Product Quality Assurance Information

You should know how far we carry our commitment to Quality, Purity & Efficacy

Forever Health develops and manufactures premium-quality supplements based on the latest scientific research studies. Products are developed using scientifically validated ingredients and scientifically supported dosing. Patent-protected raw materials are carefully processed to preserve chemical complexity, ensure purity, and maintain efficacy. Each product is manufactured to cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) standards and backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee. We are so confident that our products are the best available, we offer a satisfaction guarantee that is one of the strongest in the industry.

Our customers are sophisticated, deeply concerned with protecting their health, and they demand the best in nutritional supplementation. From time to time, we receive questions from consumers regarding our formulations. Some of the more common questions and answers involving quality, purity, and efficacy of our formulations are provided below.

Q. What does Forever Health do to ensure the quality of its products?

A. We focus on three specific areas.

Raw Materials: Unlike other supplement companies, the ingredients that go into our supplements are not chosen based on cost. Instead they are chosen based on purity (to ensure contaminants such as microbes and heavy metals comply with regulatory and cGMP requirements), potency, and usage in successful scientific research.

Validation of the Efficacy of Ingredients by Scientific Research: We use ingredients and dosages that accurately replicate the most successful results obtained in scientific studies for maximum efficacy.

Manufacturing: Naturally, we are in strict compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) for manufacturing, packaging, and distribution.

Q. Does the label accurately list exactly what’s in the bottle?

A. Yes. All active ingredients from patented, scientifically validated raw materials as well as final, finished products are verified using advanced analytical methods such as HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography), MS (mass spectrometry), etc., to ensure each and every product accurately meets label claims in strict compliance with our demanding product specifications.

Q. When it comes to supplements, is cost an indicator of quality?

A. Where Forever Health is concerned, yes. Patented materials validated in scientific studies cost more — period. In contrast with many commercial brands focused on driving up margins by using the cheapest raw materials available, Forever Health collaborates with raw material suppliers who invest in scientific validation of their ingredients, which increases material costs. With Forever Health products, you get the quality you pay for.

Q. What are the “Other Ingredients” on the label, and why are they important?

A. They are inactive ingredients (excipients) that play a number of critical, essential roles in the manufacturing process including:

• Achieving uniform density for accurate dosing
• Dispersing the active ingredients evenly throughout a solid tablet, capsule, and softgel
• Protecting active ingredients from rapid inactivation due to heat and moisture
• Promoting tablet disintegration, as well as capsule and softgel dissolution
• Sustaining the release of active ingredients into the body over time

In short, excipients are critical for the manufacture of quality formulations. Naturally, we choose these extra ingredients with great care and use them as sparingly as possible.

Q. Why do some companies refer to these excipients as a threat to your health?

A. Claiming any product is “pure and free of excipients” can be deceptive advertising, too frequently used to draw attention away from inferior active ingredients! The right inactive ingredients used in the right way do important things … like ensuring that a tablet disintegrates in your GI tract, rather than just passing through your system without benefit, or keeping a product from breaking down and being susceptible to microbes.

All of the excipients Forever Health uses have earned GRAS (“Generally Regarded As Safe”) status … and are used sparingly. In many cases not using them compromises final product quality! Excipients are used in nutritional supplements to ensure uniform density of complex active materials, to achieve even dispersion of active ingredients, and to promote appropriate disintegration and/or dissolution of active ingredients inside your body … to name but a few of the critical roles played by excipients.

Q. Should I be concerned about the use of stearic acid?

A. No. Stearic acid functions as a flow agent in the manufacture of quality products, and stearic acid also occurs naturally in the foods you eat. For example, four ounces of dark chocolate contain 3,625 mg of stearic acid; a cup of kidney beans contains 1,655 mg of stearic acid; an ounce of raw ground beef (grass-fed) contains 2,063 mg of stearic acid; and a half pound of lean raw turkey contains 1,642 mg of stearic acid. Even a tablespoon of allspice contains 1,513 mg of stearic acid! Our supplements, on the other hand, typically contain no more than 10 mg per capsule. We always use the lowest level of stearic acid possible.

Q. Should I be concerned that products with soybean oil or lecithin are a source of phytoestrogens?

A. While it is true that soy isoflavones are phytoestrogens, the amount of phytoestrogens in soybean oil or soy lecithin is so minute, the USDA lists it in foods as having zero value for isoflavones.

Q. Does the gelatin used in softgels and capsules contain MSG?

A. Gelatin does not contain MSG … but does contain about 0.03 grams of glutamic acid in one softgel. To put this small amount in perspective, a person ingests about 120 times more glutamic acid in a serving of asparagus, cabbage or tomatoes!

Q. What’s the difference between tablets, capsules, and softgels?

A. Sophisticated products require sophisticated delivery systems. The best companies choose the most effective finished form based on the characteristics of the raw materials and the desired disintegration or dissolution characteristics of the finished product and the active ingredients.

Q. Why aren’t Forever Health products organic?

A. The word “organic” conveys the perception of quality to consumers. But it actually relates to foods that are grown rather than products that are formulated. Many of our scientifically validated raw materials are not produced organically. Rather, our mandate includes rigorous testing and scrupulous processing. The objective is purity … both in terms of our raw materials and our finished products.

Other product questions or concerns?

Call Forever Health at 1-800-333-2650 for the answers you need.

Quality that meets the Highest Standards

Forever Health employees are passionate and demanding about excellence. As fervent supplement users ourselves, we demand the highest quality ingredients in the products we personally consume. For those wanting to make smart health choices, attention to excellence is a top priority when selecting nutritional supplements. Commercial brands often emphasize lower cost by using sub-optimal doses and less-than-premium quality ingredients.

For example, people who rely on commercial multivitamins may be obtaining too much preformed vitamin A (4,395 IU/day on average) and not enough vitamin D (407 IU/day on average). This excess of vitamin A acetate blocks many of vitamin D’s beneficial effects.^1,2 Additionally, most commercial multivitamin supplements contain synthetic vitamin E that is far less effective than natural vitamin E.^3-8 The reason is that specific carrier proteins in the liver selectively bind to natural vitamin E and transport it in the blood to cells throughout the body.⁹ These carrier proteins only recognize a portion of synthetic vitamin E and ignore the remainder.^10-13 Japanese researchers gave natural or synthetic vitamin E to young women to compare how much vitamin E actually made it into their blood. It took only 100 mg of natural vitamin E to produce blood levels that required 300 mg of synthetic vitamin E.³ Most studies show that synthetic vitamin E is only half as active in the body as the natural form. Forever Health uses only the more expensive natural vitamin E in all its multivitamin formulas.

As a company known throughout the nutritional supplement industry for innovation, Forever Health purchases unique raw materials from the world’s most reputable suppliers. We seek out and utilize suppliers that invest in and care about the integrity and impact of their products. For example, as an evidence-based, scientific organization, Forever Health searches for like-minded raw material suppliers that invest in human clinical research to identify optimal dosing and formulation technologies for the best health benefits. What’s more, Forever Health offers discerning supplement customers sophisticated formulations that are specifically designed for maximal benefits. Unlike many products on the market that are stuffed with a “kitchen sink” listing of ingredients, each of which typically contains too low an amount to have meaningful benefits, Forever Health products are formulated with a targeted selection of premium-grade ingredients designed for optimal performance.

Forever Health remains at the leading edge of product innovation. Our staff scours scientific journals for the latest discoveries on the use of natural approaches to support optimal health and cellular function. Unlike mass market companies that often provide trivial doses of low-cost materials, Forever Health products contain potencies in finished products supported by actual scientific research. Furthermore, Forever Health works closely with industry leaders to identify the most appropriate analytical methods for quality control testing of the unique ingredients in our products. These sophisticated methods include high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), LCMS and ICP/MS, microbial analysis, heavy metals testing — analytical technologies used to assess raw materials and finished products and which have the capability to measure the potency of ingredients and potential impurities with great accuracy and sensitivity.

Forever Health products are all manufactured in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) guidelines. These rigorous guidelines specify quality control, inspection criteria for components, and fully outline all production control procedures, cleanliness measures, waste disposal methods, and record keeping.

References:

1. J Nutr. 1999 Dec;129(12):2246-50.
2. J Nutr. 2005 Jul;135(7):1647-52.
3. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Mar;65(3):785-9.
4. Am J Clin Nutr. 1998 Apr;67(4):669-84.
5. Biofactors. 1999;10(2-3):115-20.
6. Nutrition. 2001 Oct;17(10):799-805.
7. Mol Aspects Med. 2007 Oct;28(5-6):423-36.
8. J Nutr Biochem. 2004 Jul;15(7):380-95.
9. Annu Rev Nutr. 1999;19:343-55.
10. Vitam Horm. 2007;76:1-21.
11. Vitam Horm. 2007;76:45-65.
12. J Biol Chem. 2008 Jun 27;283(26):17797-804.
13. Annu Rev Nutr. 2007;27:347-62.

Forever Health Product Labels

Product labels go through a comprehensive review and approval process. Labels comply with all applicable laws and regulations and are periodically updated based upon the most recent nutritional science parameters for active ingredients. All necessary information is clearly indicated on all our product labels, as well as any pertinent allergen information.

Label storage is tightly controlled with limited access to only authorized personnel. All labeling is checked when initially received for physical size, color variation, wrinkles, condition, and copy versus approved sample. Quality Control personnel are authorized to approve or reject labels per our internal SOP. All labeling is counted and verified upon issuance and on returns for reconciliation purposes.

Finished Product Analysis

Each manufactured lot of finished product is tested using state-of-the-art testing equipment to ensure finished product quality, purity and potency. Different types of materials such as herbal extracts, minerals, vitamins, etc., require different laboratory testing equipment and/or methodologies to provide the most accurate results. Testing can include, but is not limited to, chemical analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis), gas chromatography (GC), and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GCMS). Physical analysis is performed and active ingredients claimed on the product label are confirmed. Microbiological analysis and heavy metal testing (by ICP-MS) is also completed on every production batch to ensure that all specifications are met.

Complete COAs that meet specifications are mandatory for every production lot of product that is shipped to our customers.

When inspection and testing is performed, Quality Control personnel are authorized to approve or reject product if the finished product does not meet established quality guidelines at any step in the process. Only if the finished product meets specification is the product released for shipment.