Branding does not mean a supplement is U.S.-made
Sep 28, 2012, 10:23 PM | Updated: 10:24 pm
I have received many emails asking me about store or private label nutritional supplement brands and my answer is mixed.
The real reason for private brands is so that the retailer can make a higher profit margin, but sometimes will sell the product at a lower price than the same product with a brand name. However, very often the quality and standards of production are less than the brand name. Admittedly, this too is not always.
As I said before, be sure, if you can, that the product is made in the U.S. Products from China, India, Vietnam, etc. are always highly suspect for contamination. Look for the NSF and/or Health Canada label, as this does carry some weight. Do not believe the sales person telling you that the house brand products are pharmaceutical grade!
Ask them what that means. Where is the documentation? Remember, these are food products and poorly regulated. If Pfizer can lie about certain products where it has deep pockets if sued and because it is a more tightly FDA-controlled company, do you not believe that a small retailer who “flies under the radar screen” for selling “food products” is any more honest?
It varies amongst manufacturers, but one company can make the same product and label it with their known national brand name. Laotian Monks Joint Harmony, a nationally sold “discount” private label is sometimes sold alongside their brand name, Save Rite Arthritis Formula, on the shelf but at a lower price and/or the retail store’s own private label, Desert Healing Shoppes’ 7 Coyotes Movement Remedy.
Many manufacturers sell their already-made products to medical practitioners and mom and pop online stores as well. They have small minimum orders, so anyone can get started, and they offer free or minimal-cost generic labels and design services for those just getting started.
This is business and I have no problem with business! The issue is, how do people compare? How do you know what the heck you are buying? I will say, to be fair, that U.S. companies are being killed by super-low pricing on single content products like CoQ10, Vitamin C, etc. by the Chinese, who are either distributing in America or own many “U.S.” manufacturing companies, whereby raw, processed or completely manufactured nutritional supplements are sold here under the guise of being American-made!
Last, to compete, supplement manufacturers make up “formulas” with multiple ingredients so that their products cannot be compared or price shopped with others. Is there “science,” or at least well-documented experience, behind Dr. Schmeegal’s Joint Salvation Formula?
Of course, the same documentation in every alien movie! in the movies! It’s real!