Not All Supplements Are Created Equal



Recently in California it was discovered that many common brands of fish oil contain up to 70 times the permissible "safe" levels of lead and PCBs. There were 74 manufacturers that were named in a suit on behalf of proposition 65 in California that requires companies to disclose that their product had been tested to have unsafe levels of lead. Proposition 65 is the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 requiring manufacturers to notify potential consumers of possible lead exposure.

Funny thing about this is that lead was high in these fish oils. Lead is not normally a concern in fish oil manufacturing but mercury is because of the fish source. Since lead is the object of prop 65 and mercury is not, I think it is still reasonable to be concerned about accumulating mercury levels from these fish oils. One patient I treated for very high levels of lead and mercury in the blood (recent exposure) could only isolate his lead and mercury exposure to a fish oil purchased at a common Warehouse coop and one dinner with swordfish in the past 2 months. After stopping the fish oil, and starting a clean one I recommended, his blood lead and mercury levels went back to normal after a few months. PCBs are also a huge concern in fish oils and farmed salmon.

There was also one reported incident of Selenium toxicity in a patient taking a multiple vitamin/mineral supplement that contained 200 TIMES the stated level of Selenium on the label. This post is to warn all of you out there to be careful that your supplement products are manufacturer using GMP practices (Good Manufacturing Practices) certification. The scary thing is that a few of these companies cited in California for excessive Lead and PCBs had GMP certification. Below is the list of companies named in the suit in California.

We will soon be opening an online store so that our readers can get safe, consistent supplements with reliable testing. So many people waste their money on supplements that are either not sufficient or unregulated and in more and more cases, toxic.

DEFENDANTS NAMED IN THE LAWSUIT in California

21st Century Healthcare, Inc.

Apex Fitness Group, A division of 24 Hour Fitness USA

Biosan Laboratories

Bluebonnet Nutrition Corporation

Bronson Nutritionals

Buried Treasure, a division of Life Line Food Inc.

Clinician's Choice

D&E Pharmaceuticals

Davinci Laboratories of Vermont

Delaware Natrol

Designs For Health

Douglas Laboratories

Dynamic Health Laboratories

Enzymatic Therapy

Esteem Products

Fairhaven Health

Foodscience Corporation

Foodscience of Vermont

Futurebiotics

Genspec Labs

Health Authority Dba Doctor's Trust Vitamins

Hxn Corporation

Dba Health Xpress

Integrative Therapeutics

Irwin Naturals

J.R. Carlson Laboratories

Kirkman

Kordial Nutrients

Maximum International

Metabolic Maintenance Products

Metagenics

Mountain Naturals of Vermont

Natural Organics

Nature's Secret

Nature's Way Products

Nbty

New Chapter

Nexgen Pharma

Nf Formulas

Now Foods

Nutribiotic

Nutritional Specialties

Nutri-west

Olympian Labs

Only Natural

Optimal Nutrients, USA, a division of Pegasus Plus

Pioneer Nutritional Formulas

Pure Essence Laboratories

Rainbow Light Nutritional Systems

Solgar

Spring Valley Herbs & Natural Foods

Supernutrition Life-extension Research

The Daily Wellness Company

The Vitamin Shoppe Industries

Threshold Enterprises, the Parent Company Of Source Naturals

True Fit Vitamins

Universal Nutrition

Wyeth Laboratories

From http://www.greenhealthspot.com/


We purchase ours from Costco..Kirkland brand but don't know if it's from another brand...been meaning to move over to Krill oil ... a good time to start looking but I guess there's no real guarantee that what we buy is safe unless you take it to a lab and have it tested... just seems like you can't trust anything anymore...sigh... ~nancy

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