This diploma covers:
Holders of this diploma have undergone structured education in natural health and are equipped to give informed, responsible advice. It's not equivalent to a medical degree or a full naturopathy qualification, but it is a genuine professional standard — far above what you'd find in a pharmacy assistant or supermarket shelf-stacker.
The best health food stores have staff — often including the owners — who hold higher qualifications: degrees or diplomas in naturopathy, clinical nutrition, medical herbalism, or related disciplines. Pat Coffey of The Honey Pot, for example, holds a Diploma in Naturopathy from University College Cork (2005), which represents several years of formal study in whole-body approaches to health.
A naturopath's training includes not only the knowledge of what supplements and herbs do, but — critically — the clinical judgement to know when they're appropriate and when a customer needs to see a doctor rather than buy a product. This "safety net" function is one of the most underappreciated values of a well-qualified health store team.
Don't be shy. Ask: "Can you tell me about your qualifications in natural health?" or "What training do your staff have in nutrition and supplements?" A well-qualified team will be delighted to tell you — it's one of their primary selling points. A store that becomes defensive or vague in response to this question is telling you something important.
The Irish Association of Health Stores (IAHS), founded in 1986, is Ireland's trade body for independent health food retail. Membership means:
IAHS membership is not a guarantee of perfection, but it is a meaningful signal. A store that has invested in IAHS membership and actively participates in the association's activities has demonstrated a commitment to professional standards that goes beyond the minimum legal requirement.
You can identify IAHS member stores by the IAHS logo displayed in-store or on their website. The IAHS website also maintains a member directory that you can consult to find member stores near you.
A knowledgeable health store team will only stock products they believe in. The product range itself is therefore a quality signal. Here's what to look for:
Quality Irish and European health stores carry well-established supplement brands with transparent manufacturing credentials. Brands like Solgar, A. Vogel, Terranova, Viridian, Higher Nature, Biocare, Quest, and Udo's Choice are widely stocked in good Irish health food stores. These brands invest in quality raw materials, GMP manufacturing, and responsible formulation.
Be cautious of stores that primarily stock own-label products with no verifiable manufacturer information, or that carry large quantities of very cheap, unknown supplement brands. Price in the supplement world is often — though not always — a quality signal.
For herbal products, look for stores that can explain the difference between standardised extracts and whole plant preparations, and that can advise which is more appropriate for a given use. A. Vogel, for example, uses fresh plant tinctures made from plants harvested at peak potency — a specific quality choice that the store should be able to explain and defend.
Good health food stores stock organic whole foods alongside their supplements — not just because it adds commercial range, but because they understand that nutrition comes primarily from food, and that supplements support rather than replace a good diet. A store that only sells supplements, with no organic foods or whole food products, may have a more purely commercial orientation.
The best health food stores carry products you simply can't find anywhere else — specialist formulations, unique herbal preparations, products from smaller producers with exceptional quality. The Honey Pot in Clonmel, for example, is Ireland's only dedicated stockist of Findhorn Flower Essences — a deliberate choice to offer something unique and of genuine quality to customers who have found value in this tradition.
When visiting a health food store for the first time — or when considering a major supplement purchase — these questions will help you gauge the quality of the store and its staff:
A good store will welcome all these questions and give thoughtful, nuanced answers. Pay particular attention to the last question — a health store that is honest about the limits of natural medicine and the importance of conventional medical care is a store that puts your health ahead of its sales.
Just as important as knowing what to look for is knowing what to be wary of. Pat Coffey's advice, honed over two decades of naturopathic practice, includes the following cautions:
Legitimate natural health is evidence-informed and honest about what it can and cannot do. If a store or its staff are making extravagant claims — that a supplement will "cure" your condition, that natural approaches can replace all conventional medicine, or that a simple protocol will solve complex health problems — be sceptical. Real practitioners know that health is complex, individual, and multifactorial.
A store that hands you a basket of supplements after a 30-second conversation, without asking about your diet, lifestyle, medications, or health history, is not practising responsible natural health retail — it's just selling. The consultation should precede the recommendation, not follow it.
Natural health approaches are complementary to conventional medicine, not replacements for it. A store or practitioner who tells you to stop taking prescribed medication in favour of a supplement is operating outside professional and ethical bounds. If you are considering changing a prescribed treatment, that conversation must happen with your GP or consultant first.
If you can't find out who owns the store, what qualifications the staff have, or where the products come from, that opacity is a warning sign. Good health food stores are proud of their credentials and happy to share them.
Increasingly, Irish consumers are buying supplements and natural health products online. All the same principles apply — but the distance makes it harder to assess quality directly. When choosing an online health store in Ireland, look for:
If you're looking for a reference point for what an excellent Irish health food store should be, The Honey Pot in Clonmel provides a useful benchmark. It scores well on every criterion outlined in this guide:
14 Abbey Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, E91 X859
Shop at The Honey Pot Online →Disclaimer: This guide is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting any new supplement regimen or making changes to prescribed treatment.