subscribers about the vitamins and supplements that they use. The results below are based on 10,862 responses collected in November, 2012. Respondents gave ratings for 1,438 brands and 851 merchants. Of these, 91 brands and 40 merchants each received at least 100 consumer ratings. Among these popular brands and merchants, those receiving the best (highest) rating on overall consumer satisfaction within their specific market segment are listed below. (See separate news release about .)Direct Selling (MLM) Brand:Discount/Warehouse Brand: Kirkland (Costco)Food/Drug/Mass -- Broad Product Line: Nature MadeFood/Drug/Mass -- Narrow Product Line: Ester-CGrocery Store Brand: Trader Darwin (Trader Joe’s)Healthcare Practitioner Brand: Douglas LabsHealth Food Store Brand: Barlean’sVitamin Store Brand: Vitamin WorldCanadian Brand: Natural FactorsGlucosamine & Chondroitin: Puritan’s PrideProbiotic: Garden of Life * Excludes direct sales brands due to potential respondent bias
Direct Sales (MLM): NutriliteGrocery Store: Trader Joe'sMood, sleep & energy Nature Made® is committed to offering high-quality products that help support energy metabolism, sleep and a healthy mood. ® or at your local CVS Pharmacy® We take your health to heart Nature Made® is the #1 pharmacist-recommended brand of omega-3/fish oil, cholesterol management-natural and coenzyme Q10,* three supplements that help support heart health and function. A daily multivitamin/mineral supplement can be the foundation to a nutrition regimen. Help fill key nutrient gaps from your diet with essential vitamins and minerals, all carefully made to our high quality standards. Verified vitamins & supplements USP Verified mark guarantees quality, purity and potency The first vitamin brand to earn USP verification Beautiful skin starts with a healthy diet, adequate hydration and plenty of sleep. Try supplements that can help support healthy skin to help keep us looking our best.
Certification you can sink your teeth into. Nature Made® is the first gummy vitamin verified by the USP. Get quality, fruit-flavored goodness. Mood, energy & sleep regular prices.* Excludes Photo. Free 2-day shipping on orders over $49. Enjoy healthy choices every day. Buy 1, get 1 savings Buy 1, get 1 50% off Cold, Cough & Flu Get ready for spring! Buy 2, get 1 free Free 72 count of Honest Wipes with purchase of 2 of the qualifying Honest Diapers. Use coupon code HONESTWIPES *Offer available online only. Expires 3/18/17 at 11:59 PM ET. To receive the 30% discount, enter Coupon Code SAVE30 at Checkout. The 30% discount cannot be combined with another product sale running at the same time. The following products and brands are excluded from the discount: Baby Food & Formula, Select Bulk & Case Packs, Differin, Ensure Nutrition Powder, Essie, FLONASE SENSIMIST, HP Ink & Toner, Lift Chairs, Neutrogena Light Therapy, Oraquick, Perfume & Cologne, Prevagen, Pre-Seed, Scooters, Wheelchairs, Wunderbrow and Zanfel.
/Photo, curbside pickup and CVS Pharmacy® Optical. Savings are not transferable. Tax charged on precoupon price where required. Tax and shipping charges are not applicable towards your order total. Free 2-day shipping applies to a nonprescription order that totals $49 or more after all discounts have been applied. Learn more about 2-day shipping. **Offer available online only. Expires 4/1/17 at 11:59 PM ET. To receive the $10 discount add $30 or more from the Vitamin department to your shopping cart and enter Coupon Code VITAMIN10 at Checkout.Adding Value and ConvenienceDiet & Weight Management Home Related to Diet & Weight Management Weight Loss & Obesity Food & Fitness Planner Some Fish Oil Supplements Fishy on Quality Consumer Reports: Some Popular Fish Oil Supplements May Contain PCBs Dec. 7, 2011 -- Some popular fish oil supplements may be a little fishy when it comes to quality. A new test of 15 top-selling fish oil supplements by Consumer Reports shows five fell a bit short on quality.
The good news is all 15 of the fish oil supplements evaluated by an independent lab contained their labeled amount of EPA and DHA, omega-3 fatty acids that have been shown to reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke. But four of the fish oil supplements tested contained trace levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). “In our recent tests, we found that some were not as pure as one might think,” Ronni Sandroff, editorial director of Health and Family at Consumer Reports, says in a news release. Another supplement’s coating failed to meet U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP, a non-government pharmaceutical standards-setting organization) standards for disintegration. PCBs in Fish Oil Supplements None of the fish oil supplements contained contaminants, such as lead, mercury, or PCBs, that exceeded levels set by USP or the European Union. However, four of the fish oil supplements contained total PCBs in levels that would require warning labels under California’s Proposition 65, a consumer right-to-know law.
PCBs are part of a group of man-made organic chemicals that were widely used in industry until they were banned in 1979 after they were linked to cancer. Although no longer in use, the chemicals accumulate in the environment and are sometimes found in fish and plants that have been exposed to contaminated water or soil. Researchers say most of the tested fish oil supplements claimed to be “purified” or “free” of PCBs and other contaminants. But those claims have no specific regulatory definition, according to the FDA. Dietary supplement companies base these claims on self-regulatory or European standards. For example, the USP limit on PCBs is 2 parts per trillion per gram. The report does not say what levels of PCBs were found in the fish oil supplements. Researchers say the total PCB amounts in four brands (CVS Natural, GNC Triple Organic, Nature’s Bounty Odorless, and Sundown Naturals) were below the USP safe limit but within the range that would require a warning label under California’s Proposition 65, 90 parts per billion.
Putting Fish Oil Supplements to the Test For the report, the consumer agency purchased three lots of 15 different top-selling brands of fish oil supplements online and in the New York metropolitan area. The samples were sent to a lab where they were tested for contaminants as well as spoilage and whether they disintegrated properly. Two of the three samples of Kirkland Signature Enteric 1200 fish oil supplements had an enteric coating (designed to prevent a fishy aftertaste) that did not disintegrate properly. The coating may break up in the stomach rather than in the small intestine, as desired for proper absorption by the body. Nine brands passed all quality measures tested, including: Barlean’s Organic Oils EPA-DHA Nature Made 1,200 MG The Vitamin Shoppe Meg-3 EPA-DHA Carlson Super Omega-3 Gems Norwegian Gold Ultimate Critical Omega One product, Nordic Naturals, could not be properly evaluated because it contained lemon oil, and there are no industry-standard tests that Consumer Reports could find that could test for spoilage in products with lemon oil.
Nordic Naturals did meet every other quality measure in the study, though. How to Find the Best Fish Oil Supplements The authors say even the brands that passed all their quality measures contained at least some detectable level of most of the contaminants. A spokesman for the dietary supplement industry says PCBs are everywhere in the environment, especially in fish. The tests picked up only very trace amounts of the contaminants that were within the limits set by the USP and European Union. “The big take-home [message] is that all 15 supplements passed all laws and regulations as far as quality, as well as voluntary regulations for USP levels for toxins,” says Duffy MacKay, ND, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at the Council for Responsible Nutrition. He advises that people looking for a quality fish oil supplement follow these steps: Look for companies that disclose their results for testing for environmental contaminants. Look for supplements that have third-party verification, such as USP.