Pharmacy Expert:
Pine Pharmacy 5110 Main Street, Williamsville, NY

Are your nutritional supplements doing more Harm than Good?... IT DEPENDS!

Whether it is the use of a Flintstones® Vitamin as a child or a calcium supplement to prevent osteoporosis, the use of nutritional supplements is a staple in many of our lives.  Unlike prescription medications, nutritional supplements are not required to do much besides include a phrase on the product ‘These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration’.  This is disconcerting for some including many health care personnel.
 
There have been reports that certain supplements have been tested to have as little as 4% the labeled ingredient and as much as 400%.  In addition, the FDA released a report this May stating that one company had a product that contained lead more than 10,000 times the FDA’s maximum allowable limit (www.fda.gov).

Does this mean you should stop taking all of your vitamins?  NO

Vitamins and minerals are a vital part of our health, and our diets are providing us with less and less of these.  As vital as these supplements are to our health, so is the quality of the supplements we take.

Because the FDA does not play a role in regulation you have to be sure you supplement manufacturers are being regulated.  Again, this is not mandatory so many decide to forgo this process to provide more cost-effective products.  Refer to the list below to see how your supplement manufacturers stack up or contact us for some recommendations on quality manufacturers.

• 3rd party/agency audit (NSF, NPA, TGA, etc).
• Raw material testing (identity, microbiological and heavy metal contaminants, pesticides/herbicides, potency, etc) and use of the most appropriate testing methodologies.
• Finished products testing (potency, adulterants, contaminants, etc).
• Stability program to insure all Finished Products meet label claim throughout their shelf life, not just after manufacturing.
• Finished Products contain actives in sufficient quantities to be clinically effective.

This list is to be used for informational purposes only and is by no means an all-inclusive checklist.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
These statements are for informational use only and not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.