[EllaC]

Joined this to read reviews and results of testing herbs supplements etc?
Just heard about in on Dr Oz show how they found some manufacturers putting dodgey ingredients etc in some supplements.

I did a brief search and it showed all the major suppliers a lot of us use but you can't access the information.. I wondered if anyone's joined or if it's worth joining...

Thanks in advance

[Sandra]

I've been a Consumer Lab member twice (i.e. for 2 separate years). I found it very insightful. It gave me a good understanding of which brands "fail" to pass the tests more and which are better. You have to pay for the whole year but I don't think it automatically re-charged my card after my membership expired.

It was also educational because I learned that some supplements are easier to "get right" and some others are trickier (such as milk thistle--only one brand I researched was approved).

To give you an idea, this was some notes of the result of my research from a couple of years ago:
Approved:
PP 15/15 (I believe this was Puritan's Pride)
GNC 10/10
Swanson 6/6
Vitamin Shoppe 8/8
Jarrow 7/7
Doctor's Best: 3/3 (Alpha Lipoic Acid, Magnesium, Q10)
Life Extension: 5/5
Vitamin World 10/10
Carlson's Lab 6/6
Country Life 5/6 (potassium, ALA, Resveratrol, Zinc, B)
(not approved: Vegetarian Dry Vit A: only 72%)
Nature's Way 4/5 (Prost Active, St. John's W.
(Not approved: Alive!Whole food energizer--contaminated)
Nature's Answer 1/2
Nature Made 4/4
Nature's Plus 6/8
Natrol 6/9 (not approved: Yohimebe, My Fav Multiple-Vit, Feel Anew MSM)
Now: 5/8 (not approved: fish oil either less than claimed or spoilage!.
Men's multi vit. black cohosh root: lead contamination)
Kirkland: 2/4 (Calcium, Joint,)
21st Century: 2/2
USANA: 3/3

Hope this helps!

[AbiDrew85]

Consumer Lab is a scam. They charge the consumers to access the information, and they charge the manufacturers to do a favorable review. They intentionally mismanage the reviews of the manufacturers who refuse to pay and then try to ruin them by publishing the unfavorable review, while promoting the products of those who do pay.

The concept is a good one, and I wish we had a true honest impartial review agency for these products... But the execution is incredibly flawed for this particular company.

[EllaC]

I've been a Consumer Lab member twice (i.e. for 2 separate years). I found it very insightful. It gave me a good understanding of which brands "fail" to pass the tests more and which are better. You have to pay for the whole year but I don't think it automatically re-charged my card after my membership expired.

It was also educational because I learned that some supplements are easier to "get right" and some others are trickier (such as milk thistle--only one brand I researched was approved).

To give you an idea, this was some notes of the result of my research from a couple of years ago:
Approved:
PP 15/15 (I believe this was Puritan's Pride)
GNC 10/10
Swanson 6/6
Vitamin Shoppe 8/8
Jarrow 7/7
Doctor's Best: 3/3 (Alpha Lipoic Acid, Magnesium, Q10)
Life Extension: 5/5
Vitamin World 10/10
Carlson's Lab 6/6
Country Life 5/6 (potassium, ALA, Resveratrol, Zinc, B)
(not approved: Vegetarian Dry Vit A: only 72%)
Nature's Way 4/5 (Prost Active, St. John's W.
(Not approved: Alive!Whole food energizer--contaminated)
Nature's Answer 1/2
Nature Made 4/4
Nature's Plus 6/8
Natrol 6/9 (not approved: Yohimebe, My Fav Multiple-Vit, Feel Anew MSM)
Now: 5/8 (not approved: fish oil either less than claimed or spoilage!.
Men's multi vit. black cohosh root: lead contamination)
Kirkland: 2/4 (Calcium, Joint,)
21st Century: 2/2
USANA: 3/3

Hope this helps!

Hi.
I DO appreciate this so thank you.
What does the 15/15 or 2/2 examples mean?

And ABI I KNOW how fkd up and sneaky and corrupt the world is, but surely consumerlab couldn't get away with that?
But then again maybe they can.

[amy rose]

The allegations made against Consumerlab have not resulted in any action being taken against them. The Federal Trade Commission (who's mission is to prevent deceptive business practices) have acknowledged complaints against Consumerlab but have stated that no action is necessary.

[Sandra]

Consumer Lab is a scam. They charge the consumers to access the information, and they charge the manufacturers to do a favorable review. They intentionally mismanage the reviews of the manufacturers who refuse to pay and then try to ruin them by publishing the unfavorable review, while promoting the products of those who do pay.

The concept is a good one, and I wish we had a true honest impartial review agency for these products... But the execution is incredibly flawed for this particular company.

Really??? Is there evidence that proves it? Even if the companies have to pay, don't they still have to publish the testing result in an honest way? Like they can't make up fake test results right?

[Sandra]

[/quote]
Hi.
I DO appreciate this so thank you.
What does the 15/15 or 2/2 examples mean?

And ABI I KNOW how fkd up and sneaky and corrupt the world is, but surely consumerlab couldn't get away with that?
But then again maybe they can.

[/quote]

Oh it means 15/15 products tested are approved. I remember reading that a product is approved it what they find in the pills match what's listed on the label. Some products may list 100mg in each pill but only have 50mg in each pill. And some have spoiled content.

So for example, for Country Life, out of the 6 products tested, the vegetarian dry vitamin A only had 72% of what's listed on the label.

Yea I actually spent a lot of time researching reading their reports so I'd be pretty upset if they aren't honest! But I can't imagine how they can fake the reports.

[EllaC]

Hi.
I DO appreciate this so thank you.
What does the 15/15 or 2/2 examples mean?

And ABI I KNOW how fkd up and sneaky and corrupt the world is, but surely consumerlab couldn't get away with that?
But then again maybe they can.

[/quote]

Oh it means 15/15 products tested are approved. I remember reading that a product is approved it what they find in the pills match what's listed on the label. Some products may list 100mg in each pill but only have 50mg in each pill. And some have spoiled content.

So for example, for Country Life, out of the 6 products tested, the vegetarian dry vitamin A only had 72% of what's listed on the label.

Yea I actually spent a lot of time researching reading their reports so I'd be pretty upset if they aren't honest! But I can't imagine how they can fake the reports.
[/quote]

Hi. Thanks Sandra.
Over in my country we researched Bmw cars ( on our only car reviewer website) AND basically every model the reviewer "poo poo'd" every single version, turns out he HATES European cars... But I've argued with my husband he can't just pull these statistics out of his a$$... He has to get the statistical data from somewhere on their shortcomings MUCH like consumerlab. Surely they'd get the pants sued off them if they were faking reviews...

[AbiDrew85]

The only corruption proven with consumer lab is intentionally using incorrect methodology to review some products (Which they WERE successfully sued for in 2011), not publishing negative feedback on their paying company list no matter how bad it is, while publishing every little nagging defect in products by companies who refuse to pay, while blowing them out of proportion compared to the paying ones.

[AbiDrew85]

But I've argued with my husband he can't just pull these statistics out of his a$$... He has to get the statistical data from somewhere on their shortcomings MUCH like consumerlab. Surely they'd get the pants sued off them if they were faking reviews...

I happen to know of one case where the company really is pulling statistics out of their ass. Sysmark/3dmark is heavily Intel biased and intentionally cripples their benchmarking program on AMD hardware. This has been proven. AMD has tried suing. AMD partners have tried suing. It's gone nowhere.