Vitamins and other nutritional supplements are produced at different manufacturing grades.
Pharmaceutical Grade supplements meet exacting pharmaceutical production standards.
Food Grade supplements meet less stringent standards designed for human food manufacturing.
Pharmaceutical Grade supplements are manufactured to a very high standards of potency, purity, dissolution, and a higher degree of bioavailability – the degree at which the vitamin is absorbed into a living system.
The American vitamin industry is unfortunately, poorly regulated. Nutritional supplement manufacturers are not required to certify quality production of supplements utilizing third party verification by certified laboratories. Without the exacting production and quality control standards required for prescription medications, many physicians are hesitant to recommend many nutritional supplements.
I strongly feel that for the safety and protection of the consumer, nutritional supplements should be manufactured with the same high quality standards and attention to detail required in the production of pharmaceuticals. Only a very small percentage of nutritional supplement manufacturers meet these exacting production and quality control standards. These nutritional companies comply with higher standards on a voluntary basis, knowing that quality production ensures the greatest degree of safety, consistency, and effectiveness of their products.
I always recommend choosing nutritional supplements with USP or NSF certification for purity, potency, dissolution, and pharmaceutical grade GMP. Many leading independent nutritional supplement authorities, private and public health research institutions, and governmental health agencies make these same recommendations. Think about it, why would a quality nutritional supplement manufacturer not choose to subject their products to certified third party verification? If it is truly a quality product, why not stand behind that claim, and be willing to prove it.
I do not recommend food grade supplements. Product label ingredient and quality claims should be verified by third party certified laboratories, not affiliated with the manufacturer. This is not the case for food grade supplements.
Fortunately, more and more people are now opting for pharmaceutical grade vitamins, tested by third party certified laboratories for quality, potency, purity, dissolution and confirming that what is stated on the label is actually in the supplement.
If you are interested in the current state of the very poorly regulated US Nutritional Supplement Industry, watch this recent special US Senate Hearing .