Vitamin supplements - what's really in your vitamins?

Health and nutrition experts recommend and sell vitamin supplements. WalMart sells inexpensively. Virtually every drug store, every nutritional company and even grocery store sells vitamin supplements. But where do they come from and who's looking out for the consumer? Can you be sure you're getting what the label says you're getting? Not necessarily.
Independent health product tester ConsumerLab.com is dishing up unsavory news for people who take multivitamins. Of 29 products tested, eight "failed" as mislabeled or contaminated.

• One vitamin water contained 15 times the amount of folic acid claimed on the bottle, while a multivitamin for older people provided less than half the vitamin A claimed on its label. And a men's multivitamin had traces of lead.

• New federal rules "were supposed to ensure the potency and quality of the products" says the Center for Science in the Public Interest Bruce Silverglade. "But apparently the rules are not having their intended effect."

Reported in the AARP Bulletin June 2009

As a distributor of health & wellness products you need to be confident your patients and clients are getting what they need. You need to work with a company who's practices are transparent. You need to know the company, it's manufacturing standards and it's integrity. When you can make assurances and feel confident you're providing access to products that are what's intended you can rest assured you're helping people find wellness. You can make all the difference in customer retention and satisfaction.