Have you ever wondered what the keys things are to look for when buying dietary supplements?
According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association that represents dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers in the U.S., more than 170 million Americans take dietary supplements. Whether you want to increase your vitamin D levels or boost your iron, supplements are a way to enhance your nutrition and ensure youāre getting all the nutrients your body needs.
Dietary supplements donāt go through an approval process like prescription drugs because supplements are regulated as food. Companies donāt have to provide proof that the capsules, powders, gummies, and liquids they sell contain the ingredients on their labels or provide the strength and amount of the nutrients stated on the label. Thatās why today, Iām sharing the importance of using supplements with the official USP Verified Mark.
If youāre not familiar,Ā USPĀ is an independent, not-for-profit organization that sets federally recognized public standards of quality for medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients.Ā Part of USPās mission is to give manufacturers tools and resources they need to create safe, high-quality supplements so they protect their customers. Supplements with the USP Verified Mark not only means that what youāre buying what you see on the label, but that the product has met high-quality standards.
With that said, here are four quality assurance tests that USP practices to ensure that the supplements youāre buying have met high quality standards.
Hereās What To Look For When Buying Supplements:
1. Positive identification.
USP tests products to confirm that whatās on the label is indeed whatās in the bottle. This prevents you from buying capsules and gummies that falsely advertise to contain ingredients that they, in fact, donāt have. For example, the primary supplement ingredient in a vitamin D supplement should be vitamin D. The other items on the list are the ingredients that make the capsules.
2. Potency.
Oftentimes, supplements donāt contain enough of the key ingredients to be effective. A 2014 LabDoor report showed that some supplements had omega-3 levels 30 percent less than whatās listed on their labels. On the other hand, having too much of the key ingredients can also negatively affect your health and cause harm. USP conducts tests that ensure the dietary capsules youāre buying have the stated amount of ingredients in each dose, so you know what youāre doing to enhance your health, whether youāre taking a probiotic or a multivitamin.
3. Purity.
USP tests capsules, powders, and liquids for purity, so you donāt buy supplements that contain unwanted ingredients that can harm your health. Heavy metals, pesticides, and toxins are examples of common substances that USP checks for. In 2010, a Congressional investigation found trace amounts of lead and other contaminants in supplements. The same report also showed that 16 of the 40 supplements tested had pesticide residues that exceeded the legal amounts.
4. Performance.
If a tablet doesnāt dissolve, it means that the nutrients in it canāt be absorbed by the body, so manufacturers must use ingredients that can dissolve as intended. USP also checks that manufacturers are creating supplements in facilities following Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USP Good Manufacturing Practices. USP will also do a facility audit each year to ensure companies are employing sanitary methods; theyāll also conduct random tests on products to ensure they meet program standards.
This Post Appreared First on Nutritionstripped.com