After a while, the health news reports get almost laughable - if they weren’t so frustrating:

• “Coffee’s bad.”
  • “Coffee’s good.”
• “‘Too much’ salt is bad for everybody.”
  • “‘Too much’ salt is actually beneficial to some people.”
• “Artificial sweeteners help you reduce sugar/calorie intake.”
  • “Sugar free sweeteners cause cancer.”
• “Beef is the devil him/herself.”
  • “Our bodies were designed to eat lean beef - just ask a caveman.”
• “Chemotherapy saves lives.”
  • “Chemotherapy itself causes cancer.”
• “High cholesterol always causes heart disease.”
  • “Many people never experience negative consequences from high cholesterol.”

Now, take supplements specifically.

Several years ago, this writer attended Expo West, the largest supplement trade show in the country. I sat-in on a breakout session lead by one of the country's leading proponents of supplement manufacturers providing scientific evidence of the worth of their products...even though it's not required by law.

I'll never forget his most telling comment: He pointed towards the trade show's main floor and said (with frustration), "Not more than one product in a thousand products out there has any scientific evidence for its effectiveness."

It get's worse. Fast re-wind to a NaturalNews.com story in February 2015:

"FDA CRACKS DOWN ON WALMART, GNC, AND OTHER COMPANIES SELLING SUPPLEMENTS THAT DO NOT CONTAIN THE HERBS ON THE LABEL".

"On Monday, the New York State Attorney General announced that testing found four major retailers sell supplements consisting of cheap fillers and allergenic compounds instead of the herbs they claim to contain. Walmart, Walgreens, Target, and GNC are taking full advantage of the lack of regulations in regards to herbal products and selling to the public supplements that do not contain the herbs on the label."

So, what's a person to do to cut through all the noise and indentify the true health product "gems" - the legitimate health products? I'd like to suggest four things to look for, using as an example AlkaPlex® (formerly Alka-Plex®), the key ingredient in all of Root Cause Response products, which meets all of the following requirements:

1. Scientific Evidence: Demand to see scientific evidence from third parties that the product is safe and effective. Here's the AlkaPlex evidence.
   
   
2. New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) certification: Confirm that the product is certified by the US Food and Drug Administration as a New Dietary Ingredient (NDI), defined as: "A dietary ingredient is a vitamin; a mineral; an herb or other botanical; an amino acid; a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing total dietary intake; or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any of the above dietary ingredients." Source: http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/ucm109764.htm
   
   
3. Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) certification: Confirm that the product is certified by the US Food and Drug Administration as Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS), defined as: "Any substance that is intentionally added to food as a food additive that is subject to pre-market review and approval by FDA, unless the substance is generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use, or unless the use of the substance is otherwise excluded from the definition of a food additive."Source: http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/GRAS/>
   
   
4. Current Good Manufacturing Practices certification: Confirm that the product is certified by the US Food and Drug Adminstration as meeting Current Good Manufacturing Practices, defined as: "Regulation to help ensure the safe and sanitary manufacturing, processing, and holding of food for human consumption.Source: http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/CGMP/ucm207458.htmThe purity and consistency of AlkaPlex is 100 times superior to what is required by Federal regulations!

Apply those four criteria and it will go a long way in rooting out the legitimate products.