Palm oil is used as a “functional oil” in several applications. It is used because it is solid at room temperature. It is solid largely because of the amount of saturated fat. It is a component of the chocolate and peanut butter chips and coatings. With other oils, with higher melting points, the chips and coating melt at lower temperatures, and as such are impossible to ship. In the past, people used hydrogenated fats to produce a solid material that could be used in baking and other applications. However, the hydrogenation process also generated trans fats. Plant based saturated fats such as palm are the best alternatives. At the present time there are few other good alternatives. As such, in some applications we have no choice but to use palm oil. So it is our policy to continue to use palm oil where necessary, but only if that oil is harvested sustainably. Our suppliers have given us a statement that this is the case, and we will continue to require them to use palm oil that is harvested in this way. As other healthy alternatives come on-line we will shift to those.

USANA does not add artificial preservatives to any of its products.

Inulin, a soluble fiber produced by plants, is also a prebiotic that promotes healthy digestive function by stimulating the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria.

Dry labbing is when supplement companies produce products that they claim to analyze for contents, but the analyses are actually being fabricated. That is, the products were “tested” in reference labs that use a process called dry lab analysis. These labs did no actual laboratory work at all, but rather just produced a certificate of analysis, or a piece of paper with amounts listed. The amounts fit exactly what the manufacturer wanted to list on their label. This is a process that no supplement manufacturer should ever use. It is both illegal and dangerous.
At USANA we are so concerned about the quality, potency and purity of our products that we don’t trust our analysis to contract labs. We established our own analytical laboratory in-house, in the same building where we make our supplements. We use this lab to test all of our incoming raw materials and finished products, ensuring that what’s listed on the label is in the bottle. We also take this a step further and test for unwanted contaminants, such as toxic heavy metals and microbial contaminants.
We designed our quality assurance program to follow the same practices as the pharmaceutical industry. We control our process from start to finish in our own state of the art manufacturing facility, using validated analytical methods in our own labs. In addition, we also have validated and certified our products through independent 3rd parties. Our manufacturing facility is certified to follow Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) by NSF International. Further, our products have also been tested and certified to meet label clams by NSF – further proof that we meet the highest standards in the industry.
Another related issue is the practice of hiding illegal ingredients in supplements. This “spiking” of a supplement with athletically banned substances, such as steroids, stimulants and the like, is an abhorrent practice that should be eliminated by prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. USANA has never spiked or adulterated any product with these substances. In fact, USANA was the first and only company that was so confident of its manufacturing, Quality Control protocols, and analytical testing capabilities, that we established a Million Dollar Guarantee for elite athletes who compete under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules. With this guarantee, USANA promises that, during the term of the agreement, should the athlete test positive for a banned substance included in the WADA list of banned substances, as a result of taking USANA® nutritional products, USANA will compensate the athlete up to two times his or her current annual earnings (with a maximum of $1 million).
USANA also pioneered the relationship with testing facilities in the United States and Europe to ensure the absence of all WADA banned substances in its products, and was one of the first supplement manufacturers to test and certify products through Informed-Choice/Informed-Sport and the NSF Certified for Sport programs, helping to lead the industry towards more effective and safer products.

No USANA products contain significant quantities of salycilates, and USANA does not add any salicylates to its supplements. Any salicylate amounts potentially occurring in the tablets would be incidental and inconsequential.

(Incidental salicylate amounts in the tablets would be hundreds to thousands of times smaller than normal dietary amounts from fruits, vegetables, and berries.)

Summary from the Scientists
USANA products do not contain any artificial colors or sweeteners.

All food – whether picked from the garden or found on a supermarket shelf – is made up of chemicals.  For example, the vitamin C(ascorbic acid, C6H8O6) found in an orange is identical to that produced in a laboratory. Indeed, all compounds in the world consist of the chemical building blocks of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and other elements. These elements are combined in various ways to produce the starches, proteins, fats, water, and vitamins found in food.
Some ingredients are easily derived from natural sources; soybeans and corn, for example, provide lecithin to maintain product consistency, and beets provide a powder that can be used as food coloring.
Other ingredients cannot be easily or safely derived from natural sources and must be produced using other means. Certain vitamins and ingredients can be produced artificially with greater purity and more consistent quality than some of their natural counterparts.
USANA products do not contain artificial colors or sweeteners.
Food colorings, flavorings, and other additives are strictly regulated by the FDA. As such, these additives must have thoroughly researched safety profiles before they are allowed in food and food products. In addition, ongoing safety is monitored through the Adverse Reaction Monitoring System (ARMS). This system monitors and investigates all complaints believed to be related to specific foods, food and color additives, or vitamin and mineral supplements. This computerized database helps scientists decide whether reported adverse reactions represent a larger public health hazard.
The bottom line is this: simply labeling a flavoring as natural or artificial does not make it good or bad, right or wrong, safe or dangerous. All other factors being equal, USANA will select naturally derived materials over synthetically derived ones. But oftentimes, all other factors are not equal. USANA scientists use ingredients in the chemical form – be it “natural” or “artificial” – with the highest marks for quality, stability, absorption, proven safety, and other strict criteria.
We realize that some people have a philosophical aversion to synthetically derived nutrients, and we respect this. We are comfortable with our approach to ingredient selection and stand by it, understanding that we are not going to please everybody.

No USANA products contain MSG.

According to federal labeling regulations, there is no established limit below which monosodium glutamate does not need to be declared on the label of a product to which it is added. Therefore, when monosodium glutamate is used as an ingredient it must be identified on the finished product label regardless of the amount used. If a product does not list MSG as an ingredient, it cannot legally contain MSG.

USANA is dedicated to selecting the purest and safest ingredients for our products. As part of our efforts to do so, we adhere to non-GM (genetically modified) testing standards for raw materials in our global markets. These compliance standards include sourcing non-GM materials such as Non-GMO Soy Protein, Identity-Preserved Soy Isolate, Non-GM Pea Protein, and many others.

Through continuous product testing, USANA has determined our products free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). We have also sent our products to accredited third-party laboratories to validate our testing and detection methods for bioengineered DNA.

USANA will continue to be vigilant in our testing for new GMOs as they are identified. A “zero” level of bioengineered material cannot be implied in any claim of GMO-free, as there is always potential for adventitious bioengineered material.

Xylitol occurs naturally in many fruits and vegetables, and it is produced by the human body during normal metabolism. It has the same sweetness as sucrose but only 2/3 of the calories. It dissolves quickly, produces a cooling sensation in the mouth, and has no unpleasant aftertaste.

Xylitol is currently approved for use in foods, pharmaceuticals, and oral health products in more than 35 countries. It is used in foods like chewing gum, gum drops, and hard candy, as well as pharmaceuticals and oral health products like throat lozenges, cough syrups, children’s chewable multivitamins, toothpastes, and mouthwashes. In the US, xylitol is approved as a direct food additive for use in foods for special dietary uses (e.g.diabetic candies).

In the body, xylitol is an intermediate formed during the formation of xylulose. Ingested xylitol is also converted to xylulose. Xylulose then enters the pentose-phosphate cycle of carbohydrate metabolism. This is a normal metabolic component of human energy production.

Benefits of Xylitol

  • Good taste with no unpleasant aftertaste
  • Helps reduce the development of dental caries
  • Reduces plaque formation
  • Increases salivary flow to aid in the repair of damaged tooth enamel
  • Provides 1/3 fewer calories than sugar (sucrose, fructose, or glucose)
  • Useful as an alternative to sugar for people with diabetes (on the advice of a health care provider)

Excipients (or inactive ingredients) are ingredients used to convert active compounds into dosage forms suitable for administration. All pharmaceutical or nutritional products – whether they are tablets, capsules, or liquids – contain excipients, regardless of whether they are specifically labeled as such. It is simply not possible to formulate tableted products without using binders, coating agents, and/or disintegrants, as well as processing-specific excipients like lubricants.

Interest in the physical effects and properties of excipients used in pharmaceutical formulations has increased in recent years as pharmaceutical scientists have become increasingly aware of the fundamental effects excipients can exert on bioavailibility, stability, and overall performance of a product. Small variations in physical properties of an excipient can produce significant differences in the behavior of a finished product. In other words, using top quality excipients (inactive ingredients) is as important as using top quality active ingredients.

Pharmaceutical manufacturing is a science, and at USANA we approach excipients with the same scientific scrutiny we give active ingredients. Safety, quality, and effectiveness are paramount considerations for all USANA product ingredients.

Excipients used in USANA formulations are selected for their non-toxicity and contribution to overall integrity and performance of each product. Since we use the best ingredients, minimal excipient amounts can often be added to achieve the desired effect.