Supplement labels exaggerate the amount of vitamin D actually in their product

How much vitamin D are you taking? Well, don’t look at the label on the bottle to find out.

According to UPI.com, a study done at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. found that vitamin D supplements sold in U.S. stores varied from nine percent to 140 percent of the amount on the label.

Erin LeBlanc, endocrinologist and study leader, tested multiple pills to find that none matched what was on the label. LeBlanc and her team went to five so-called “mainstream food markets” in the Portland area and bought roughly 55 bottles of vitamin D from 12 different manufacturing companies. The average amount of vitamin D recorded, when researchers tested per five pills from each bottle, was 10 percent of what the bottle purported.

In the U.S. more than half of adults spend $30 billion a year on dietary supplements, reports USA Today. The popular vitamin D helps promote bone health and other benefits. Yet with these product inconsistencies, it seems as though consumers would do better spending some time out in the sun.

Supplement companies differ from drug companies where they don’t have to actually prove that their products work or are safe. The Food and Drug Administration inspects the plants on good practices but doesn’t test their every product.

Researchers like LeBlanc hope that this study will prove the necessity for increased regulations on the products supplement companies are permitted to release for public consumption.