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The Supplement Quality Standard

The Supplement Quality Standard is my frame work to expertly choose supplements that work for your wellness, your wallet, and the world."

We here at Woodstock Vitamins work day and night to help raise the bar of quality in the supplement industry. We do so by holding each product we recommend and brand we allow in our store to Dr. Neal’s Supplement Quality Standard.

Here’s a scary fact: a finished supplement product that you can buy can often be in violation of low, almost minimum competency regulations… meaning the supplement could be bunk, or worse—dangerous.

A Need for A New Standard

The supplement industry is the Wild West when it comes to regulating quality. As consumers, we’re left to navigate the misinformation and hype on our own; it’s confusing, overwhelming, and time consuming.

There’s just no clear way to know if we’ve made the right choice. In order to unlock the real power of supplements, we need tools that break through the double smokescreen of loose regulations and slick marketing.

Our founder, Dr. Neal Smoller, developed the Supplement Quality Standard to give consumers what they deserve: an objective, transparent picture of how a supplement is sourced, how it’s made, how it’s priced, and how— (or if—?) it works.

Watch Dr. Neal talk about Supplement Quality on his podcast, Wellness Upside Down

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What Is the Supplement Quality Standard?

When most people talk about quality, it’s normally just gimmicky buzzwords and marketing hype. If the conversation approaches manufacturing, it often forgets the dirty truth: the supplement industry regulations are weakly enforced, and consumers suffer because of it.

The Supplement Quality Standard is a 4-pronged approach to evaluating supplement quality. Regulatory compliance is an important piece, but Dr. Neal often says, “Supplement quality is much more than good manufacturing.”

Watch DR. Neal Explain his SQS

The Four Components of the
Supplement Quality Standard

Science

The most important component to Dr. Neal, science speaks to the “therapeutics”—how supplements work, what evidence exists, what dose you need, and what you should actually expect from your supplement.

Why it’s Important: Omega-3 is one of Dr. Neal’s Vital5, but what happens if you don’t take the right dose? What happens if you don’t take it frequently enough? Most people use Omega-3, but take nearly 1/10th the dose that’s been shown beneficial.

It closes the gap between the claims and hype, and the products we buy.

Compliance

Loose guidelines mean anyone can claim “manufacturing compliance.” Your supplement maker should be passionate about quality and committed to raising the bar for regulations industry-wide.

Why it’s important: You finally take the right dose of Omega-3, but the product you’ve bought is rancid. Well, that’s not going to anti-your-inflammatories, now is it?

Compliance ensures all manufacturing practices are not just good, they’re the best.

Virtues

Your supplement brand should walk its talk; brands of all sizes should demonstrate (not just claim) real commitment to doing the right thing for workers, the environment, and for YOU.

Why it’s important: Your Omega-3 is great, but are they overfishing and causing an environmental crisis to bring that product to you?

We have to start holding companies accountable for their actions.

Value

Higher price tags rarely mean better supplements. Your supplement should balance a higher standard of quality, results, and a fair, equitable retail price.

Why it’s important: You’ve gotten the science-backed, cleanly and ethically made product, but it costs you $8 per pill. That’s a rip off.

We should be willing to pay a fair price for good work and results.

Over the last 13+ years, Neal has been advocating for people to stop spending money on cheap or low quality products, and instead invest in fewer, higher quality supplements.

The Supplement Quality Standard at Woodstock Vitamins

Unlike most retailers, we don’t sell what’s trendy, profitable, or popular.
Each manufacturer, brand, and product that we recommend is vetted by Dr. Neal and held against his Supplement Quality Standard.

We don’t rest on our laurels. Even if a product is profitable, if the quality slips on any of the four components—Science, Compliance, Virtues, Value—we’ll stop selling it and find a replacement.

A New Standard of Supplement Store

Forget slick marketing and flimsy regulations; the Supplement Quality Standard is an objective, unbiased tool for evaluating the supplements we use every day. It considers everything that really matters: how it works, how it’s sourced, how it’s made, and how it’s priced before you buy.

It allows us to push the quality standard higher industry wide, and helps serve in our mission to educate and empower consumers, so they can get the results they deserve.

It’s time to evaluate quality beyond manufacturing. We need a model that considers everything that really matters in a supplement: how it works, how it’s sourced, how it’s made, and how it’s priced.

That is what we’re doing with the Supplement Quality Standard.
That is what Dr. Neal brings to our Woodstock Vitamins and his practice

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