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Question About Buying Supplements OnlinePosted By Adrienne (ID) on 08/18/2023
I recently learned about fake supplements even though they have been online, especially on Amazon, since at least 2015. As I was reeling from this awful discovery, I thought of my favorite website, Earth Clinic, and all the people using this site. Has Earth Clinic warned about the fake supplement problem? I haven't seen any warnings, but what I have learned is that some unscrupulous people, just interested in money, apparently, have found a way to copy the labels of legit products as well as the products themselves and they are selling these things as if they were real. They could be dangerous. Some information about this says that if we find a product that is fulfilled by Amazon it will be legit.
Other websites say that orders taken by illegitimate sellers on Amazon are combined with legitimate orders, the products, that is, and then they are packaged. It's like they are all tossed into a big bin to be placed in boxes. So one may be receiving a real product or they may be getting a fake one, even when fulfilled by Amazon. I take this very seriously and am trying to find ways around it. One way is to buy directly from the manufacturer. Standard Process, even though they claim to want us to go through a naturopath who sells their products, is selling on Amazon through a distributor called "Pattern". Healthy Origins is doing the same. I spoke with representatives of both, and they said they have started selling through Pattern and that Pattern is legit. Personally, I think EC should at least, if it hasn't already, post some suggestions for avoiding phony supplements. I am in touch with the FDA to see what more I can learn. Surprisingly, the FDA does do some regulating of supplements, I've always heard they don't do anything, but they have not addressed the fake supplement issue. I asked them if they could require all supplement makers to register with them and to state the name or names of their distributors. That way, we could go to this giant list, hopefully it would be in alphabetical order!, and learn which sellers are safe. Anyway, I'd love to hear back from you on this. Thank you, Adrienne
Replied by Hollyhock (America ) on 08/20/2023
Replied by Madelyn (Idaho) on 08/21/2023
It is true that there are number of fly by night sellers on Amazon, many of which are selling counterfeit product. I received a bottle of counterfeit supplements in 2011 when ordering on Amazon. Since then, I have been very careful using Amazon for supplements. Vitacost gets their product directly from the manufacturers. They also have their own line of supplements which are both affordable and effective.
