What To Look For In a Nutritional Supplement

By Sharon Jentzer, Captain, USN (Ret.)

Jentzer Wellness Institute

More Complementary & Integrative Healthcare Articles

What To Look For In a Nutritional Supplement

Many people think of nutritional supplements as being a staple of alternative and complementary medicine. However, since 2002, the American Medical Association (AMA) has endorsed the use of vitamin supplements, bringing supplementation into the mainstream of the health and wellness industry. So how do you select a high quality nutritional supplement?

All of that fine print on labels can be very confusing. You could start by looking for three prominent certifications on the label. One is GMP, which stands for “good manufacturing practice.” These guidelines are used for pharmaceuticals, and are much more stringent than what is required for food grade manufacturing, including nutritional supplements.

Another certification is NSF, which is the acronym used by the National Sanitation Foundation International, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization. NSF certification tests verify that the ingredients listed on the label are actually in the supplements and that there are no hidden substances that are not listed on the label. This protects everyone, including world-class athletes, from accidentally ingesting banned, or hazardous substances.

The third certification is the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) verification that the product meets purity, dissolution and safe manufacturing practices.

These three certifications are not required by law in the United States, so when you find a company that is willing to go to the effort of meeting these very high standards, you know that their product is of very high quality. Companies whose products meet these standards are very proud of their achievements, and clearly put these seals of approval on their labels.

If you do not see GMP, NSF and USP on the label, the products do not meet these standards. Be sure to actually look at the label. Just because a brand is well-known and has a large television advertising budget does not mean that it meets the stringent requirements of GMP, NSF and USP.

Is it really worth paying extra for supplements that meet these standards? In random tests of multivitamin products, ConsumerLab.com has reported that over 25 percent of the multivitamin products they tested failed. Either the tablets did not dissolve, which means they did not provide any nutrition to the body, or the ingredients did not match the label. Either way, consumers were not getting what they paid for. If you are serious about adding nutritional supplements to your wellness regimen, make sure you get what you pay for.