Nature's
Sunshine Products
Nutritional Supplement Quality
Mother
Earth Supplies Everything You Need
To Get Healthy and Stay Healthy!
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Nature's
Sunshine Products Mother
Earth Supplies Everything You Need |
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The Highest Quality Products In The World! That is not just a marketing come-on. It is the truth. Nature's Sunshine Products is a recognized leader in quality control, spending millions of dollars testing every single batch of raw materials used to produce the various herbal products you see on this web site. Read on and see why we believe completely in Nature's Sunshine Products. What good is it going to do you to spend your hard earned money on nutritional products that are not what you think they are, or what they say they are. In our opinion, at least 90% of all nutritional supplements on the market today are a waste of your money because of their quality. Why We Endorse And Use Nature's Sunshine Products Greatest Herbs On Earth owners have used herbs and supplements successfully for over 30 years. As you have already gathered, we strongly support the use of nutritional supplements. But, if their quality stinks, your not going to get any benefits. We know how important quality is when it comes to nutritional supplements, in particular herbal supplements. Unless you are fortunate enough to grow your own herbs, you will need to find a company with exceptional quality products, like Nature's Sunshine Products.
The Five MAIN Reasons Why We Endorse And Use Nature's Sunshine Products: 1. They have an extraordinary product line, over 600 products. 2. Experience - They have been around for over 33 years! They were the first in the country to encapsulate herbs. The first herb they encapulated was Capsicum (Cayenne). 3. Their pricing is excellent, considering the quality testing they do. They can keep prices under control because they do not spend money advertsing. They have grown for 30+ years through members (like Greatest Herbs On Earth) due to word of mouth (like what we're doing!). Plus, you are not hounded to push the product. When you get results, you naturally tell others about it. That is why NSP has grown so much in the past 30+ years. 4. Their Guarantee is unsurpassed. You can return any supplement product within 90 days for a complete refund (not including shipping and handling). If you feel the product is inferior, contact us for return directions and NSP will refund your money. 5. Probably the most important reason we endorse (and use) their products: They have the highest quality supplements in the world! NSP takes enormous pride in the quality of the products they offer. And they do not do just simple testing. No, they use cutting edge scientific testing to insure the absolute purest product on the market today. Are Natures Sunshine Products Organic? In fact, the testing is so complete, so thorough, that Nature's Sunshine Products would be certified organic in any jurisdiction. The reason we do not certify them organic is that each state, each city, each county, each town can have different regulations concerning organic certification. To get certified in every jurisdiction could significantly increase the product cost. The quality control testing done at Nature's Sunshine is much more than any organic certification regulations anywhere. Farther down on this page is just a handful of the tests that NSP conducts on each batch of raw materials. Just the ones listed below are far more than most companies do. Yet, this is a small percentage of the total tests conducted each and every day. When researching nutritional companies, watch for these red flags:
Believe us, if a company is doing substantial quality control, it costs them a great deal of money. They will and should 'brag' about this. It is very important that whatever nutritional supplement company you use does extensive quality control testing! Nature's Sunshine Products Does Over 300 Tests and Procedures Nature's Sunshine strongly believes that uncompromising quality is not an option--it’s an obligation. It’s not a vague goal--it’s standard operating procedure. That’s why the Nature’s Sunshine Quality Assurance Department is the acknowledged quality leader in the industry. By placing in your hands the finest-quality herbs and nutritional supplements, Nature’s Sunshine gives you the tools you need to take charge of your health and to look and feel your best. The quality process starts with the raw herb pulled from the ground, and extends through the manufacturing process to the finished products you take every day. Quality Begins In The Fields Quality begins in selection, where only the finest herbs and raw materials are obtained. The company’s global sourcing of raw materials ensures that the highest quality products are chosen from each harvest season. After being harvested, these materials are shipped to the manufacturing facility, where they are subjected to a series of in-depth quality control tests to ensure purity, potency and cleanliness (see column to right and below). Nature's Sunshine meticulously tests all of the raw materials we receive. Our QA testing continues throughout the entire production process. In all, we use more than 300 tests and procedures to ensure the quality of the raw materials we use and the finished products we sell. Once a product has been produced, it undergoes a battery of tests to assure consistency, quality and potency. The finished product is audited by inspectors for bulk weight, liquid volume, bottle count, bottle sealing and legible lot number. Samples are then given to the QA labs so scientists can complete testing according to finished product specifications. After all tests are completed and the product has passed the inspections, Quality Assurance will release the product. The batch record and a sample of the finished product are retained for future reference. If a customer has a question about a product, QA can refer to the retention sample of the lot in question. Every test we conduct leads to better product quality, and excellence in product quality is what has put our products where they are today--at the top of the industry. You can be assured that with each new product we develop and manufacture, our commitment to excellence will continue. On this page is helpful information about some of the tests they conduct so you can better understand the stringent testing procedures NSP follows and can have the utmost confidence in the products they offer. By maintaining this intense level of quality control and developing new methods and techniques to ensure top-quality products, Nature's Sunshine perpetuates its long-standing position at the forefront of the industry. The natural result is a large and growing family of customers--men and woman throughout the world who wouldn't think of buying any other brand than Nature's Sunshine. Questions?
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Five Important
Facts to Consider 1. Use Of Proper Plant Parts - The equipment used to analyze and identify the herbal parts provided by Nature's Sunshine insures that you will get the part of the plant that is known to have the specific action in the body. Most companies take the seller's word for it, that they are buying the proper plant part. 2. Production of a Contaminant Free Product - Because herbs are often gathered in countries and conditions that are somewhat primitive by US standards, it becomes very important that tests be run to determine that the herbal product is free from contamination. Since the major contaminant in herbs is E. Coli, an indicator of fecal contamination, we are very glad that NSP cares enough to give us a product free of contaminants. After all, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to use contaminated herb when trying to heal the body! (See Most Important Test to the right). 3. Identification of Active Constituents - Nature's Sunshine has identified a standard of activity for each herb and runs a quality control check to make sure that all products conform to that standard. What does that mean to you, the consumer? It means that the herbs will be effective! Perhaps you now have the answer as to why your earlier experiences with herbs had brought few results! Can you imagine that some sellers have actually sent NSP spent (used up) Fennel? That means that the active ingredients, prized for their ability to aid digestion and relieve gas, had been removed by someone before attempting to sell the Fennel to NSP. It seems that there is a good possibility that the salesperson did not throw away that Fennel that NSP rejected but sold it instead to "some other coffee bean buyer" (an herb company without the quality control facilities to be able to determine that the herb was spent). Unless you are fortunate enough to grow your own herbs, you will need to find a company with exceptional quality control procedures in place, like Nature's Sunshine. 4. Determination That No Fillers Are Present - Imagine our surprise when touring the home office plant to see a barrel of Comfrey with a rejection sticker on it. And this at a time when Comfrey was in short supply world-wide. But once again a Quality Control procedure had discovered that a seller not familiar with the NSP quality control checks had laced the comfrey with lactose, a colorless, odorless substance which takes on the characteristics of anything you mix it with and attempted to get NSP to purchase and market that adulterated herb. They had used it as a filler to extend the comfrey. While that lactose may not have hurt anyone, it certainly does not contain the properties of Comfrey. Who unknowingly bought that Comfrey after NSP rejected it? 5. Use Of A Cold Process To Powder The Herbs - NSP utilizes cryogenic processing to retain all the beneficial constituents of the herbs. This cold process involves freezing the herbs in liquid nitrogen and shattering them rather than using the traditional heat-producing grinding process. While this is a much more costly process, it insures that the herbs are never heated or burned, destroying many of the vital nutrients. Now that you fully understand the care and concern that Nature's Sunshine uses in producing their quality herbs, we are sure that you will want to try their fine, all-natural products for your family's health-care needs, and we challenge you to give them a try. No matter what your previous experiences with herbs have been, we guarantee that you will be pleased with the results when using these high quality products and you will feel confident that they will never produce negative side-effects. Most Important Tests Nature's Sunshine tests all the raw materials they receive. Their quality assurance testing continues throughout the entire production process. In all, they use more than 300 tests and procedures to ensure the quality of the raw materials they use and the finished products they sell. The following list represents just a few of the most important tests they conduct. Descriptions of most of the tests listed are found down the page.
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| SOME TESTING PROCEDURES USED BY NSP Microbiological Testing - Nature's Sunshine ensures the quality and purity of their products by utilizing an instrument called a Bactometer. It detects the growth of organisms by the change of electronic signals passed through the testing modules containing suspect bacteria. An increase in conductance in the sample indicates growth of organisms, and changes in the electronic signals are used to count the amount of organisms present. An increase in conductivity in the sample indicates growth of organisms, and the time at which the increase occurs determines the amount of organisms present. All raw materials, in-process samples and finished goods are subject to testing on the Bactometer to verify they meet NSP's stringent micobiological standards. NSP was the first company in the nutritional supplement industry to utilize this exciting, new technology. By testing for and counting the bacteria on machinery, equipment and personnel in the production area, NSP can evaluate the standard hygiene level and the efficiency of their cleaning procedures. By checking the bacteria counts in the production areas, they ensure that the products will not become contaminated in the manufacturing plant. NSP utilizes two different methods to test for bacteria: swabbing methods and the bactometer, which uses advanced computer technology to test for the presence of bacteria in raw materials, liquids and finished products. The bactometer is the testing machine of choice. In addition to the tests mentioned, tests are also conducted for the presence of coliforms, pseudomonas and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Organoleptic ID Testing - This is usually the first step in the identification of herb samples coming into the Quality Assurance testing area. This analysis includes testing with the senses (checking the taste, odor, color and appearance of the raw herb material). Since herbs are natural products, their characteristics may vary. However, they must fall within a specified range. Microscopy - A microscopic evaluation is performed on incoming herb samples to validate exactly which plant parts the sample contains (roots, leaves, fruit, bark), and to look for any foreign matter such as insect parts. This test involves the preparation of a slide of each herb powder. By analyzing the cell structure of the sample under the microscope, they can confirm the plant species and cell type (part of plant), and see possible contamination. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) - TLC is a reliable analytical technique that allows NSP to identify herbs and measure their quality. Different components of an herb extract are separated from each other using adsorption and capillary action. An extract is spotted onto a plate, and the intensity of the spots represents the concentration of each component in the extract. Trained personnel can identify the components by color and identify colorless substances using a special detecting spray or ultraviolet light. The TLC test allows NSP to "fingerprint" the herb sample and compare it to a library of known standards. By using the TLC test in combination with the FTIR test (below), NSP can be assured that the key components in a particular herb are present in the sample. NSP occasionally uses TLC to do comparison testing. We test NSP products against similar products made by competitors to ensure that the NSP products' potency and purity are greater than that of our competitors' products. Dissolution Testing - This test mimics the digestion system of the body and shows the amount of product that is available for use by the body over time. Nature's Sunshine uses this equipment to test their time-release products such as Time-Release Vitamin C, Time-Release Valerian and Time-Release St. John's Wort. The Dissolution System controls critical enviromental parameters for the sample being tested, including temperature, stir rate, sampling time and sampling volume. This close control allows for the highest possible accuracy in testing of NSP time-release products. Collected samples are analyzed using extremely sensitive analytical instrumentation such as HPLC or UV Vis analysis. These instruments show the rate at which the compound is released. Disintegration - Each lot of tablets or capsules produced at NSP must pass the test for disintegration. Tablets and capsules are tested in accordance with the United States Pharmacopoeia. The tablets or capsules are placed in water maintained at 37° Celsius, and the motion of the disintegration apparatus simulates the passage of a tablet or capsule through the body. The time required for each tablet and capsule to break down is recorded, and all tablets and capsules must dissolve within 30 minutes to be accepted by NSP Quality Assurance. Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) - Its official name is Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The FTIR herb test validates the authenticity and purity of an herb sample. A beam of infrared light is passed through a sample of the herb. As the beam shines on the sample, the sample absorbs energy from the beam at certain frequencies. If you chart the frequencies at which the sample absorbs energy, you get the absorption spectrum of the herb. No two herbs have the exact same absorption spectrum, so by comparing these charts to existing charts, NSP can positively identify the herb. This test is critical because some herbs look, smell and taste exactly alike, but one may cost 25 times more than another. Without FTIR testing, there may be the temptation to dilute the more expensive herb material with inexpensive "fillers." For example, golden seal plants have been over-harvested in recent years. As a result, the supply is limited and the raw herb is very expensive. Some may be tempted to dilute their golden seal with barberry, which has a similar chemical composition. The FTIR test makes it impossible to get away with this. This test also measures the level of the key components in herb samples so NSP can maintain consistent levels of potency from one batch of product to the next. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) - This extremely sensitive, computerized tool allows NSP to analyze the ingredients in a mixture. They place a dissolved sample of a mixture in the autosampler unit and pump it through the analytical column. The mixture separates into different vitamin (or herb) components, and the highly sensitive detector measures the amount of each component in the mixture down to parts per million. By analyzing printed HPLC plots, NSP can verify proper ingredient ratios. They also use HPLC to examine the purity and potency of raw materials. For example, they use liquid chromatography to measure the parthenolide content in feverfew and the ephedra content in Chinese ephedra. Bacteria Testing - By testing for and counting the bacteria on machinery, equipment and personnel in the production area, NSP can evaluate the standard hygiene level and the efficiency of their cleaning procedures. By checking the bacteria counts in the production areas, they ensure that their products will not become contaminated in the manufacturing plant. NSP utilizes two different methods to test for bacteria: swabbing methods and a device called a bactometer, which uses advanced computer technology to test for the presence of bacteria in raw materials, liquids and finished products. The bactometer is the testing machine of choice. It detects the growth of organisms by the change of electronic signals passed through the testing modules containing suspect bacteria. An increase in conductance in the sample indicates growth of organisms, and changes in the electronic signals are used to count the amount of organisms present. Nature's Sunshine was the first company in the industry to utilize this exciting technology. Total Bacteria Testing - To use the bactometer to determine the number of microbes that might be contaminating a product, NSP takes a total plate count. They test a sample of raw material or finished product and determine the amount of aerobic microbe contamination in the sample. They then compare this count to their stringent allowable spec levels. If any raw material counts are higher than allowable levels, the lot is rejected and returned to the vendor. Finished products are also audited to ensure they meet NSP quality specifications. |
SOME TESTING PROCEDURES USED BY NSP Anaerobic Testing - Acidophilus and Bifidophilus are families of bacteria that positively influence digestion and proper intestinal function. These bacteria live and reproduce without air (anaerobic). NSP products that contain these organisms have extremely high counts (millions of organisms per capsule). NSP uses special testing equipment and analytical procedures to quantify anaerobic organisms. NSP is one of a handful of nutritional supplement companies in the U.S. that has the ability to test for Acidophilus of Bifidobacterium. The standard test requires six complex steps to be completed and takes three days for the final analysis. The NSP staff has developed a new procedure using the Bactometer (see Microbiological Testing to the left) that can determine anaerobic test results within a 24 hour period. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) - This extremely sensitive, computerized tool allows NSP to analyze the ingredients in a mixture. They place a dissolved sample of a mixture in the autosampler unit and pump it through the analytical column. The mixture seperates into different vitamin (or herb) components, and the highly sensitive detector measures the amount of each component in the mixture down to parts per million. By analyzing printed HPLC plots, NSP can verify proper ingredient ratios. NSP also uses HPLC to examine the purity and potency of raw materials. For example, they use liquid chromatography to measure the parthenolide content in feverfew. Ash Testing - NSP will burn a small sample of herb material in a special microwave furnace for one hour at 700°C. This burns away all of the organic (plant) matter. Any ash that remains after the burn is mineral content or dirt, which is subsequently weighed. Every herb has a characteristic mineral content and a corresponding typical ash content. If, in testing, NSP find's an ash content that is significantly higher than the typical ash content, they suspect the presence of dirt or some other foreign inorganic material. Dirt is a common problem, especially with herbs harvested from plant roots. If harvesters do not take the time to completely clean the dirt from the roots, NSP rejects their herbs. Acid Insoluble Testing - The inorganic ash left after ash testing is treated with hydrochloric acid and burned again. Any remaining ash is called acid-insoluble ash (AIA). A high AIA value may indicate that the herb sample is contaminated with metal particles. Gamma Counter - Some raw materials that come from eastern Europe may be contaminated with radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. The Gamma Counter will show nsp if the materials are contaminated and will help NSP keep their products free from radiation. Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) - By using gas chromatography, NSP can separate complex mixtures of compounds into individual components. A sample of a mixture is placed in the GC machine where it's heated and becomes a gas. As this gas travels through a tube in the machine, the individual elements in the mixture separate and attach to a special coating in the tube. These separated elements enter a detection unit called a mass spectrometer, which graphs individual elements and allows NSP to identify the compound. By examining these graphs NSP can look for unwanted elements such as pesticides. This use of leading technology gives Nature's Sunshine Products the advantage in ensuring the quality and purity of our natural health products. Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer (ICP) - The ICP has a flame that burns at 8,727°C. NSP dissolves a sample of raw material or finished product in acid and then spray the solution in to the middle of the flame. Inside the flame the different elements glow with their own unique colors. For example, calcium will glow with a different color than potassium. A highly sensitive spectrophotometer measures the brightness of each mineral in the flame and the graph tells NSP how much of each mineral is present in the sample down to parts per million. If there are any unwanted elements in a test of raw materials, the shipment is rejected. This testing device screens raw mineral samples for unwanted elements like arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. The ICP is also used to test finished products like Super Supplemental Vitamins & Minerals™ and Mega-Chel® to ensure their mineral content meets label claims. Mold and Yeast Testing - NSP regularly performs yeast and mold counts using the bactometer. Its special modules contain the elements a mold or yeast would need to sustain life if it were present. When the organism grows, it's detected on the bactometer. E. coli Testing - The dangers of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria are well-known. In large enough quantities, this bacteria can be fatal. NSP tests raw materials for the presence of E. coli using specially designed E. coli count plates that contain an indicator that turns the bacteria blue. This allows for visual identification of the bacteria and, of course, rejection of that particular lot of raw material. Salmonella Testing - Salmonella bacteria is responsible for many food poisoning cases. NSP tests for salmonella bacteria in herb raw materials and products using what is called a 1-2 test. This test allows us to obtain results much more quickly than standard culture methods. Enviromental Monitoring - NSP uses two techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of their cleaning procedures. First, they use microbiological swabbing to determine if any organisms are present on a piece of equipment. Through serial dilutions and the plate count method, they can determine the number of organisms present. Second, Nature's Sunshine utilizes a new instrument that measures Adenosine-triphosphate, or ATP - the energy building blocks in every cell. This instrument (called a bioluminometer) can detect product and sanitizer residue by measuring bye bioluminescence (emission of light) of any ATP present on the surface of the equipment. The combination of these two techniques ensures that all cleansing procedures meet strict sanitation standards. Finished Product Auditing - Once a product has been produced, each lot is statistically sampled, and the finished product is audited by Quality Assurance inspectors for bulk weight, liquid volume, bottle count, bottle sealing and legible lot number. Samples are then given to QA labs so scientists can complete testing according to finished product specifications. After all tests are completed, certificates of analysis are signed by Quality Assurance. The batch record of the product is reviewed to ensure the product was produced by Good Manufacturing Practices. When the product successfully passes the finished product audit, Quality Assurance will release the product. The batch record and a sample of the finished product are retained for future reference. If a customer has a question about a product, QA can refer to the retention sample of the lot in question. |
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