NSF GMP
The Women to Women approach
to purity, quality and efficacy
With all the conflicting headlines about vitamins and supplements these days, and
thousands of products on the market to choose from, deciding which — if any
— dietary supplements to take is no easy task. We can’t always eat a
perfect diet, and each of us has unique health needs, so we may wonder if regular
drug-store multivitamins are good enough. At the same time, many of us are concerned
about whether more costly brands, such as those offered at doctors’ offices
or on-line, are worth the extra money.
At Women to Women we share your concerns. As care providers in the field of women’s
health, we’re compelled to offer real solutions to the healthcare challenges
women face every day. In over 25 years of clinical experience, we’ve learned
a great deal about supplement purity and quality. We found, in fact, that the best
way to maintain our high standards would be for us to develop our own, pharmaceutical-grade
line of Clinical Formulations. So that is what we did. And one way we can ensure
delivery of quality is by working exclusively with labs that are externally validated
by the NSF International, a non-profit,
non-governmental organization that develops manufacturing standards that meet or
exceed the FDA’s GMP guidelines.
What is NSF GMP, and why is it so important?
The acronym NSF GMP stands for “National Sanitary Foundation/Good Manufacturing
Practices.” In practical terms, GMP’s are guidelines that lay out the
fundamental do’s and don’ts for assuring the integrity of a finished
product. But these are not simple standards. Nor are they inexpensive to implement,
and certification is not easily come by.
NSF GMP Certified labs must undergo regular inspection by state and federal health
authorities as well as audits by independent clients. In the United States to date,
only an estimated 26 out of the approximately 300 dietary supplement laboratories
have received NSF GMP Certification. (Click here to see a list of NSF GMP Certified Labs.)
Around the world for over 60 years, the NSF itself has worked to ensure public health,
safety and environmental quality. As an independent, not-for-profit, non-governmental
organization, NSF’s stakeholders include industry, the regulatory community,
and the public at large — in other words, all of us. NSF’s
leadership in protecting human health is founded on expertise, cooperative thinking,
rigorous objectivity, and its independent, non-profit status.
Why we chose NSF GMP manufacturing partners
At Women to Women, we view the NSF’s GMP program as an essential ally in quality
assurance. This makes sense for three simple reasons:
- We want to be true to what we say.
- If you’re going to pay for it, you need to know that you’re getting
your money’s worth.
- If a supplement doesn’t contain the right ingredients, you cannot be assured
that what you’re using it for is going to work.
What originally led us to choose NSF GMP Certified labs as our manufacturing partners
was our own need to know at each step of the delivery process, from raw materials
sourcing through delivery at your doorstep. For us, being sure means knowing that
every one of our bottles contains what we want it to — nothing more and nothing
less. At Women to Women, we need to know we’re doing well by our patients
and Personal Program members — because for us, that’s what medicine
is all about.
We externally validate our raw materials prior to sourcing
Many supplement companies permit their manufacturing labs to select the raw materials.
Or, if their lab tests the raw materials and the assay comes back a little off,
they may go ahead and use it anyway, because it’s very expensive to send it
back. But those are risks we’re not willing to take. Where the integrity of
our product means your improved overall health, the only way to begin is with the
purest raw materials available.
At Women to Women, we work with our labs to source raw materials, then have them
externally tested (independently third-party assayed), validated by Certificates
of Analysis, and stored in isolation under specific requirements. Our Certificates
of Analysis are reviewed and held in-house to ensure that every raw ingredient meets
or exceeds our expectations. If it doesn’t, it has to be sent back. Even if
that’s going to cost us money.
Production matters — independent assays and tests for physical properties
After the ingredients arrive at the NSF GMP Certified lab, they are combined in
production under standardized automated procedures, subjected once again to post-production
assays, then bottled, labeled, and held under specified storage requirements as
finished products. Again, these assays are critical to ascertain the exact composition
of the product.
Some of the physical properties documented on our Certificates of Analysis include
the following:
- Active components — Must be present at levels within a specified
range.
- Disintegration — How long a tablet or gelcap takes to dissolve in
your stomach.
- Hardness — Makes for ease of swallowing (a lot of women tell us our
supplements are easier to swallow than most).
- Friability — No one likes to open their supplements to find broken
bits and pieces.
- Absence of key microbial contaminants and toxins — these include
unfriendly bacteria, yeast and moulds — ugh!
- Heavy metals — We test every batch of our marine lipid supplements
for lead, mercury, and other dangerous heavy metals.
All the above criteria — and more — must be met, or the supplement simply
cannot do its job. From step one, where we source the active ingredients; to their
careful combination according to precise formulations; to the way in which bottles
are labeled, stored and shipped, all our formulations undergo a rigorous set of
standard operating procedures that gets documented in minute detail each step of
the way. If there’s a problem, we want to hear about it. The bottom line is,
when a product such as ours is manufactured in this fashion, in a facility that
has been externally certified to meet or exceed governmental standards for Good
Manufacturing Practices (“NSF GMP Certified”), you can be confidant
of its authenticity, potency, quality and purity. We feel you’re worth it.
So while you will always have the final say in choices concerning your nutritional
and dietary supplements, we’re here to help. We do this each day through consultations
at our healthcare clinic, through free access to a comprehensive
library of articles on our website, and through products that are carefully
formulated and produced for our Personal Program.
To learn more about NSF GMP’s, visit the Good Manufacturing Practices section of the NSF website.
For more information on dietary supplements and women’s wellness, see our
articles on:
For more information on the ingredients and science behind Women to Women’s
Clinical Formulas, see our product pages:
Our Personal Program is a great foundation
The Personal Program promotes healthy hormonal balance during perimenopause and
menopause with nutritional supplements, gentle endocrine support and dietary guidance.
It is a convenient, at-home version of the guidance we give our patients at our
clinic, and is appropriate for women of any age who are experiencing symptoms of
hormonal imbalance.
- If you’re ready to get started, join the Personal Program now. The first step
is to complete our on-line Hormonal Health Profile.
It’s easy, informative and free.
- If you’d like to learn more about the biology behind the Personal Program,
go to How It Works.
- If you have questions about whether the Program will work for you, call us toll-free
at
1-800-798-7902.
We’re here to listen and help.
We’re always happy to welcome new patients to our medical clinic in Yarmouth,
Maine. Click here for information about making
an appointment.
Last Modified:
10/14/2009