New supplements safety guide for athletes

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) recently released a new supplements safety guide for athletes as part of their "Supplement 411" initiative. NSF International is currently the only independent third party testing and certification organization to meet the requirements of the government program, and USANA Health Sciences (NYSE: USNA) is among the supplement manufacturers whose products have been tested and approved for athlete use by NSF International.

"More than 600 professional athletes take our product, many of whom are competing in the London Games this summer," says Dr. John Cuomo, USANA's executive director of global research and development. "These athletes, who have been taking our product for years, rely on us to manufacture effective supplements that they can safely use."

To ensure that the company's products are indeed safe and effective, USANA manufactures its products following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and tests its products multiple times from the raw ingredient stage up to the time it leaves the company's FDA-registered facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.

USANA also voluntarily tests its supplements to make sure they meet trusted United States Pharmacopeia (USP) standards and specifications for potency, uniformity, and disintegration. 

In line with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's recommendations, USANA has its products regularly tested by third-party organizations such as HFL, NSF International and ConsumerLab.com. Each company uses comprehensive testing methods to verify that what is on a product's label is, in fact, what is in the bottle.

"Supplements are important for athletes because you never know what food will be available to you when you're traveling, and you're traveling all the time," explains Matt Lowe, U.S. swimmer and London Games hopeful. "The important thing is to only take supplements you know are safe. That's why I take USANA - because they're tested by both HFL and NSF International."

"We put our money where our mouth is with our Athlete Guarantee Program," explains Dr. Brian Dixon, USANA's executive director of product & technology innovation. "Any athlete who has signed up for the guarantee and fails a banned substance test as a result of taking USANA's product can be compensated up to a million dollars. We are not aware of any other supplement company that offers this kind of guarantee, and we have never had an issue. In fact, in 20 years of doing business, we have never had to issue a product recall."

SOURCE USANA Health Sciences