Flower of Health

Whether selling cars, hamburgers, hair cuts or mortgages, any company can promise quality. As many companies have learned, if they don’t deliver the promised level of quality, their customers will find it elsewhere.

At Nature’s Sunshine Products, the promise of quality is paramount. From concept to production, NSP products are subject to the most stringent quality testing in the industry. When we promise to provide the best products, our customers can be assured that we can back up that claim.

What does “quality” mean?

Reliability
The first step in providing our customers with a quality supplement is ensuring that our products contain exactly what they should. If a label states that a product contains Echinacea purpurea, it is our responsibility to deliver a product that contains exactly that. Moreover, at NSP we pride ourselves on our ability to produce standardized formulas that contain consistent levels of active constituents. Every product, no matter when you buy it, will provide consistently the same potency from capsule to capsule and bottle to bottle and, therefore, the same beneficial results.

You’ll get what you pay for.
Brain-Protex with Huperzine A, an outstanding supplement for longevity and health, is designed to give the brain protection against free radical damage. The Huperzine A component is especially helpful for those who desire extra support for brain health, nerve function and alertness. NSP R&D scientists developed a method to test the levels of Huperzine A in combination products. After testing five different batches of NSP Brain Protex w/Huperzine A, along with five similar competing products, our scientists compared their findings. They discovered that all five batches of NSP product met their label claims while only one competitor’s product did; in fact, one competing product contained no Huperzine A at all.

Potency
NSP is committed to providing potent ingredients. Any manufacturer can make a product that contains St. John’s Wort. They find an herb supplier, grind the material, put it in a capsule and then claim that they are selling St. John’s Wort based on the word of their vendor. However, unless they take the steps necessary to evaluate the active constituents of the material in their capsules, they could be simply offering useless powder. Every plant has different parts to it, and each of those parts has a different chemical make-up. NSP has invested the time and resources necessary to provide our customers with products that are guaranteed to contain not only the correct ingredients, but also the levels of active constituents that we claim on the label.

Safety
Daily headlines remind us that bacteria, harmful chemicals and other contaminants find ways to taint the products that we use every day. From ground beef to pet food, we hear of the dangers posed by products that do not undergo adequate safety testing. NSP is committed to providing safe, effective and contaminant-free products to our customers.

Effectiveness
NSP’s staff of Health Sciences and Research and Development scientists constantly reevaluates the effectiveness of our products. They dedicate themselves to producing the most effective formulas in the industry. If it appears that the reformulation of a product would benefit our customers, they develop the procedures involved and testing necessary to provide the very best end product possible.

Balance and Synergy
It is not enough to provide high-quality products. NSP strives to provide products that will work in conjunction with an individual’s total health plan to help that person achieve and maintain good health. NSP has developed programs like the Habit of Health that are part of a larger commitment to promoting health worldwide.

Setting a Higher Standard
Nature’s Sunshine is like no other company in the industry when it comes to developing and executing quality testing. Quality has been built into Nature’s Sunshine from the beginning. It was the goal of co-founder Dick Hughes, who was more interested in seeing a high-quality product than an inexpensive one that might reach a greater market. That early focus on quality has motivated every decision that Nature’s Sunshine has made for over 35 years.

Do it yourself, do it better.
Many companies rely on others to manufacture their products. But at Nature’s Sunshine, we believe that if you really want something done right, you do it yourself. By manufacturing our own products, we control every aspect of production. NSP’s raw material suppliers are pre-screened before we do business with them. Each is required to submit a company profile and detailed descriptions of all of their processes. Next, sample ingredients from the prospective vendor are put through rigorous testing. Later, NSP regularly audits its suppliers by personally visiting and inspecting their facilities.

Quality production starts with a clean environment. The same high-quality, purified water that we use in our products is used to clean our equipment and manufacturing plant. We swab test our bins so we know, at the microscopic level, that they are truly clean. After our mixing bins are cleaned they are dried in a special drying room that is heated to 140 degrees to ensure that there is no contamination in the drying process. The shoes our employees wear inside the plant have never touched the ground outside the facility.

Unlike many other companies that buy finished products from others, NSP invests heavily in product development. Though it can be costly and time consuming—NSP’s QA department alone costs over $1.4 million per year to operate (not including new equipment purchases)—it is the only way to ensure that every raw ingredient meets our standards. Extensive testing of raw materials means we can guarantee that the finished product is pure and potent. We start from scratch and build the product from the ground up. This process also allows us to test pilot samples for effectiveness before a product goes to production.

During the course of product development, NSP scientists conduct hundreds of tests to ensure that every product contains pure, active ingredients and will provide real benefits to the user. One NSP scientist is dedicated solely to stability testing. Long-term stability testing helps to ensure that our products will be potent through a promised date. We’re in the process of putting a “full potency through” date stamp on every product, and we guarantee that each will contain 100 percent of the label claim through that date.

Nature’s Sunshine’s quality testing is the most stringent in the industry. We are considered the gold standard in the herbal products market. We have been told by our raw material vendors that if a material can meet NSP’s high quality specifications, it can meet anyone’s. George Pontiakos, President and C.E.O. of B.I. Nutraceuticals, the world’s leading supplier of herbal raw materials, says, “Nature’s Sunshine is a marquee customer that spends the money necessary to ensure that what their customers are getting is of the highest quality and efficacy.”

At Nature’s Sunshine we recognize that a product cannot be built once, then reproduced over and over again. Too many variables are involved. We continue to test and, when necessary, refine our products. We keep up with the most current studies so that our products remain on the cutting edge. For instance, when studies showed that lignans contributed to the remarkable health benefits of flax seed, we revised our formula to preserve the lignans in our flax seed oil. It is now Flax Seed Oil with Lignans.

Nature’s Sunshine Products takes enormous pride in the quality of the products we offer. Indeed, quality is the first part of the Nature’s Sunshine motto: Quality, Service and Integrity. From raw materials to finished goods, through research, testing, education and delivery, Nature’s Sunshine ensures that your products are the best that money can buy.