Mislabeled Vegan Supplements?

It appears that some vitamin brands are listing their products as Vegan, yet formulating them with vitamin D3 synthesized from Sheep's Lanolin. There is no Vegan source of vitamin D3, which is produced by chemical synthesis when animal fats called sterols are exposed to Ultraviolet light (UVB rays). D3, or cholecalciferol, is always made from animal fat. The other form, vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol, is from a Vegan source; though one has to watch out for animal gelatin stabilizers and microbeads in microencapsulated dry forms, especially. Vegan microencapsulation for dry forms of fat-soluble nutrients including beta-carotene and lutein was only perfected in mid-2005, so it is possible that some products made before then were mislabeled as Vegetarian if the company did not investigate its raw material sources carefully. (Many brands do not manufacture their own vitamin supplements, relying on contract manufacturers to make their outsourced formulas for them. In many cases, the brands do not normally have access to the full ingredient and finished product specifications of the actual manufacturer. This can lead to ignorance and errors when making label claims related to the presence or absence of allergens and animal products.) The D2 form is synthesized from plant sterols exposed to the same kind of light. Plant sterols, by the way, have an FDA-approved health claim that they "may reduce the risk of heart disease" and are considered healthy. http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/FoodLabelingNutrition/FoodLabelingGuide/ucm064919.htm There is also a controversy over whether D3 is much better than D2. D3 is the form found in fish liver oils and is often added to fortify foods such as milk and orange juice. D3 is also the form that we synthesize in our own bodies when cholesterol (that animal sterol aforementioned) is exposed to UVB rays. D2 is likewise made by plants when their oils (plant sterols, or phytosterols) are exposed to UVB light. In modern studies, both forms are equally well absorbed and both are good at preventing rickets and maintaining bone mass. Both forms equally maintain the level of the active compound serum 25(OH)D3 levels. "Therefore, vitamin D2 is equally as effective as vitamin D3 in maintaining 25-hydroxyvitamin D status." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080102122306.htm It appears that D3 tests better than D2 in an occasional dosing schedule, like if you got it once a month from a doctor's office. But the assay is apparently flawed and is now known to not measure D2 very well, underestimating its circulating level. For everyday supplementation and fortification, both forms work equally well by all current measures. Some brands with "cultured" or "fermented" ingredients apparently believe that adding lanolin-sourced vitamin D3 to a yeast culture, then drying the whole thing and using it to make vitamins, somehow transmutes the animal fat form of the vitamin into a Vegan-friendly ingredient. They say that the yeast consumes the lanolin-derived vitamin and that the yeast is Vegan no matter what it is fed. But they present no evidence that yeast consumes vitamin D or changes it in any way. Quite the contrary; they brag about providing vitamin D3 – a known animal product - in a supposedly Vegan supplement. This indicates that they know that the form is not changed in any significant way by the yeast culture. One major brand, when asked by me only today, said that they do not disclose their D3 source for their vitamin labeled as Vegan because the source is both "irrelevant" and "proprietary". In other words, they won't tell us and we don't need to know. That pisses me off, pardon me for taking this apparent contempt for Vegans personally. I am not a Vegan but have been a vegetarian since 1972. I do not eat any type of flesh; avoiding not only all forms of meat but also animal broths, gelatin and leather. I scrutinize labels to assure that I am getting no animal products except for dairy, eggs, and honey. Now the Honest Nutritionist in me wants to sound the alarm that some companies are using animal products like gelatin and lanolin in their Vegan-claimed dietary supplements. Whether it's an honest (though sloppy) mistake or a deliberate attempt to have their cake and eat it too is hard to say for sure, but either way this is not fair to Vegans. I tend to fear the worst since they claim the supposedly superior and more popular D3 form in a product whose label also appeals to Vegans and Vegetarians who are being led to erroneously believe that there is now a Vegan-friendly source of D3. There isn't. It is just not true. We are being misled. D3 is not Vegan. D2 is, and is not a bad form as some try to claim. Some medical experts even want to routinely fortify the food supply with D3 because of the largely mythical superiority of that form; that would deprive all Vegetarians and Vegans of their right to avoid hidden animal products in our food. I believe that we have a fundamental right to select our diets based on individual religious, ethical, and cultural beliefs. It is wrong for a corporation to take that right away from us by incorrectly labeling their products that are marketed to Vegetarians and marked as Vegan. Mislabeled products are considered to be adulterated. Obviously, there is no safety issue here and it does not seem as if this matter has attracted much attention, as of yet. But these jokers have attracted my attention and I think that they deserve to get grassroots attention to their attempt to sell non-Vegetarian products to Vegetarians and Vegans. I am not naming names here but will not buy products made by any companies which suggest that animal-source D3 can ethically be sold to Vegans. If you are of the Vegetarian or Vegan persuasion, please check your product labels. If I see vitamin D3 in a product labeled as Vegetarian, I’d feel free to return it to the store as a mislabeled product and get my money back. Vote with your dollars and read product labels carefully before buying anything. If enough people do this, the companies with questionable products will have to deal with a lot of returns from unhappy customers and stores, combined with a drop in sales. Eventually, they will be forced to either correct their labels or change their formulas.

Vegetarian Dietary Supplements

Vegetarian Dietary Supplements By Neil E. Levin, CCN, DANLA 

Most dietary supplement manufacturers use the term “vegetarian” to include “vegan” and one even recently began adding the word “vegan” to their product labels to assure users that they are offering products without any animal-derived ingredients. 

However, some products are always animal-derived. These include: Fish Oil, Gelatin, Chondroitin sulfate, Vitamin D3, Hydroxyapatite calcium, collagen, Chitosan fiber, Celadrin oils, Pancreatin, Pepsin, Trypsin, Chymotrypsin, ImmunoLin® immunoglobulin complex, Bovine or Shark Cartilage, Sea Cucumber, Sea Mussel, Liver products that contain actual liver tissue, IGF-1 deer velvet and glandular substances. Other products are sourced from milk or dairy products: Whey proteins, Casein, Colostrum, and MicroLactin™. 

Probiotics are typically made by growing bacterial cultures on dairy products. Some strains are weaned off of the dairy and are harvested with only traces of dairy protein (casein) remaining. The growers will not certify these probiotics as non-dairy, dairy free or vegetarian, but tell us that most manufacturers do label their probiotics with these claims. 

 Yet another class of products is considered non-vegan because of the honeybee source: Bee Pollen (collected by, but not made by, bees), Honey, and Royal Jelly. This is an interesting distinction because bees also are essential for pollination and increasing the yields of many fruits, vegetables and nuts eaten by vegans. 

 Some dietary supplements may come from either animal or vegetarian sources. One example is Glucosamine, a structural component of the joints normally extracted from clam shells. While most glucosamine products are from shellfish, there is a vegetarian version that can be combined with MSM to provide the sulfur needed for the body to turn glucosamine hydrochloride into glucosamine sulfate. This vegetarian form is obtained by fermentation. Still, the vast majority of glucosamine supplements on the market use the shellfish-derived form, including the supplement called NAG (N-acetyl glucosamine) that is used for GI health and as an “essential sugar”. 

HA (Hyaluronic acid), used to aid the moisture-holding, cushioning ability of the joints, is often extracted from poultry. There is a vegetarian form, produced by fermentation. 

The digestive enzymes amylase, lipase and protease are found in the animal product called Pancreatin. But there are also plant-derived enzymes. These plant enzymes include amylase, lipase and protease, but they work in a much wider pH range over a longer period of time than Pancreatin enzymes, which work only in the alkaline pH of the intestine. Beginning digestion of fats and carbohydrates in the stomach can improve even good digestion. 

Look for vegetable-derived excipients such as magnesium stearate, stearic acid, rice flour, maltodextrin, etc. The stearates can also be sourced from beef fat, so it pays to check! 

Gelatin has long been the substance that capsules are made from. Originally, all capsules were gelatin caps. Two-piece capsules are normally derived from beef and pork gelatin, whereas the gelatin in softgel capsules is normally exclusively derived from beef gelatin. More recently, Vcaps have become a preferred form. In the past ten years or so there have also been Vcaps® as a vegetarian alternative, made from vegetable cellulose. A newer version, called NP Caps or Vcaps®, is made from non-GMO corn polysaccharides. Some considerations in the choice of which type of capsule to use revolve around the technical differences in filling and storing gelatin versus Vcaps. These differences include different moisture barrier characteristics, different transparency of the capsule, different speeds at which these capsules can be filled on our production line, whether only vegetarian materials are used in the formula, etc. There is a way to fill two-piece vegetarian capsules with liquids, but the resulting product has an air bubble in the capsule and is typically a much lower dose and much more expensive than softgels made from gelatin. So this form has not been fast to catch on. 

One softgel that is available in a vegetarian capsule is Vegetarian E-400. But this form is not yet widely used for other supplements. Most vitamin E softgel caps are primarily made from beef gelatin. There is often hidden gelatin (often from fish) in beta-carotene, lutein, and other oil-based ingredients. Companies should scrupulously ensure that they use only non-gelatin bases for ingredients in their vegetarian/vegan products. It is unknown how aware vegetarian shoppers are of this hidden, tricky issue. Often, these problems apply to carotene or lutein in multiple vitamin formulas, which could get mislabeled as “vegetarian” if a manufacturer does not take the care to pay attention to these important ingredient details. 

Other common names for animal-derived ingredients include Porcine (from pork/pigs), Bovine (beef/cows), and Ovine (lamb/sheep). Consumers can contact the vitamin companies directly to ask about their vegetarian products. Knowledgeable health food store personnel, especially certified nutritionists or vitamin specialists familiar with their inventory, can be very helpful. Often an employee at a store who is a vegetarian will be familiar with the products from that perspective. And please be aware that the availability of vegetarian options is always increasing! 

In many cases, there is no functional difference between differently sourced ingredients; for example, glucosamine or HA. It is only when the actual form of the active constituent is physically/chemically different that a difference in the actions and efficacy of a substance is likely. There may be some differences in efficacy between plant and animal sourced ingredients, as we have seen with plant enzymes having a wider range of action than the same types of animal enzymes. 

Fish oil is far more effective than flax oil in terms of providing the maximum EPA and DHA per serving. Flax oil contains ALA, which is poorly converted into EPA and DHA (5-10% and 2-5%, respectively). 

One good example is melatonin, usually sold as a synthesized ‘nature-identical’ molecule. It can also be extracted from the pineal gland, but considerations of Mad Cow Disease and animal ingredient issues have pretty much sunk that source, which was the original form available. While glandulars may have other, subtle effects on the body, the actual melatonin produced either way is the exact same molecule with identical actions. 

Phosphatidyl Serine (PS) is normally produced from lecithin, with additional sources more rarely available (bovine, egg). Most of the research is on the soy-derived source, so its efficacy should not be in question. In the human body PS is synthesized from phosphatidylcholine; a similar process is used commercially to produce PS.