How Products were Selected:
Products tested represent those commonly sold and/or available nationally in the U.S. ConsumerLab.com purchased products on the open market through retail stores, on-line retailers and direct sales. Products were not accepted directly from manufacturers.Testing Methods:
- Products were tested for their total calories, total fat, poly- and monounsaturated fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, protein, amino acids, total carbohydrates, total sugars and sodium content using Association of Official Analytical Collaboration (AOAC) International methods.
- Analyses for lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury and sodium were performed using ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy).
- Quantitative analysis of gluten in any product claiming to be gluten free by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).
ConsumerLab.com may modify or use other appropriate test methods if necessary to test special product formulations.
The identities of the products were not disclosed to the laboratories performing the testing.
Passing Score:*
To be "Approved" by Consumerlab.com, a product must meet the following requirements:- Specify the amount of all nutrients in the product as required by the FDA and be appropriately classified as a food or dietary supplement.
- Meet its label claims within a specified range for each nutritional component as indicated below:
- Total Fat (within 1 gram or 15% of claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero total fat, no more than 0.5 gram/serving; or, if claiming zero total fats, no more than 1 g per serving);
- Saturated Fat (within 0.5 gram/serving or 15% above claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero saturated fats, no more than 1 g per serving);
- Trans Fat within 0.5 gram or 15% above claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero trans fats, no more than 0.5 g per serving (FDA 2015);
- Cholesterol (within 4 mg/serving or 15% above claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero cholesterol, no more than 2 mg/serving);
- Sodium (within 50 mg/serving or 15% above claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero sodium, no more than 5 mg/serving);
- Protein (within 1 gram/serving or 15% of claim, whichever is greater);
- Total Carbohydrates (within 5 gram/serving or 15% of claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero to 3g/serving of carbohydrates, within 1g of claim);
- Total Sugars (no more than 1g claim over or 2g under claim or 15% above claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero sugar, no more than 0.5 gram/serving);
- Total Calories (within +/- 20% of claim).
- Heavy Metals: Products must not exceed the following limits:
Lead:
- Products marketed for use by children may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving with an additional allowance of 0.8 mcg if the product contains more than 1,000 mg/day of calcium.
- Products with single serving weights of less than 5 grams that are not marketed for use by children, may not exceed 0.5 mcg of lead per recommended daily serving (based on the State of California's Prop 65 limit for lead in dietary supplements, above which a warning is required regarding reproductive harm, birth defects, and cancer risks) with an additional allowance of 0.4 mcg if containing 250-999 mg/day of any combination of elemental calcium, magnesium and potassium or 0.8 mcg if containing more than 1,000 mg/day of any combination of these minerals. An additional allowance of 0.5 mcg is provided if containing 250-999 mg/day of whole herb (not extract) or 1.0 mcg if containing 1,000 mg/day or more of whole herb (not extract). However, total lead allowance will not exceed 2 mcg.
- Products with single serving weights of 5 grams or more which are not marketed for children may not exceed 2.5 mcg per serving nor 4.0 mcg per daily serving.
- If marketed for use by children, may not exceed 3.0 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (based on Canada's limit for a child weighing 75 lbs.). If not marketed for use by children, may not exceed 4.1 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (above which California's Prop 65 law requires a "reproductive harm" warning due to developmental toxicity and male reproductive harm).
- Contain less than 10 micrograms of total arsenic (EPA limit and state of New Jersey limits - based on 1 liter of water) and no more than 2.1 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per daily serving (Canada's limit in natural health products).
- Contain less than 2 micrograms of mercury per daily serving (based on EPA limit for mercury in 1 liter of water).
- Gluten: To be "Gluten-free" solid and powdered supplements and products with a serving size of less than five grams or liquid supplements and products with a serving size of less than five mL must contain less than 20 ppm of gluten per serving (FDA). Products with serving sizes greater than five grams or five mL must contain less than 5 ppm of gluten per serving.
- Meet all FDA labeling requirements.
* Passing scores allow for specific margins of technical error associated with each analysis. ConsumerLab.com reserves the right to disqualify a product at any time from passing if it considers such product to display unacceptable variation in quality, present a safety risk or to provide misleading or inaccurate information in its labeling.
