3 ms·

Sure, but the parent comment was suggesting a specific bacterium, so I would want to make sure whatever probiotics I'm buying contain it. And normally I would p

Sure, but the parent comment was suggesting a specific bacterium, so I would want to make sure whatever probiotics I'm buying contain it. And normally I would probably just rely on getting them through a trusted vendor (e.g. my neighborhood grocer/pharamcy/health food store), but if I'm forced to shop online to make sure it has this specific thing in it...I want something I can check to vouch for its quality, yeah? For example, pretty much every bottle of probiotics you buy will claim it contains "Over XX billion CFUs (colony-forming units?) in every pill!" But, are more better? Are they the right kind? Will I get 60 billion CFUs in a pill if I just dehydrate some pond water?

markdown 4y ago
> And normally I would probably just rely on getting them through a trusted vendor (e.g. my neighborhood grocer/pharamcy/health food store), but if I'm forced to shop online to make sure it has this specific thing in it...I want something I can check to vouch for its quality, yeah? Oddly enough, with the food/supplement I'm most familiar with, kava, the worst quality you can find is in brick and mortar establishments. The trusted vendors are all online-only and dedicated entirely to the one product instead of just trying to stock their shelves with every supplement on the planet.
- AdmiralAsshat 4y ago
  Well I guess my thought process (however incorrect it might be) is that from a food safety perspective--not necessarily a supplement efficacy perspective--there's a greater bar to pass for the FDA to allow something to sit on the shelf at CVS than to get it from some random vendor on Amazon that might not even reside in the US.
  - markdown 4y ago
    I see. The fact is, the FDA doesn't regulate what's in supplements so it could be grass in those pills whether they come from Utah or Uttar Pradesh. As for food safety, the standards are the same whether manufactured in the US or outside. The FDA ensures they comply with HARPC and are made in cGMP facilities.

markdown 4y ago

> And normally I would probably just rely on getting them through a trusted vendor (e.g. my neighborhood grocer/pharamcy/health food store), but if I'm forced to shop online to make sure it has this specific thing in it...I want something I can check to vouch for its quality, yeah? Oddly enough, with the food/supplement I'm most familiar with, kava, the worst quality you can find is in brick and mortar establishments. The trusted vendors are all online-only and dedicated entirely to the one product instead of just trying to stock their shelves with every supplement on the planet.

AdmiralAsshat 4y ago
Well I guess my thought process (however incorrect it might be) is that from a food safety perspective--not necessarily a supplement efficacy perspective--there's a greater bar to pass for the FDA to allow something to sit on the shelf at CVS than to get it from some random vendor on Amazon that might not even reside in the US.
- markdown 4y ago
  I see. The fact is, the FDA doesn't regulate what's in supplements so it could be grass in those pills whether they come from Utah or Uttar Pradesh. As for food safety, the standards are the same whether manufactured in the US or outside. The FDA ensures they comply with HARPC and are made in cGMP facilities.