Walmart, Target and others under fire over supplements

Life can be so full of plot twists lol.

Upset at products because what is labelled is not actually in the product. Not upset at products when what is actually in the product (GMO) is not listed on the product.

High five...

originally posted by: CactusJim
Just throwing this out there. On my local news this morning, 2/4, they were reporting on this. The mentioned three times that this affected the "store brands" of the supplements. I know Walgreens, GNC and CVS have store brands. I guess Wal-Mart would be Equate. I'm not sure if they all get them from the same manufacturer or what. Just relaying what I heard on local news.

Yes, my local paper carried an AP story this morning that seemed to clarify that all the products tested were "store brands" of these items---not just items being sold by those stores. I don't patronize those big box stores so that's a bit of a relief but I'm still concerned about just where my commercially prepared supplements originate.

Even though the story is out, I saw people practically lined up tonight to put the worthless Wal-Mart "supplements" in their shopping carts. Best thing to do is to spread the word. There used to be herb shops that sold herbs, but they were all run out of business by the big chain's much cheaper fakes. Until there is mandatory testing, there is little point in buying them. I think you'd be better off growing them yourself. At least then you could say if it works or not.
a reply to: Arbitrageur carts

Equate is Wal-Mart's store brand for drugs. Spring Valley is the supplements.
a reply to: diggindirt

Most of these supplements are likely made in china.

When the bottle show no county of manufacture its almost always made in china.

If the bottles show a country of manufacture it may just be for the bottles and label and the contents still may be made in china.

originally posted by: Parthin
I think you'd be better off growing them yourself.

Yes, I think that's the only way to know for sure what you're getting, at this point. But I'm a little concerned about the content of vitamin supplements too and I can't grow those myself. Yeah I know, eat a perfect diet and you don't need supplemental vitamins, but who eats a perfect diet? Some, but they are in the minority I think.

originally posted by: theabsolutetruth
We have Holland and Barrett here in the UK, it is pretty good and sources most mainstream herbs.

There are othercompanies that do even better, sourcing rarer and organic herbs.

I would recommend that anyone buying supplements really reads into them first to be sure they are effective and for any side effects.

Nature has the answer to most things.

Personally, I recommend easily sourced things such as Turmeric as a ground spice, garlic pills, cinnamon, Manuka honey, chlorella, zinc, coenzyme Q10 and nasturtium.

I totally agree. I do quite a bit of research before deciding what supplements I will take. There is a local vitamin store near where I live. I have gotten to know the owners. While the vitamins are a little more expensive, they are still discounted quite a bit from the original price.

I have turmeric, garlic, and cinnamon in my spice rack. I've heard about manuka honey. I'll have to check into that. The only things I'm not familiar with are chlorella and nasturtium. I'll google them.

Because my hubby is retired now, I have had to cut back, and only take three supplements in addition to my vitamins.

originally posted by: Parthin
Equate is Wal-Mart's store brand for drugs. Spring Valley is the supplements.
a reply to: diggindirt

I have no worries as I don't do those big box stores anyway. Haven't been to a WalMart in over 20 years. My supplements are mostly made with locally grown products.

originally posted by: Arbitrageur

originally posted by: Parthin
I think you'd be better off growing them yourself.

Yes, I think that's the only way to know for sure what you're getting, at this point. But I'm a little concerned about the content of vitamin supplements too and I can't grow those myself. Yeah I know, eat a perfect diet and you don't need supplemental vitamins, but who eats a perfect diet? Some, but they are in the minority I think.

Actually several folks who have spent a great deal of time studying nutrition and the effects of malnutrition due to vitamin and mineral deficiencies have come to the conclusion that we actually can't get what our bodies need from the food we eat because many of the minerals we need in varying amounts are not present in the soil. Even an organic farmer can't produce fully nutritional food without the minerals present.
There are many, many health issues which could be resolved nutritionally but the Medical-Industrial-Complex prefers to hand out patented remedies for the symptoms rather than addressing the actual cause of the symptoms.

I only use third party tested supplements.

Too bad for Dr. Oz...he's been pimping Walmart Spring Valley house brand, this is bound to be another blow to his rep.

In a way, big pharma and the FDA have caused this problem. They go around banning things, and supplement companies see a chance to jump in and fill the market with sensational names, but without any real ingredients.

The bogus companies just make a label like: Ripped, Bio-Ammo, Thermogenic, "substance"-free Whatzit with a picture of a fake body on the label and people buy it.

They put in fine print, and then a list of questionable herbs and some caffeine and cross their fingers.

In the past you could rely on companies like Solgar, Twin-Labs and similar companies who allegedly had independent testing. I have not been very into supplementation and just limit various food items, try to stick with unprocessed foods, avoid pre-preprepared things in boxes.

In a way good nutrition is more about what you don't eat these days.

What I wonder is what are people taking. Powdered protein? Liquid protein? Fish oil capsules? Vitamin D and Calcium Gluconate?

If you're wanting to take Vitamin C, get bulk power. I think you can still buy Vitamin E in powder form as an acetate, but most people have cut back on taking Vit-E.

Look into how the company you want to buy has independent assays, perhaps ask for sample documentation.

Read PubMed articles for evidence of effectiveness of any supplement you might want to take. Stay away from lurid, sensational titled stuff in capsules, especially things touted by famous bodybuilders (they rarely take it with few exceptions, making money on endorsements)

Interesting topic. I think certain things from WalMart are OK, Equate brand aspirin, Aleve. Anything that can spoil, oils, I'd avoid it. You don't know how long things sit in warehouses.

originally posted by: kosmicjack
I only use third party tested supplements.

Too bad for Dr. Oz...he's been pimping Walmart Spring Valley house brand, this is bound to be another blow to his rep.

You mean he's got one left? It's hard to keep a decent rep as any sort of science based professional when you've got your wife casting spells on your patients in the OR.

a reply to: neo96

I buy from reliable suppliers and they are not cheap, my local heath store have a great one, I love Amazon reviews, I research on them before buying anything.

It does save time and money.

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: neo96

I buy from reliable suppliers and they are not cheap, my local heath store have a great one, I love Amazon reviews, I research on them before buying anything.

It does save time and money.

If you look closely and read carefully, there are only a few types of 'good' fish oil, but hundreds and hundreds of the 'wrong kind'. But some 'experts will say 'fish oil is all the same, go buy the cheapest'. Don't listen to 'experts' that much, or find the right expert.

Check out the scientist at 'https://foundmyfitness.com/' Dr Patrick is pretty decently informed. She's the modern-day Durk Pearson/Sandy Shaw, but even better informed.

I'd be curious about what you think are good suppliers and how you chose. You can PM if you don't want to say in the open.

HTH.

originally posted by: Aloysius the Gaul
a reply to: JIMC5499

False advertising. FDA can only handle any actual deleterious effects.

Neo of course won't mention that regulations can and do stop this BS all over the world - but that would require "big government"...

Yeah. But it does not stop the big government itself from being shady. It only really rearranges the furniture. It's a matter of time before whomever is going to do shady things will find a way to do it within the boundaries of the law. Which, of course, when discovered (IF it ever is) will obviously necessitate more and tighter regulations. And on and on and on.

And here's the thing. Even conservatives have LARGELY accepted MOST of the sensible proposals for regulations in many areas of life. But of course we all know how that goes. It turns out that sensible, limited regulations are just not good enough. Soon enough you have shady characters in the government because they know the initial regulations are a perfect foot in the door.

And the phrase "foot in the door" exists for a reason. Because it's actually a thing. It works. You get somebody to open a door and you wedge it open and now you have an open door. Now you can do what you couldn't do as long as that door was closed.

See. We accepted A LOT of regulations in the healthcare industry. And for good reason. A lot of them really did make sense and were probably necessary. But now look what we have as a result of that BIG BOOT that was firmly wedged in that door. Now we have the government demanding that we buy health insurance and fining us if we don't.

So what I'm saying is we opened the door. We trusted them and they screwed us. Because they could.

You see. I'm sure there are people who are complete anarchists and don't want any laws or regulations. I'm not one of them. But I'm one of the people who gets burned when I trust power grabs. And I don't like it. I think the least we can do is to make sure they can only take this crap so far.

Just about every vitamin and supplement I've ever bought says right there on the bottle that it's not approved to treat any disease or illness. If the government really has good intentions here, why do they need more regulations? If you can't #ing read the label on a bottle of vitamins, you probably deserve whatever you get.

Of course it's shady to sell this stuff to people even with the label but here's the thing. Doctors prescribe all kinds of stuff they don't really understand and millions of people get crazy side effects from TESTED, APPROVED, REGULATED medications and it's up to them to go back to the doctor and say "Hey doc. Ever since I started taking this blood pressure pill I've been coughing up blood. Do you think it might not be good for me?"

90% of the time, the doctor has no damn clue whether it's actually the medication or not that's caused some horrible side effect and they just fumble their way through it. And guess what? People do actually die because of medications their doctors prescribed. Well, they can't say they weren't warned. Watch any commercial for any miracle drug and you'll hear that same man with the nasal, really irritating voice warning you about all the dire things that MIGHT happen to you if you take this drug. And does it do any good? Does anyone really listen to the warnings? When was the last time you actually read the papers that come with your prescriptions? I don't. I throw them away.

I personally know people who have had severe side effects from drugs prescribed to them by doctors. And if I do, I'm sure most people do. So regulations DO NOT necessarily fix things anyway.

I don't like it but the way I look at it is I don't take anything I don't need to take and if I'm trying a supplement, I try to stick with things that have been around for ages. And I do it carefully. I take one and see how if it produces the desired effect or any adverse effects.

And actually, if you really wanted to, any individual could probably send samples to a lab and have them tested. It probably wouldn't be cheap but it's possible. Why don't people who claim they care about these things form watchdog groups comprised of actual concerned citizens and do it themselves? It's at least as easy as trusting the government to maintain neutrality and restrain itself. Because once something is in law and is a part of government, it can't go any higher. Nobody watches the government. You can't regulate the regulators. And even if you could, you couldn't even try to without a large group of concerned citizens who totally get the goal and stay focused and never stop watching. That doesn't happen in countries where people just decide they're going to let the government regulate everything and trust them to be fair and objective and not shady.