Earlier this year we learned that Amazon admitted to selling fake supplements on their platform. You can be comforted that the products you receive from our office are of the highest quality, often shipped directly from the manufacturer (appropriately with ice packs if needed) and always stored at specified temperatures. Our preferred distributor also has a facility that is regulated, I have personally visited their facility and am fully confident when I purchase products from them. When purchasing from Amazon, there is no guarantee that these products are not counterfeit, or that they were shipped and/or stored properly. We recently had a patient have an allergic reaction to a product she purchased on Amazon from a third party vendor! We’d like to encourage you to support our practice and purchase your supplements through us to make sure you receive a quality product.
We know that not all supplements are created equally, that is why we recommend specific brands in our office when we treat patients. The brands I choose to work with are committed to producing quality products that help practitioners achieve the clinical results we are looking for. These brands make sure to test raw materials, and end products to ensure no contamination and also ensure product stability and efficacy beyond the expiration date. These companies can provide us with third party testing certificates on any lot number that we request. We know that not all companies have the same commitment to quality, that is why we choose to not work with many over the counter brands.
The FDA has also tested many store brand supplements (GNC, Target, Walmart, Walgreens), to find that they do not contain what their label claims. NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued letters to the above companies to “stop selling adulterated or mislabeled dietary supplements.” These products can often contain fillers that aren’t on the product label and patients can often have adverse reactions to these fillers.
When it comes to products that we are ingesting, you want to make sure they are of the highest quality and purity. The supplement industry needs a lot more regulation before we can trust every manufacturer. In the meantime, I am happy to continue to recommend the pharmaceutical grade supplement companies I currently work with. They do an amazing job at regulating themselves and providing third party certification for their products.
And we appreciate your supplement purchases and continued support of a small, locally owned business!