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Home > Eat Well > Nutrition > How to read vitamin labels

How to read vitamin labels

You may have been schooled on reading food labels, but decoding dietary supplements can be a challenge. Here's how to read vitamin labels

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1. Look for the number

Health Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate approves dietary supplements—everything from vitamins and minerals to herbal remedies—for sale. You’ll know a product has been green-lighted if it has an eight-digit Natural Product Number (NPN) or a Drug Identification Number (DIN), which appear on all drugs, including
over-the-counter and prescription drugs. NPNs are replacing DINs on natural health products. “If you don’t see either number, then check with your pharmacist,” says Leonard Piché, registered dietitian and nutritional scientist at the Brescia University College at The University of Western Ontario.

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3 Comments

Sue, the main differences between supplements is the form and quality of the ingredients and how they are delivered to your body. If you check out www.ultimatehealthboost.com you will see the Total Balance supplements and their ingredient list. Read the descriptions and the blog entries, etc. and see what makes a high end health supplement.

Submitted by Rick on Fri, 2011-10-14 12:34pm.

The best way to find out wich vitamins are good for you is to get the Comparative guide to nutritionnal supplements by Lyle MacWilliam. In this comparative guide, there is over 1500 sorts of supplements rated by different (important) criterias such as potency, toxicity, etc. And the best rated are in there too so there is no doubt that you are making a good choice after getting the comparative guide. Of course you will probably pay for the quality if you decide to buy the top rated supplement (wich is Usana Health Sciences) but does your health have a price? Mine does not! So I buy the #1 supplement in this book and I can actually feel the difference!

Submitted by Christiane on Fri, 2010-06-11 11:11am.

Question: there are so many companys. What is the difference between the drug store type of vitamin and the health food stores? I heard fillers is one. But with the large price difference, How do we choose?

Submitted by sue on Thu, 2010-06-03 12:02pm.