"Supplements and Safety" Frontline lnvestigates

I've been drinking linden leaf tea for anxiety and it helps some, but I'm on guard for any potential effects on my heart. Luckily I don't have a family history of heart disease, which is the primary exacerbating factor.

 

When you want to make a lasting impression fella's. About $9 at your local corner store.

 

I came across an article, and l took the pertinent information from it for you..


Welcome to the Supplements Industry

I could have titled this part “Welcome to the Far West”, really.

Because that’s really what the supplements industry is mostly all about.

ty regulatory agency before hitting the market.
Actually, the FDA has to prove that a given supplement is dangerous before being able to demand a recall.

As Consumer Reports puts it: “Unless the FDA meets a high standard of proof that a dietary supplement creates “a significant or unreasonable risk,” it cannot ban it. For example, it took a decade to ban the ephedrine alkaloids used in weight-loss products, and during that time supplements containing ephedra were linked to thousands of adverse events.” (1)

There’s no other way to say it… consumers have consumed dangerous ephedrine supplements (like Metabolife) for a whopping 10 years before they were banned in 2004.
Now, I must admit that this example is pretty extreme, and that not all supplements are dangerous.

But there’s another concern you should have as a consumer…
Are you flushing your money down the toilet?
In other words, does your supplement really contain what’s claimed on the label?
And more importantly, does it even work at all?

Depressing Statistics
The same way that not all meats or eggs are created equal, not all supplements or supplements companies are created equal.

But tests by many independent authorities like Consumer Lab show pretty depressing for most supplements makers:
– Consumer Lab found that 30% of omega-3 supplements (fish oil, krill oil, etc.) didn’t contain the amount of omega-3 claimed on the label, and some of them exceeded contamination standards (2)*
– They also found defects in 40% of all multivitamins tested (3). This means that these multivitamins either contained less nutrients than claimed, more nutrients than claimed (not necessarily a good thing because some nutrients become toxic at higher levels), or were contaminated by lead.
– 31% of protein powders tested did not pass Consumer Lab’s quality tests. (4) In 2010, Consumer Reports also found in 2010 that several popular brand protein powders contained dangerous levels of heavy metals. (5)
(You may need a paid subscription to verify some of these sources, but I can assure you I didn’t make stuff up…)

I could go all day citing examples of supplements that either contain too many contaminants, the wrong amount of nutrients, or both.
But I’m sure you get the point…

If you drive to your local supplement store and grab something without paying close attention, there’s a strong chance you’ll end up with a supplement that doesn’t deliver what it’s supposed to — or worse, that will do more harm than good.

1) GMP certification
Look at the bottle of your favorite supplement. Do you see a GMP stamp on it?
Chances are it’s not there.
The reason is simple. Being GMP-compliant (good manufacturing practices) is really complicated and costly for supplements companies.

The FDA’s requirements to be a GMP-compliant company include standards for:
– Equipment
– Ingredients
– Labeling
– Marketing claims
– Employment
– Cleanliness
– Etc.
It’s all listed here on the FDA’s website.

70% of supplements company do not actually meet GMP standards after being inspected by the FDA.

2) 3rd party testing
GMP is good, but remember that it’s a certification that includes all aspects of a company — anything from employment practices to how efficient the shipping facility is.

Now, the GMP certification demands that a supplement company only buys raw ingredients that have been tested for purity and contamination.
In other words, if you own a supplement company, you have to make sure that each of your raw ingredients manufacturers has tested their ingredients before you buy them to manufacture your supplements