Are Your Supplements Causing More Harm than Good?
Questions to ask Before Buying Supplements?
Will they work for your problem or if you have bought them already, is it solving your health issue?
Have your supplements been tested and proven successful as evidenced with scientific lab tests?
Has your supplements been used in real life clinical experience from many doctors with 100’s of total years combined experience?
Are they cGMP certified?
FDA is becoming more stringent with supplement companies. Those companies that don't abide, will close up shop! GMP Certification (Good manufacturing Practices) was started in 2007. GMP is the minimum that you should look for in a supplement. It’s important to understand that GMP certification by itself may not ensure that the vitamin or mineral supplement you take will provide the benefits you’ve seen or heard advertised. But it can help to make sure that you are getting what you pay for in the bottle, and that it’s been handled in a manner that attempts to ensure your safety. A study was done by Consumer labs (www.consumerlab.com) did a study on Valerian for 10 companies. 5 had the amount of Valerian it said on the label. 5 did not. One had Zero Valerian! Getting what it says on the label is where GMP is critical.
Are they providing Certificates to disclose any harmful ingredients have been checked for?
In a dedicated effort to secure the superior quality and purity of our quality professional lines, raw materials and finished product lab documentation retention is a must to prove the standards required prior to giving them to our patients. In the interest of full transparency, all independent lab Certificates of Analysis are available upon request.
The following is from one of our vendors that we trust: Designs for Health:
Certificates of Analysis & Raw Material Testing
Our raw material vendors are measured against criteria designed to quantify the stringent quality parameters we insist upon. We purchase our raw materials only from those vendors who are able to meet our exacting requirements.
Designs for Health maintains the following documentation requirements for raw materials:
Certificates of Analysis (C of As) : Every lot must be accompanied by comprehensive vendor-supplied documentation of the material's identity, potency, and purity.
Independent Laboratory Analysis: Providing an extra measure of quality assurance, all raw materials used in the manufacture of Designs for Health products are monitored for potential contaminants and tested for the marker compound quantities as defined on our label. Numerous analytical testing processes are employed, as applicable, including HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography) and FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), to name a few.
Finished Product Testing
Our quality control process does not end with C of As and raw material testing. As an additional line of assurance, each and every Designs for Health product is analyzed for finished product content to confirm that the manufacturing process has resulted in a finished product that meets label claims.