Fake vitamins & suppliments - how'd you know?

[isee64]

I just bought some vitamin D from a seller. After buying (not received yet) my common sense kicked in and I'm asking myself 'how the hell do I know these are real'? The seller has 100% feedback over two years with only 2 neutral scores. He lists the suppliment brand as "Ultra Health" and his eBay shop is the same name, although his eBay username is something totally different. I can't find anything on Google, or anyone else selling, the Ultra Health brand.

I'm left wondering how I can verify these things AND why this is such an issue in the first place. Surely there should be some sort of licence required to manufactur and sell suppliments; working as they're advertised to and guarantee them fit for human consumption. I'm also wondering if eBay should bare more regulation responsibility in this area.

[isee64]

Should add, they come packaged in plain foil pouches and also claimed as manufactured in the UK.

[tommy.irene]

Take them and if your alive next day they must be ok.. I woundnt buy any sort of drugs of the internet..

[bankhaunter]

Surely there should be some sort of licence required to manufactur and sell suppliments; working as they're advertised to and guarantee them fit for human consumption

EU law requires that to be so but it doesn't mean that all sellers comply with the law.

[evoman3957]

Genuine Suppliment sellers like "Healthspan", "Simply Suppliments" etc. do have an on line side to their business, I wouldn't buy anything like suppliments; from anybody else I didn't know.

[isee64]

Do you think eBay should have a special application process for suppliment sellers which at least goes someway to safeguarding people from fake pills?

[evoman3957]

Healthspan, Simply supplements, Natures Best etc. etc. all the known producers of supplements, manufacture them under stringent Government controls / conditions. Some........Healthspan for instance, operate out of the Chanel Islands; for business or Tax reasons, but still have to adhere to UK government manufacturing controls. The controls aren't just about the supplement itself, that is contained in each Tablet / Capsule; it's about the Binding agent in the Tablet / Capsule, that allows it to keep it's form. It's the same as cutting Heroine down from its pure form, to whatever purity is required, normally using sugar. Unscrupulous dealers will use Talc ( which is carcinogenic ) or other even worse additives. Supplements are totally different of course and I only use the analogy as an example. They do still however have to have additives, so that the Tablet / Capsule can have the varieties of strengths that are offered. The source of the Supplements and the additives contained in the Tablets / Capsules, are what is strictly controlled; so from a disreputable source, you would not be able to verify any of those facts. Why eBay doesn't control who sells these supplements, is beyond me; they won't allow Guns or Knives to be sold, but apparently don't guard against somebody being poisoned.

[Anonymous]

I had a bit of a look around, but you might have done this already anyway. On Amazon I found this info: Ultra Health Group is a division of Redrose Manufacturing Limited. All the products are formulated by in house Chemists and manufactured in our own laboratories in County Durham UK to GMP and ISO 2000:90001 Quality Assurance. Googles Redrose manufacturing ltd http://www.redrosemfg.com/nutraceutical-supplement-manufacturing http://www.redrosemfg.com/blended-powders-sports-nutrition I never heard of them before though, but apparently they have been around for a long time. Maybe you can check that out to make sure.

[tommy.irene]

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/little-shop-of-horrors-undercover-footage-of-the-...

Little shop of horrors: Undercover footage of the innocent-looking Larne shop peddling potentially lethal drugs

The chemicals are copies of illegal drugs that give users the same hit, but have formulas tweaked to get around the UK’s anti-drugs laws.

[evoman3957]

Major investigation launched, after experiment on the latest vitamin supplement goes horribly wrong.

[cee-dee]

You said Talc was carcinogenic.

The type of talc in general usage today is not carcinogenic.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/healthyliving/cancercontroversies/talcum-powder/

[evoman3957]

Thanks for that cee-dee, I hope you didn't spend the last hour trawling around for that link  All I know is that it was used a lot when I was a Kid and now it's hardly used at all..........so something has been enough to put an awful lot of people off of using it. I certainly wouldn't want it used, to fill out anything I was going to put into my Stomach and as there is a lot of discrepancy in the evidence at hand........I'll just carry on playing it safe.

[cee-dee]

No, I spent about 30 seconds finding it.

I don't know if talc is used as a filler, however, some of the bulking agents, coatings, fillers or binders used in "pills" can cause severe reactions in susceptible people.

A pill of original manufacture may be quite OK but those produced by other manufacturers may well contain the active ingredient they're supposed to have but the fillers are quite different. Some doctors say they're "encouraged" to use generic productions to keep costs down......

[evoman3957]

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/vitamin-supplements-dangerous-but-government-cant-tell-you/

Just proves if you can do without them, do without them...............or at least buy them from a recognised and reputable source.

[isee64]

Wow, thanks I didn't manage to find that info on my Google search. I'll wait for the product to arrive and perhaps I'll contact them to ask a few questions about the product and the ebay seller.thanks again.

[electric*mayhem*band]

If you know a friendly Lab Technician OP, hand your tablets over to them when they arrive, in order to have them analysed, otherwise, in the absence of any manufacturers name/address....bin them !

If there is a Holland & Barrett shop in your area, tootle off there for your vitamin D supplement.

[tommy.irene]

Vitamin D is also found in a small number of foods. Good food sources are: oily fish, such as salmon, sardines and mackerel ..eggs ..fortified fat spreads ..fortified breakfast cereals and powdered milk..

[isee64]

Ummm, I normally stay clear of H&B myself they are well over priced. For what I ordered here 180 5000iU V D3, H&B would probably charge well over £20 or something. For my basic stuff like cod liver, I always use Simply Supplements (Jersey based) amazing value and even better because they have a great Top Cashback percentage too. But, they only sell 2000iU V B3 capsules ...

[7312davidb]

I am also seeing a "false" with many vitamins and not only from ebay, my concern has become obvious to fake stuff from Holland & Barret uk, I have found NIL B12...NIL Cinnamon...NIL Garlick , nothing has been done about it but H/B are nw harrasing myself with stupid Inane offers of supplies...that are FAKE, this I feel is total misstrust and it cannot be stopped, I ask will H/B correct this Fraud of sales and vitamins. NO I bet they will not. 

[littleme61_6]

isee64. As you have been made aware you are lacking in Vitamin D, then I wonder could your doctor not have given you a prescription after he/she informed you of what you lacked?. Or maybe could you just buy some from your local, or town Chemist?. 

Please, don't take them when they arrive. Your health/well-being is worth much more than the gamble of taking a tablet sent from an unknown person/company on eBay. 

>>> Oh gosh. Just noted the person who started this thread did it in 2014. Hopefully all turned out okay, which ever way was decided for the best.