Are your supplements all they're cracked up to be?

"Testing of the quality of more than 1200 dietary supplement products by the independent laboratory ConsumerLab.com found that 1 in 4 dietary supplement products, lacked the labeled ingredients or had other serious problems such as unlisted ingredients or contaminants." SERIOUSLY!!! That's 25% of supplements!!!

Have enough respect for your body to put only the best foods, vitamins, and supplements in it. We often are foolish in our assumption that just because a product is labeled as "natural", that it is too mild to create any issues when you ingest it.  You need to be sure to let your doctor or pharmacist know about anything you take, (vitamin/mineral/herbal supplement) as there is always a potential for interactions with your medications. And be sure the companies you purchase from are doing their due diligence and crafting your supplements from only the best ingredients, in the cleanest environment, with routine analysis of the products to be sure they are free of contaminants and contain as much of the active ingredients as their label claims. 

Just remember, that many of our current prescription and over-the-counter meds started out somewhere in nature... aspirin? penicillin??

Hussain MS. Patient counseling about herbal-drug interactions. Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. 2011;8(S):152-163