I use this site to verify my supps: https://labdoor.com/
Awesome initiative! Consumer research is a neglected space but has immense potential. A lot hard work I presume. All the best.
One question, why do companies get a badge of approval with undisclosed sources? As a consumer, I would be really interested to discover companies who are transparent about where they source their ingredients from.
Thank you for this! It would be helpful to show your research in more detail to give confidence in the accuracy of the information in the table.
The page states that Amazon or iHerb referrals are used depending on which price is the lowest. Amazon is known for counterfeiting- I would never by a supplement from there. Stick with iHerb, which is effectively a first party only store but has reliably fast and cheap shipping of supplements.
Besides ingredient sourcing, if you are interested in this site you may be interested in whether the supplement contains what it claims- consumerlab.com regularly tests supplements to verify the contents and also look for toxic impurities.
This is great! I don't see Pure Encapsulations which is one I'm familiar with, could you add this soon? Is there a way on your website to request a brand if it's not listed?
Not really related to the OP, but is there any scientific proof behind the whole industry of supplements? We have lived thousands of years without, even currently most people live without, and AFAIK we don’t give supplements to other species. It’s hard for me to think it’s not all snake oil.
Some even seem outright dangerous. One my girlfriend takes recommends 2 tablets per day (of Vitamin D I think) which equates 1000% of the daily recommended amount…
Love it! I've been meaning source my supplements more intelligently than via local sales and bargins, particularly as I have family that can't go without some. A friend mentioned companies that create custom multivitamins, but without looking into it, I assume it comes with a markup; OTOH, I own and love a Little Capsule Machine, but still do t have the time to buy in bluk and use it.
Other's are welcome to reply with your own situation and thoughts!
Nice work aggregating data! I'd skip the affiliate links in the name of building a better set of data for everyone, but.. whatever. Maybe publish your datasets? Please display tips either hover-over or static or whatever that describe the acronyms on the table. Also your pagination is pretty unbearable, why so few results per page? Overall thank you for helping me reduce search time
I would love to see some crowd-sourced "clinical trials" of supplements, done in the right way. I'm getting tired of the pattern supplement works -> person posts raving review -> supplement stops working after 2 weeks -> person doesn't take down review.
Myprotein is one of bigger brands in the UK and many other countries. Wonder if it can be included?
Do you account for DNA testing results? (insert obligatory “a pox on orrin hatch” here)
Great tool, I will reference this in the future!
There are currently no search results for Centrum Adults, which is the "Amazon's Choice" multivitamin (at least for me).
This is great. I wish this existed 10 years ago as I had struggled to find this information and eventually gave up. Bookmarked
It'd be great to have an option to filter by seller.
Garden of Life: "Global Ingredients". Why even list a brand when you have no data on the source?
No NootropicsDepot? Darn
whats cGMP,GMP ?
The work being done by ConsumerLab is really useful, but of course one has to pay for it. They are not quite so concerned with the source of the ingredients but they do laboratory testing to find out how much of the nutrient or principal is actually in the product and what the variation is. A label-focused approach, unfortunately, leaves a wide space for nearly outright lying in this field. For example, you can find 1200mg fish oil capsules that do not weigh 1200mg, including capsule. They may be filled with fish oil or with a mix of fish and other oils. The fish oil could be depleted of certain fatty acids after making an enriched product that is sold separately. Other supplements may claim to be herbal medications but are actually adulterated with the prescription medication to achieve an effect.
Current Good Manufacturing Practice is a good thing but in the supplement industry is mostly an attestation. Unlike drugs, supplement manufacturers are usually not evaluated by the FDA unless they have collected evidence of problems at the facility. It requires people designated as quality control officers, written practices, and storage of samples, but, unlike drugs, nobody checks this stuff before a supplement is sold. The supplement industry has had some powerful congressional allies, and it is possible that too much regulation would cause congress to revoke the FDA's authority over supplements entirely. (My speculation).
Another standard is USP. This standard includes GMP and goes beyond it, with verification of potency, vehicle breakdown/release of ingredient, and measurement of contaminants.
There are several well-known brands that are consistently on-target with their supplements, and others that are frequently off target. I haven't reviewed the data recently so I won't list them here.
https://www.consumerlab.com/ https://www.usp.org/dietary-supplements-herbal-medicines https://www.quality-supplements.org/