All supplements are not created equal…
“We don’t do ordinary – we do extraordinary”.
How our purity, potency, production and packaging set us apart in a sea of supplements.
When browsing online or in-store, the vast array of nutritional supplements and vitamins available can be bewildering. The swathe of different ingredients, dosages and claims on each bottle can make searching for high quality supplements a daunting task, and that’s before you consider what’s behind the bottle. Manufacturing processes, testing procedures and sourcing practices all play an important role in the efficacy and impact of each individual capsule.
At the Advanced Nutrition Programme™, we focus closely on ensuring that all these factors adhere to exacting high standards – to guarantee our supplements.
To explain more about what makes Advanced Nutrition Programme™ supplements unique, we spoke to Paul Naude, our quality affairs and regulatory manager. to find out how the team goes above and beyond during manufacturing and development, offering an insight into the Advanced Nutrition Programme™’s golden rules, the “Four Ps”: Purity, Potency, Production and Packaging.
Q: Why Purity important and what does it mean to be a “clean label”?
Paul:
Advanced Nutrition Programme™ is on a journey to becoming “ clean label ” . Although there are no official regulations of what being a clean label definitively means, our understanding is that it in part relates to traceability of ingredients, the elimination of additives (e.g. capsule colours and artificial preservatives) and ingredients that are easy to recognise and understand.
Our ingredients are scrupulously checked and screened for contaminants and are ethically and sustainably sourced . We work hard to ensure they are non-GMO and free from preservatives and artificial colourings.
Q: How does the Advanced Nutrition Programme put this into practice?
The way we source our fish oils – found in Skin Omegas+ – is a good example of our approach. We ensure our suppliers provide a very high-quality product to start with, requiring minimal processing and maximum efficacy.
We work with an environmentally friendly supplier called Epax® , which is GOED certified. GOED: the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s, is a voluntary organisation which regulates the quality of EPA and DHA fatty acids – including the types of omegas found in the Advanced Nutrition Programme™ supplements. They enforce a strict code of practice, which Epax® adheres to.
Several studies have indicated that non GOED certified oils can have alarmingly high levels of pollutants, far exceeding industry safety levels* In New Zealand, researchers found that 83% of non-GOED certified products exceeded recommended industry peroxide levels, a similar study from South Africa reported that 80% of over-the-counter fish oil supplements were exceeding limits and in Norway a study demonstrated that over 92% of products surveyed exceeded recommended industry levels
This certification means we know our fish oils are sustainably and ethically sourced as well as being exceptionally pure.
Q: Looking at Potency – how do you ensure that ingredients are effective and fulfil their potential benefits?
This is an important consideration for the Advanced Nutrition Programme™, because we are relying on the manufacturer to produce to a strict criteria and high standards, and we are also dependent on variations in the actual raw materials grown in different places around the world.
We ensure the usage of safe, legal and effective dosages that deliver results and are fastidious about where we source our raw materials.
Without testing it would be difficult to know if an ingredient may have been exposed to environmental contaminants, or to guarantee the ingredient reaches our meticulously high standards.
Many suppliers offer ingredients which would not comply with our standards. To guarantee the potency of our supplements, not only do we test ingredients rigorously ourselves, but we also submit them for completely independent third-party testing.
This rigorous, pharmaceutical style approach ethically tests for active ingredients, contaminant levels, heavy metals and microbe levels. In fact, by the time a product is ready for sale, it will have undergone over 400 different tests.
Q: How does the importance of potency relate to Production?
Paul: Part of making a pure and potent product involves ensuring that your production is up to scratch.
In addition to the stringent testing protocols, all our products are traceable - which means that we know precisely where every ingredient comes from. All ingredients are made in GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certified facilities. This means they are working to consistently high standards.
Our packing plant is registered with the USA’s FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is one of the few in the UK to be registered with Health Canada. On top of that, all our products are made in the UK.
Q: Tell us a little about Packaging – why is this something to consider?
Paul: It is estimated that 91% of global consumers expect companies to operate responsibly and make efforts to address environmental concerns. Being a clean label goes hand in hand with being environmentally aware, and one key aspect of our environmental impact is in our packaging. The paper we use in all our packaging (and our office too) is all recycled, FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified and printed with non-toxic vegetable inks .
We strive to source sustainable raw ingredients: from our fish oils, which are certified by Friends of the Sea, to our botanicals. Not only that but we regard our capsules as part of our packaging – many are vegan and contain only natural ingredients. For example, Skin Accumax™ and Skin Vit A+ both feature a plant fibre-based, clean label capsule, and in 2020 were updated to use a natural rice flour excipient (a stabilising substance within our capsules).
Q: How do these “P’s” make the Advanced Nutrition Programme unique?
Paul: Manufacturing food supplements is a complex operation. Sourcing quality ingredients that meet our stringent criteria is time consuming, using ingredients that adhere to our values as clean label is costly and using sustainably sourced, recyclable packaging is not the norm. However, at Advanced Nutrition Programme™, we believe this is the right thing to do. We don’t do ordinary - but extraordinary.
SKIN VITALITY
Sources
* Albert, B., Derraik, J., Cameron-Smith, D. et al. Fish oil supplements in New Zealand are highly oxidised and do not meet label content of n-3 PUFA. Sci Rep 5, 7928 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep07928
Opperman, Maretha, and Spinnler Benade. “Analysis of the omega-3 fatty acid content of South African fish oil supplements: a follow-up study.” Cardiovascular journal of Africa vol. 24,8 (2013): 297-302. doi:10.5830/CVJA-2013-074
Laupsa-Borge, Johnny. “Velg ferske og naturlige omega-3 produkter.” Helsemagasinet Vitenskap & Fornuft. May 2012: Web. 29 Aug. 2012.
Jackowski, Stefan A et al. “Oxidation levels of North American over-the-counter n-3 (omega-3) supplements and the influence of supplement formulation and delivery form on evaluating oxidative safety.” Journal of nutritional science vol. 4 e30. 4 Nov. 2015, doi:10.1017/jns.2015.21