Nutraceuticals have formed an integral part of the supplementation industry. More companies are jumping on the bandwagon and releasing supplements at all different price points with very different formulas. The common person does not know how ingredient stability works and whether the supplements they are taking are and delivering the nutrients that the label claims they will.
Whether we like it or not, this is a pressing concern that is leaving people questioning. If we are not taking in the supplements we were promised, what exactly is going into our bodies?

Why Does The Stability Of Ingredients Matter?

As research on foods and supplements increases and becomes more comprehensive, companies are finding more ingredients to add to their nutraceuticals in order to provide their customers with the promised effects of said supplement. However, the stability, or rather instability of the said ingredient, rarely ever comes into question.
While many active ingredients can become inactive or degrade on their own, such as lutein, some vitamins, folate, etc., these ingredients and many others can be further degraded due to their interactions with the other substances present in the supplement as well. There really is no telling how long the shelf-life of the supplements will be useful to you unless the company performs stability tests.

What you are taking inside your body instead could be inactive compounds. These compounds are considered not dangerous since your body will just pass them out eventually, but they are not really delivering on their promise either. The awareness regarding this situation is still very low and people genuinely believe that they benefit from all the ingredients that are listed on the label.

What Is The Industry Doing About This?

Pharmalinea surveyed 55 manufacturers of nutraceuticals at Vitafoods Europe 2019 to figure out how many were performing stability tests before vouching for the ingredients listed on their product labels. Most companies have stated that the high costs of the tests are the main reason they don’t perform such tests.

The nutraceutical and supplement industry does not have strict regulations like pharmaceuticals do as well. Mainly, it does not make sense to them from a business perspective.

However, in recent years pharmaceutical brands are leaning into the supplement industry as well while still performing the rigid tests they are supposed to, which will give their products more trustworthiness than many others. Perhaps, this could finally be the push needed for other supplement manufacturers to do their best.

Final Notes

The nutraceuticals industry is expanding with great speed and will continue to do so. If the situation of inactive ingredients gains more traction, the issue will be much more magnified.
Maybe the push that was necessary is finally coming from the pharmaceutical industry, and we can only hope that we can come across more trustworthy manufacturers in this regard. We can also stick to ingredients that we can trust to be stable as well.