Many of us were a little surprised to see the recall of all 14 Hydroxycut brands yesterday by the FDA. I say “a little” surprised because supplement industry insiders have seen this coming for quite some time, along with a pending recall of some of the other popular extreme-energy enhancers.
The supplement industry has been teetering on the fence of regulations for quite some time now. As an “insider,” I do believe that regulation is a good thing. We have spent the first part of this year doing research and formulations on our highly anticipated Organics™ Supplement Line. One of our initial mandates to the formulators was to use all natural ingredients. Of course, as a trusted fitness brand, we have a team of top nutritionists and physicians to survey each ingredient, as well as its compound effects. We also use a top formulator, who has scientists on staff to verify and also do testing. As a consumer you might be surprised to know that none of this is actually required… which is quite scary when you really think about it. It is up to each individual company to create and maintain its internal standards.
Now, any consumer products expert will tell you, that the key to a great supplement line is repeat sales, and referrals from happy consumers. To this end, it makes sense to make the best products possible – this is likely one of the reasons the supplement industry has been creating largely beneficial products for the past 100 years – but consumers and resellers of supplements would be better to get all the facts… and to do a little due diligence of their own as to what’s actually inside of the products that they are taking.
Chris Palumbo is the founder of the elements fitness brand and the Chairman of elements group, which includes Organics™ Supplement Line and BalanceD Diet.
Tags: elements organics, FDA, hydroxycut, supplement industry
