dietary supplement labels

First look at the ingredient list + the proportion of active ingredients, then check the compliance of the efficacy claims, and finally confirm the official certification mark of the product - don’t be dazzled by the “special effects” and “pure natural” printed on the packaging that are bigger than your face, the small print on the label is where the truth is hidden.

Last week, I accompanied my sister to pick out DHA for my 3-year-old nephew. The counter sister kept us talking for ten minutes, saying that "algae oil extraction is smarter" and "the content is three times higher than that of other products." I took the box and looked at the label on the back. The first ingredient in the ingredient list was glucose syrup, and the DHA content was listed in parentheses. Each pill was only 12 mg, which is equivalent to 1/10 of the child's daily requirement. The rest was all sugar water and flavors. Isn't this just selling packaging money?

Nowadays, many popular science accounts claim that "the first ingredient in the ingredient list must be the active ingredient, otherwise it is garbage." This is actually a bit absolute. A friend I know who is engaged in preparation research and development said that the daily requirement of some functional ingredients is extremely low, such as melatonin and vitamin B12. A few milligrams a day is enough. You can’t require it to be ranked ahead of microcrystalline cellulose, which can account for dozens of percent, right? As long as the excipients and disintegrants necessary for tableting meet the national standards, there is no problem. Of course, if you are allergic, you should pay more attention to the allergen notice at the end of the ingredient list - I once had a friend who was allergic to soy protein. After eating a B-complex without allergens, he had a rash all over his body for three days. Later, he found out that the excipients inside were extracted from soybeans, and the label was hidden in the corner without writing it.

After talking about the ingredients and then looking at the efficacy column, more people will fall into the trap. There are a total of 27 approved efficacy claims for blue hat health foods in our country. They are like "enhancing immunity", "supplementing vitamin C", "improving iron deficiency anemia" and the like. Whenever you see "curing diabetes", "anti-tumor" and "curing insomnia" on the label, don't think too much. It is either a fake or illegal promotion, just throw it away. Many people find it strange when shopping overseas. Why do supplements purchased in the United States have a line printed on the label: "This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease." Did you buy fake goods? In fact, no, this is a mandatory requirement of the FDA. They do not review the efficacy of dietary supplements in advance, but only require manufacturers to ensure their own safety, so they must be marked with this sentence as a disclaimer. On the contrary, those overseas shopping products that do not mark anything and boast of them are most likely to be three-no products sold by small Chinese factories.

Don’t be reassured just by looking at the blue hat and TGA certification mark printed on the label. Nowadays, a P logo is easier than drinking a glass of water. Last year on Double Eleven, my colleague bought a liver-protecting tablet. The blue cap in the picture on the details page was clearly visible, but when I received the product, the printing looked blurry. I helped him go to the official website of the State Food and Drug Administration to enter the batch number on the label, and found out that it corresponded to an ordinary vitamin C tablet. Even if the package was changed, it was sold for three times the price. The same goes for buying overseas products. The Australian TGA and EU EFSA certifications do mean that the production is compliant, but it does not mean that they are suitable for us to eat. I have bought a European iron supplement before, and the label states that each pill contains 60mg of iron, which is almost three times the recommended amount for Chinese adult women. It would be strange if you can't eat it every day without problems.

I also have a habit of buying supplements myself, which is to take a look at the "Nutrient Reference Value % (NRV%)". For example, the NRV% of vitamin C is 100%, which means that one pill is just enough for a healthy adult to supplement for a day. If it is 500%, I will only take one pill before catching a cold or when I stay up late, not every day. After all, if I eat too much water-soluble vitamins, although they will be excreted in the urine, it will also put a burden on the kidneys. Of course, some nutritionist friends say that this number is only applicable to ordinary healthy people. It is best for pregnant women, children, and the elderly to calculate separately based on the "Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents". Don't buy directly based on NRV%. This is true. Special groups must be treated specially.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the label is the "solid foundation" delivered by the manufacturer to consumers. Eight out of ten of the large advertising slogans printed on the front of the package are marketing gimmicks. Turning to the back and reading a few lines of small words is much more useful than listening to the sales pitch for half an hour. Oh, by the way, if the words on the label are so small that you have to use your phone to zoom in to see them clearly, they are probably hiding bad ingredients and falsely labeled contents on purpose. Just turn around and leave. This is all based on my little experience gained over six or seven years. It may not be completely correct, but it is definitely enough for daily use.