Health Ranger warns: 'Chemicals from China sold in over-hyped pills is NOT nutrition!'

Monday, January 18, 2016 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: supplement industry, adulterated products, ingredients from China

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(NaturalNews) When it comes to dietary supplements, claims about purity and safety aren't always what they seem. Certain bad apples in the industry have been touting their formulas as "plant based" or "all natural," when in fact their ingredients are derived from questionable sources, or are synthetic impostors intentionally mislabeled as natural.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently launched an investigation into dozens of supplement companies accused of selling tainted products contaminated with unsafe – or in some cases illegal – ingredients. And to help maintain the integrity of the supplement industry, we'd like to inform you of what this investigation has already uncovered, so you can avoid the suspect brands.

A prime focus of the investigation is a supplement company by the name of "USPlabs," based out of Texas, that sells performance supplements primarily to athletes. Popular formulas like "Jack3d," for instance, which is marketed as a dietary supplement that provides "bursting pumps, ridiculous energy, and massive gains," is being indicted for allegedly containing the illegal ingredient 1,3 dimethylamylamine, or DMAA, which is banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

USPlabs is also being accused of sourcing its supposedly "pure" ingredients from cheap wholesalers in China, which often don't test the actual purity of their products. This means that USPlabs is not only misleading its customers as to the contents of its products, but also putting them at risk of serious injury or death due to questionable additives.

So far, four USPlabs executives and one consultant have already been criminally indicted, and the DOJ is pursuing other suspects in what it says is a much larger criminal supplement ring taking advantage of consumers.

"The defendants knew of studies that linked the products to liver toxicity," reads a press release from the DOJ about USPlabs, which had also sold another product known as OxyElite Pro that, like Jack3d, is said to contain unsafe or illegal additives.

Make sure you know where your favorite supplement brands source their ingredients

Recognizing that accuracy, honesty and transparency are all critical to the success of the supplement industry, it's essential that the bad players who break this code be outed and stopped from polluting the reputation of this important piece of the natural healing puzzle. Our own Health Ranger warns that sourcing chemicals from China and calling them "natural" isn't moral or ethical, and in no way constitutes real nutrition.

Another name included in the DOJ supplement sweep is Florida-based Sunrise Nutraceuticals, which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says is making misleading claims about its products. A popular seller of weight-loss dietary supplements, Sunrise is being accused of making false claims about a product known as Elimidrol, a "proprietary blend" of herbs that the company says can help people overcome opiate withdrawal symptoms.

"Elimidrol purportedly is non-addictive, non-habit forming, and will help users 'permanently overcome withdrawal -- the first time,'" according to the FTC. "It also claims a high-success rate among users, and that 'the effects can be felt from the first dose.'"

Whether or not these claims are true, the FTC maintains that Sunrise is bilking customers by charging $75 for an eight-ounce bottle of the stuff, which may or may not provide the benefits claimed by Sunrise.

Another product on the indictment list is "Weight B Gone," a diet supplement that claims to be "the last diet program you'll ever have to buy!"

"In addition to criminal action, we are using civil and administrative tools to safeguard consumers from harmful products," stated Benjamin C. Mizer, the DOJ's Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, in a recent statement. "We are asking the courts to order the defendants to stop their illegal conduct and to put in place processes and procedures to prevent them from violating the law in the future."

For more information about potentially dangerous supplements, be sure to check out the Supplement411 website, which contains a "high risk" list of the worst potential offenders: Supplement411.org

Sources for this article include:

DailyFinance.com

RockCenter.NBCNews.com

FTC.gov