Where do "health" supplement companies get their ingredients from?

October 30, 2008 11:02 AM

Where do "health" supplement companies get their ingredients from?

I'm sure they don't produce it on their own, where do they get it from? I'm assuming most companies buy (in bulk) from the same pool of companies.

I'm talking about things like whey protein powder, amino acids, green tea extract, creatine, anything that is sold at GNC/VitaminShoppe.

(It seems like this would be something Tim Ferris has written about but I can't find it.)

posted by wolfkult to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

They likely get their raw materials from scientific supply companies. In the US that would probably be Fisher Scientific, Sigma Aldrich, or VWR.
posted by stefanie at 2:33 PM on October 30, 2008

The higher quality supplements are manufactured in Europe, particularly Germany. The lower quality supplement ingredients are produced in Asia, particularly China.

If you're interested in buying in bulk you generally have to go through one of the middle level distributors (search google for 'whey bulk supplier' to find a few)
posted by zentrification at 6:04 PM on October 30, 2008