Natural Vitamins-- What Does That Really Mean?
Author: Patrick McTigue
Because stringent standards are sadly lacking in the nutritional supplements industry, there is a huge variation in the quality of products sold to consumers. This warrants the advice, "buyer beware"! Unfortunately, it is common for a product to have very different ingredients than what is identified on the label. When independent studies are done to test for ingredient potency and purity, more often than not, there are discrepancies between what is claimed and what is actually in the supplements.
In one study two researchers from Yale New Haven Hospital evaluated 257 brands of multivitamins bought off the shelf at pharmacies, grocery stores, and health food stores. Only 49 of the products were considered adequate when they compared the label to what actually was inside the bottles - they had either too much, too little, or none of the ingredients at all that were listed.
Other tests continue to reveal dangerous contaminants and poor quality control - over one third of Asian herbal products were either loaded with ingredients not listed on the label or they contained heavy metals like lead and mercury.
Researchers at the University of Florida- Gainesville, have found that 8 of the 22 calcium products they tested - including popular national brands - contained lead. This is the toxic metal that can lead to anemia, high blood pressure, and brain and kidney damage in adults as well as developmental damage in children.
You choice of vitamins and supplements is not something you should minimize your focus on. Do your homework, your health, and life, could depend on it! Seek out high quality supplements. How can you do that? Start by investigating the companies that make your products - you will find it very enlightening - if they will even respond to requests for information.
Don't make the mistake of choosing the cheapest vitamins by listening to the poor advice given by many that all vitamins are the same. Just as a real apple and a plastic apple are in no way identical, although there might be a resemblance - one has living enzymes that allow the body to absorb the nutrients, and the other is dead synthetic material incapable of nourishing the body. Do you know that the same holds true for vitamin products? Part of the product is real food, and others are inert chemical substances. Which would you prefer to ingest?
Another alarming fact is you often can not count on the label of a vitamin to reveal the difference. As was just discussed, the label can lie, and added to that problem is that the FDA requires that only 15% of a vitamin product to be natural food to be labeled "natural", the other 85% can be synthetic! This may be hard for you to believe, but it is true.
So what can you do? Contact the company that makes your vitamins and ask these questions:
* Are your raw materials organically grown food?
* Do you test your ingredients for quality and purity, or do you simply rely on a Certificate of Analysis provided by the supplier of the raw materials (which is inadequate because this information can easily be falsified)? How many tests do you do for purity, potency, freshness, and safety on your raw materials and on your products throughout the manufacturing process?
* Are your product label claims based on documented scientific data or just anecdotal evidence and/or testimonials? Are your products backed by independent peer-reviewed published research studies (not studies done by your company) that prove effectiveness and safety?
* Do you own and operate your own Research and Development Center and have your own unique products that are made under conditions completely controlled by you?
* Do you have a scientific advisory board made up of nationally recognized scientists to provide unbiased expertise in nutrition?
* Would you please send me a complete bibliography of all of your research that has been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed scientific professional journals? (This should be published research done by scientists employed by you or those on your scientific advisory board concerning work done on the actual products you are selling.)
If you have already done this kind of investigating, you know it's almost impossible to find a company that meets all the above criteria that are so critical to producing safe, effective vitamins that are capable of building health in your body.
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