How do you know if the nutrition supplements that you are using are safe and legal? 

How is the supplement industry actually regulated?

What should you look for to know if your supplement actually contains what it says it contains?

You're going to learn the answers to these and many more questions in this podcast episode.

My guest for this episode, Tom Nikkola (pictured right) is a fitness and nutrition expert who is well-versed in the nutrition supplement industry. He was cured from leukemia when he was five. He spent years doing follow-up testing at the Mayo Clinic, and during that time, often thought of becoming a doctor.

This interest in health turned into an interest in fitness, which eventually led him to graduate from university, cum laude, with a pre-Med Biology degree. Shortly after graduating, Tom started working for Life Time Fitness, and was there for nearly 12 years working as a personal trainer, and holding various management roles, before finally leaving after holding the position of  Senior Director of Nutrition & Weight Management. During that time, Tom was responsible for Life Time’s nutrition, metabolism and weight management programs and products.

Tom holds a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, as well as my Certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN) certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN).  Beyond his standardized education, Tom has also read hundreds of books on fitness and nutrition and currently has a personal library of about 900 published research papers and articles.

Tom now uses his insights and experience to advise and build the one of the world's leading fitness supplement brands - ThorneFX - with a focus on producing products and services in which fitness professionals and the clients they work with can have complete trust. In today’s episode, Tom is going to walk us through everything we need to know about whether the supplements we’re taking are actually safe, legal and contain what they say they contain.

-The history behind ThorneFX...

-How multivitamins are made, from idea conception to final product...

-How to know whether supplements actually contain the exact amount of product that is on the label...

-What kind of third-party certifications you should be looking for on a supplement label...

-Why fillers, binders, excipients and other additives are added to supplements - and which are safe and which are not...

-4 things you must completely avoid in any supplement, capsule, powder or tablet...

-Tom's three favorite supplement “stacks”, and why he chooses them...

-And much more!

These are all important issues.

And here's why...

A woman in Hawaii recently died from liver failure due to her use of the weight loss supplement OxyELITE Pro. Following actions by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Texas-based company has agreed to recall and destroy a dietary supplement linked to dozens of cases of acute liver failure and hepatitis, including one death and illnesses so severe that several patients required liver transplants.

A recent journal of medicine presented a case report on two soldiers who were taking commercially available energy supplements and who both collapsed during physical exertion from cardiac arrest and ultimately died.

In many cases, there are reported risks of deaths actually increasing with long term use of supplements such as multivitamins, vitamin B6, folic acid, iron, magnesium, zinc, and copper and there are athletes who have been banned from competition due to their "innocent" electrolytes and sports fuels being tainted with hormones and steroids.

Do you have questions, comments or feedback about whether your supplement is safe, or any other thoughts about this episode? Leave your comments by clicking here, and go to ThorneFX to view any of the products we discuss in this podcast!