Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on nutritional supplements. But how do you know if your anti-PMS herbal remedies or calcium tablets really contain what the label says they do? Is there a way to confirm that you're getting the healing ingredients you're paying for?
One valuable resource to try is the Dietary Supplement Quality Initiative. This nonprofit organization works to promote consumer access to fairly priced, high-quality dietary supplements. Along with dispensing information on how to make educated decisions about supplement purchases, the DSQI offers news updates on supplements. Visit their Web site.
The National Nutritional Foods Association also offers enlightening consumer information in the form of its Good Manufacturing Practices Seal. Gracing the label of many types of supplements, the seal indicates that the manufacturer meets the association's stringent demands for quality, cleanliness, equipment maintenance, staff training and record keeping.
For a look at independent lab testing results on a broad spectrum of nutritional supplements, go to ConsumerLab.com. Products are examined for three vital properties. The first is purity, so that potential contaminants can be found. Second is accuracy, which confirms whether or not the product contains what is listed on the label. Third is consistency, which checks that each tablet contains the same ingredients as others in the bottle.
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