Nature's Plus - Stay Away!

[davenbacker]

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty new here, but I wanted to share...  my wife has been suggesting I try garlic pills as an herbal antibiotic to help with SIBO. I've been staying away from them for fear of gluten (most of these herbal supplements are manufactured in shared facilities at least).

 

Well, this weekend she finally found a bottle of Nature's Plus "GarLite" garlic pills labeled "gluten free". I read the label carefully, and it all looked safe. Yay, right? So I tried one on Saturday, and about 4 hours later my usual gluten symptoms started (running to the bathroom, foggy brained, extra tired...). Usually it would only be 1-2 hours, but I'm guessing the extra time was the capsule dissolving. I hadn't eaten any other new foods, so I was pretty sure it was the pill.

 

But... we had an EZ Gluten test just for this kind of occasion. I tested another pill from the same bottle last night, and it came out positive! I'm not officially diagnosed, so the silver lining here is that I'm more confident I'm right about gluten specifically being my problem...  my gut is apparently a very sensitive gluten detector. Note...  the EZ Gluten test is good to 10ppm, while I guess labeling requirements are 20ppm. So there's a chance that the supplement is under the legal requirements for a gluten free label (but I didn't expect I'd be that sensitive that less than 20ppm in a little pill would make me sick, so I suspect it has more than 20ppm).

 

I've also found another post where somebody found a Nature's Plus multivitamin with barley grass labeled gluten-free!

 

Anyway, I think it would be best to stay away from Nature's Plus supplements. I sent them a message to ask about their manufacturing and testing practices and to let them know. Hopefully they'll take steps to fix their labeling or their manufacturing. I'll update this thread if they respond.

 

Best,

Dave

 

(Edit edit: I tried reposting in the right forum, but that one got deleted. Sorry for putting this in the wrong place!)

[davenbacker]

For the record, I contacted the company, and got this response today:

"

Thank you for your recent email regarding Nature’s Plus Products. Your concerns and questions are very important to us and we do apologize for our not responding to your inquiry in a timelier manner.

 

In order to address your concern correctly, I will need some additional information from you.  Please provide the lot number of the product in your possession.  It will be found on the very bottom of the bottle and will be a series of digits beginning with 12…

 

In the meantime, please discontinue using the product and please don’t throw it away.

 

If you will send us your complete mailing address, I’ll arrange for FedEx to pick up the product and return it to us.  You will not need to be home at the time.  Simply place the bottle in a box; seal it; and leave it by your front door.  FedEx will stop by at some point during the day;  pick up the package;  apply a shipping label and send it back to us.  I will confirm the arrangements with you by return e-mail.

"

 

Hopefully they'll try to fix their processes or remove the label.