Why Dr. D supplements?

3/11/2008

A few visitors to this site have wondered about its link to a site where Dr. D-brand supplements are sold. Am I mixing medicine and commerce? Actually it was my desire as a physician to help the parents of my patients find the safest, most effective, and most palatable supplemental support for their kids that started me down this path.

I put my name on my own line of products because then:

• I can make sure they are pure.
• I can make sure they are made in the most effective dosages for children.
• I can make sure they are made from the forms most available for use in the body.
• I can make it easier for my patients and website visitors to find the very dosages and forms I recommend for a specific medical problem without their having to go from shop to shop or site to site.

In the past few years I’ve gone to great lengths to set and meet very high standards for the products with my name on them--traveling around the world to investigate production lines; questioning researchers, plant managers, and chemists; requiring more stringent standards of testing; and searching for the highest-quality ingredients.

The supplement industry has been largely unregulated, and there have been few guidelines for children’s supplements. The FDA will soon be requiring that supplements be made in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practices, but the agency’s enforcement is difficult, and, frankly, I think their standards are too low for products a developing child is going to take.

The three biggest concerns, with the development and manufacture of supplements in general are:

• Potency. Does the product contain the amounts of active ingredients that are claimed on the label? Do the active ingredients lose potency with time or exposure? A reliable manufacturer and proper packaging of the product can make a real difference here. Many of the supplements in my line are blister packed to ensure greater potency.
• Activity. Are the active ingredients in the forms most easily used by the body? Some manufacturers use cheaper versions of a compound that may be much less bioavailable.
• Purity. Is the product made in a hygienic environment? Is it free of heavy metals and other toxins? Many manufacturers don’t even check for these impurities. My supplements have multiple layers of continuous quality control.
• And with children, we add a fourth, palatability. Fish oil that tastes like fish oil is never going to fly with most kids. My supplements taste great. If a child doesn’t like the taste, they won’t keep taking the supplement. Our manufacturing partners are the best in industry in making flavors that kids love.

Finding the best ingredients and manufacturers for my supplements has been a real challenge. Many supplements and their ingredients are produced in China where costs are cheaper, but relying on the Chinese quality controls just isn’t acceptable to me. We do still purchase the raw material for vitamin C (ascorbic acid) from China, but are currently identifying even better sources. We choose the rest of our ingredients with care from the highest quality sources around the world. For instance, our omega-3 fish oil gummies are made and packaged in Israel from Chilean anchovies and sardines whose oil has been purified in Switzerland.

In choosing a manufacturer, I learned how difficult it was to produce a very high quality product and preserve its potency at maximal levels. The solution lies in multiple layers of purity and potency testing and my own keen and consistent supervision. I demand that the concentrations of heavy metals be assessed not only in the end product but also in each individual ingredient that goes into the product. It’s impossible to get a complete zero for heavy metals because lead and arsenic appear naturally in the soil and everything that grows in it. However, by making our products according to the most stringent guidelines in the U.S. (California’s Proposition 65), these impurities are present only in a few parts per billion. We are constantly seeking better and purer components. This is no small challenge in an industry where regulation varies dramatically from country to country and state to state.

Making sure the products are made well is one thing. It’s also important to make sure that they retain their activity and benefits. My manufacturing partner does shelf-life testing for both purity and potency that meets the highest standards in manufacturing nutraceuticals.

We also do something unique with children’s supplements, putting the chocolate versions of our multivitamin, probiotic, and omega-3 products in foil blister packs to minimize oxidation by air or light and preserve quality and potency. The “gummy” versions of our supplements are packed in phthalate- and bisphenol-A (BPA)-free plastic containers that adhere to the highest industry standards for preventing exposures to these dangerous chemicals present in many plastics.

I believe that the supplements that I manufacture and endorse meet the high standards that I demand in a product for families. But I’m always searching for ways to improve product development and testing of the Dr D products even more. I learned from Dr. Andrew Weil years ago that personal supervision of supplement manufacture was a must in an industry where little regulation exists. That’s why I’m so proud to be able to offer these products, among the few that have a practicing clinician directly involved with setting and meeting stringent criteria.