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You certainly are not alone if you take dietary supplements. These are sometimes called nutritional or natural supplements and it is estimated that 150 million people take one or more of these products. These would include vitamins, minerals, essential oils, herbs of various sorts, amino acids, and other natural products and their derivatives. Gross domestic revenues for the supplement industry have mushroomed to nearly $20 billion in annual sales. It is a very big business. While many dietary supplement companies claim to have the best quality, almost none are completing all the steps that are required to comprehensively insure that quality and purity are produced every time. At this point, using current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) and comprehensive quality verification for these products is a voluntary system. The Federal Drug Agency, mandated by law, first published proposed regulations on cGMPs on 02/06/97. Much consternation from dietary supplement manufacturers and many years of delay and inquiry ensued. The FDA published their new proposal for regulation of cGMPs on 03/13/03. Since that date there have been hundreds of responses from the industry and requests for extensions for more time. This may result in not seeing final regulations in place until after the end of 2005 and possibly out to the ten-year point from when first proposed in 1997. This brings into question the authenticity of many of these products. Because of this there can be no guarantee that many of the products contain what is advertised let alone assure that there are no toxins or other contaminates in the raw materials from which they were manufactured. In fact a recently reported study done by a Notre Dame team shows high concentrations of heavy metals in many plant based supplements, and there are documented cases of poisonings from toxins that were present in ingested "natural" supplements. Most of these cases of toxicities are with herbal preparations. During a lecture, Dr. Jane J. Fanning, a nurse practitioner educator who also teaches at the medical school of the University of Southern Florida, sited a study done by the American Botanical Council (ABC) where variations of 130% in off the shelf herbal products were found. This means that some of them had 130% more of the active ingredient than listed. If taken as directed, this could be a significant overdose. The Stanford Research Institute International found in analysis of some products no identifiable advertised ingredient in some, 25% less than claimed on the label in others, or in the case of one, a 50% overdose. Vitamins and minerals are probably not much better. Dr. Nagi Kumar, a cancer research nutritionist, found in her studies and revealed during a lecture a few years ago, most commercially available vitamin manufacturers could not or would not give her the sources of their raw materials. All of this I find shocking. I am compelled to inform you about this situation. I have worked in health care for over thirty years and am a nurse practitioner with a primary care practice in northern Vermont as well as managing a small HIV/AIDS clinic, a satellite of the Department of Infectious Disease of the University of Vermont. Many of my patients at both sites take supplements. More and more research is showing the health promotion and disease prevention benefits of taking certain supplements in conjunction with a well balanced diet. And yet I have always couched my recommending the use of these products with the caution to buy the more respected brand name supplements. Still, I had doubts about even these better brand products knowing that even if they did test their raw materials, they probably used a lab that was not using proper reference standards and scientifically valid testing methods. It has been a conundrum for me until now. A friend, Enrico (Rick) Liva, N.D., RPh., whom I've known since 7 th grade, is a licensed naturopathic physician and pharmacist. He became so concerned about this situation and frustrated with the clinical ineffectiveness of the products that he was recommending, that he started his own company, ViTAL NUTRIENTS , to manufacture guaranteed quality natural products. ViTAL NUTRIENTS has the best Quality Assurance and Quality Control in the nutritional supplement industry. This is accomplished by utilizing the highest standards of manufacturing practices and laboratory quality assurance. I am making these products available to you. You can order these products from ViTAL NUTRIENTS through me, a licensed health care provider. The list of the offered products and how to order can be viewed by clicking here: ViTAL NUTRIENTS PRODUCT LIST & ORDER SITE After expenses, the revenue generated from the sale of these products through this site will be donated to the Tagdrug Mukpo Special Trust Fund. Tagdrug, affectionately known as Taggie, is the autistic son of the late Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, and Lady Diana Mukpo. I am Taggie's legal guardian. If you are interested in knowing more about Taggie, visit his web site, www.taggiemukpo.org. Thank you for your attention in understanding this matter of great concern about the lack of quality and purity in dietary supplements. Please take advantage of this opportunity of access to pharmaceutical grade supplements. Click on the VitalNutrients logo above to go to order through this site. |
