Comment · Tue, July 18, 2023 · Nootropics Depot & Natrium Health
Independent Lab Testing Results Of Supplements On The Market
Original post in this thread
MisterYouAreSoDumb · 156 points
Hey everyone, I've never actually posted in this sub. However, I saw a new research study today that I wanted to bring up. It highlights why my main mission over the past 10 years has been to not only advance the lab testing and quality control standards of the industry, but also to educate consumers on what to look out for, and how things work in the background. We are all ingesting these products! We are putting them into our bodies, so it's crucial that companies selling them do everything necessary to ensure they are what they claim to be, and are pure and free from contaminants. That is unfortunately the vast exception to the rule. Some of you may or may not remember my post about turkesterone results from last year.
That whole situation blew way up, and every jabroni on YouTube was making videos about it. Some were saying I was a liar and fraud, and just trying to sell products. Some were saying I was in for massive lawsuits. Most were just doing it to get their 5 minute…
What they were answering
Montaigne314 · 7 points
That's the author Pieter Cohen's position on all this, that the government needs to step in. However, I still hold out hope that we can force change from inside the industry. That requires all of you to help spread this message, hold brands accountable, and force positive change.
The supplements industry will continue to grow while selling products with limited research and as your post informs, often inaccurate products.
I think the industry needs better regulation. Unless you get a boycott going of offending companies they have no motivation to change.
I'd like to also see better large scale robust studies done on the efficacy of these products including assessing their safety. The industry generally just pumps out biased small studies when they actually do research. I'd like some kind of requirements around these products providing efficacy/safety, government research or grants to third parties to do the research etc.
Or at the very least a requirement where any product you buy MUST include a third party verified lab analysis of the product batch. Not all companies release COAs and not all COAs are created equal. Make a standardized and legitimate COA that is actually informative to test potency, purity, accuracy.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Nootropics Depot & Natrium Health
The industry has tons of regulations. It just needs better enforcement of the regulations already in place. People often say that supplements are unregulated. That can't be further from the truth. Just read 21 CFR 111, or the text in the DSHEA. You'll find the supplement industry is more regulated than most other industries. That's just the FDA side, too. Then you have the FTC guidelines to follow about claims. People parrot around the idea that you can say whatever you want about supplements, but that's absolutely false. Just look at the recent action by the FTC who sent enforcement letters to almost 700 supplement companies about unsubstantiated claims. This industry has an insane amount of regulations. It's the uneven enforcement of those regulations that gives people the idea it's not regulated at all.
I'd like to also see better large scale robust studies done on the efficacy of these products including assessing their safety. The industry generally just pumps out biased small studies when they actually do research. I'd like some kind of requirements around these products providing efficacy/safety, government research or grants to third parties to do the research etc.
We need more government grants funding studies again. I agree. We then need all the papers that are published under public funding to be free to the public. No more monopoly by Elsevier locking data that the US public paid for with tax money behind paywalls. Hell, one of the original co-founders of Reddit, Aaron Swartz, died because he tried to fight that.
Or at the very least a requirement where any product you buy MUST include a third party verified lab analysis of the product batch. Not all companies release COAs and not all COAs are created equal. Make a standardized and legitimate COA that is actually informative to test potency, purity, accuracy.
I mean, the requirement that the product needs to have what it claims is already there. The COA issue is more of a consumer-led thing. Moreover, there are plenty of fake dry labs putting out fraudulent COAs all over the industry, and consumers don't know how to spot them. Even legitimate labs often use faulty science or non-validated methods to give results. The laws are already in place that would punish people for this fraud. It's just not something enforced often. Hopefully that will change.