Vitamin Supplements

November 30, 2024 5:20 AM

What countries have stronger legal standards for supplements?

I take supplements for my migraines and was wondering what countries have stronger legal requirements / standards for supplements? I would love to be able to buy something and know that it's actually 200mg of B2 for example.

posted by Art_Pot to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

This does not exactly answer your question, but I believe most actual vitamins can be acquired with a prescription. That would do what you want I think, ie guarantee the amount.
posted by aetg at 6:09 AM on November 30

Lots of countries have standards, but the question I think you actually want to ask is which countries have proactive testing and enforcement, and unfortunately there the answer (as far as I know) is none. In Canada and the USA supplements companies tend only to get enforcement action after complaints, which means they get away with things for a while first. Instead I suggest you look for independent lab testing e.g.
https://www.consumerlab.com/brands/.

Note this is not a recommendation of that specific service, I've never used it myself.
posted by tiamat at 6:09 AM on November 30

This does not exactly answer your question, but I believe most actual vitamins can be acquired with a prescription.

I think ask your doctor for a prescription for your supplements is a great answer to this question.

I take a vitamin supplement that's prescribed and have for years. I have something that's Actually Wrong with me, so it's vitally important that the supplement is Actually What It Says. So I get it prescribed and sent to me by the pharmacy with my other drug-type-drugs.
posted by phunniemee at 6:44 AM on November 30

I worked with a hepatologist who treated liver diseases. Many of our patients with hepatitis were devoted believers in taking vitamins and supplements. The doctor told me (and patients who asked) that the most regulated and tested vitamins and supplements were manufactured in Germany. However, most of our patients went no further than GNC for their bottles of milk thistle, turmeric and glycyrrhizin.

We several times took care of patients who routinely took massive doses of vitamins, including vitamin A, a vitamin that the body stores in fat and where excess doesn't just "pee out" like, for example, vitamin C. At least one developed liver failure. So please be judicious when taking fat-stored vitamins!
posted by citygirl at 7:14 AM on November 30

Australia does not have a separate regulatory category for dietary supplements, some of which will be classified as foods but most of which actually end up classified as medicines and regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. The TGA performs both proactive and reactive testing and enforcement to help ensure that goods classified as medicines contain what they purport to on their labels.

Vitamin B2 is classified as medicine in Australia.
posted by flabdablet at 8:26 AM on November 30

If you're looking for a non-prescription supplement in the US, you can look for the USP Mark as verification that the supplement is of the strength or quantity specified on the label.

I've had a prescription for a mineral that's commonly available as a supplement but not in my specific dose for many years - aetg's assertion that you can get prescription-grade supplements is also absolutely the case.
posted by eschatfische at 9:50 AM on November 30

I order b12 injections from a German pharmacy named ApoHealth. If you are in the US, they ship and are pretty fast. They have a B2 made in Germany, it's unfortunately not cheap.
posted by nanook at 11:59 AM on November 30

And also, their customer service seems pretty solid, you could probably just write them and ask them about testing in Germany.
posted by nanook at 12:01 PM on November 30

Outside of actual pharmaceutical products as mentioned above, ConsumerLab is a (paid) journalism site that does laboratory testing of over-the-counter supplements, food products, and so on, and reports on not only how much of the actual ingredient are in them, but also issues like contamination with heavy metals and so forth. Here's an example, from their analysis of vitamin B supplements. You might find it worth checking out.
posted by etealuear_crushue at 12:22 PM on November 30

Thanks all, I'll talk to my Doc about getting the supplements subscribed, but until then I'll look into getting some from Australia or Germany.
posted by Art_Pot at 6:38 AM on December 1