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Vitamins are defined as any of a variety of fat-soluble or water-soluble organic substances essential for normal growth and function of the body. Vitamins cannot be made by the body and must be consumed as part of your diet. They are obtained naturally from plant and animal foods.

There are two groups of vitamins; fat-soluble and water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K, are usually found in meat and meat products; animal fat and vegetable oils; dairy products and fish. They dissolve in fat before they are absorbed in the bloodstream and are stored in the liver.

Water-soluble vitamins include the B vitamins and vitamin C. They are found in meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. They dissolve in water and are not stored in the body, but are eliminated regularly in the urine. Water-soluble vitamins are easily destroyed by heat and light, or may be washed out during food preparation or storage.

Our bodies need a continuous supply of water-soluble vitamins.

Vitamins, as well as minerals and essential fatty acids and other nutrients, are needed for a long, healthy life. You can get vitamins from your food and you can increase amounts of specific nutrients and combinations of nutrients through supplementation.

Today our fruits and vegetables have lost a considerable amount of their nutritional value if they have been grown on non-organic farms, processed, or stored for any length of time before reaching our plates. An apple in a bowl loses vitamins by the hour!

A diet that includes a variety of fresh, preferably organic, high quality food, from all the main food groups, may provide most of the nutrients we need. If you don’t have time to shop for, prepare and eat naturally healthful meals every day, you may not be getting the small but important amounts of essential vitamins and other nutrients your body needs for optimum health.

Many people supplement for these reasons, as well as to provide support if one’s health is compromised, if there is a family history of illness, if lifestyle factors reduce one’s intake of healthy foods or just as health “insurance”.

Yes, glucosamine sulfate does contain sodium. Glucosamine sulfate contains sodium salt as a stabilizer to prevent moisture absorption. If you are on a sodium-restricted diet you can use sodium-free glucosamine, which uses potassium chloride to reduce moisture problems.

As a manufacturer, WN Pharmaceuticals sells its products to retailers who value their customers. We do not sell or ship directly to consumers, and we don’t set retail pricing. Webber Naturals^® products can be purchased at most drug stores in Canada, as well as at grocery stores and large retailers with health sections. There are also online retailers who carry our products.

The “Directions for Use” statement you refer to is required by Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate for products containing calcium. This is to prevent any possible negative interaction with your medications. All products that contain calcium as an active ingredient will soon bear a similar statement. Taking medications and supplements hours apart allows your body to digest each without interference from the other.

This statement is also required for products containing zinc and copper.

We share your concern. Here are the reasons behind, and the benefits of, consistent bottle sizes. Health Canada and the Natural Health Products Directorate regulate the information that must be on the labels of any Natural Health Product. This information needs to be readable in both English and French – this is especially important for products with cautionary statements. Getting all that information on the label is a challenge even with a regular-sized vitamin bottle as you can imagine. The label therefore dictates what size the bottle will have to be. While we sometimes get complaints about bottles being too big, we also hear from people with vision impairment who say our labels are too small to read. We do our best to achieve a balance.

We produce huge numbers of supplements each year and by limiting the number of different bottle sizes we use, we are able to save the consumer money and reduce actual waste and energy consumption considerably. Additionally, all our packaging is recyclable.

Webber Naturals^® uses #2 PET recyclable plastic for most packaging. This material is accepted by recycling depots and municipal recycling programs. The bottles, labels, and caps are all recyclable.

Very few dietary supplements are likely to contain gluten and we do not add gluten to any products. Because of sensitivity issues for many people we avoid where possible using gluten-containing ingredients in the manufacture of our products.

However, to avert any possible cross-contamination within our facility, we employ meticulous cleaning procedures, especially with the equipment used to make our tablets, capsules, softgels, liquids, and powders. We have systems in place so a minimum number of machines and equipment are exposed to gluten if gluten happens to be naturally occurring in a raw material. A separate or isolated area is used for gluten-containing products or ingredients.

The steps below are part of our everyday, 24/7 quality control programs. Our quality control and quality assurance procedures meet or exceed Canadian Government Good Manufacturing Practices and Therapeutic Goods Administration standards (Australia). This is part of how we ensure the quality and integrity of our gluten free products at every link of the manufacturing chain. If you are concerned about a particular product, call our Customer Service number with the product UPC code (bar code number on the label) to confirm if there is any gluten content.

Some probiotic products do require refrigeration but many do not. New technology has permitted Webber Naturals to offer you many potent probiotics with billions and billions of active cells that do not require refrigeration. This makes it easier than ever to benefit from the use of these supplements that can improve digestion, immunity and overall health.

Our gelatin capsules are made from bovine (beef) sources only. Where vegetable-based capsules are used, the terms ‘vegetarian capsule’ and/or ‘carbohydrate gum’ will appear on the label. Please note that we do not use pork-derived gelatin for capsules.

Glucosamine is the top selling natural supplement for improving joint health. Glucosamine has been extensively studied, and much research indicates that glucosamine sulfate can speed the repair of cartilage, reduce the pain of arthritis and slow its progress.

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfates work together to arrest cartilage deterioration by stimulating the production of collagen and proteoglycans, natural components of cartilage and joint fluids. They also appear to protect joints from the action of enzymes that can breakdown cartilage.

Every ingredient we use as a raw material for our products is tested for purity, identification (so we know it IS what it is supposed to be), heavy metals, pesticides and other contaminants in accordance with Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate requirements and United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) guidelines. Our laboratories also test finished products for weight, disintegration time, uniformity, and verified potency. In-house testing facilities ensure that accurate test results can be obtained quickly and efficiently.

All Webber Naturals fish oil softgels conform to, or exceed, the following purity standards:

*EC = European Commission which provides standards for the European Union.
**Listed IVO standards for refined marine oils only; to be compliant with IVO certification requirements raw, unrefined marine oils must not exceed NNHPD limits as noted in this table.

Note: this is not an exhaustive list. For more information on standards of purity visit the Health Canada website.

For more information about IVO visit ivopure.org

Multivitamins and other supplements that contain B vitamins (specifically B2 and folic acid) can cause brightly coloured urine because this is the actual colour of some of the nutrients. B2 is a water-soluble vitamin and your body will absorb what it requires and flush out the rest.

Fish liver oils are excellent sources of preformed vitamin A and vitamin D, but they usually contain small amounts of essential fatty acids (EFAs) as compared to other fish sources like anchovies, sardines and mackerel. The cod liver oil in webber naturals Lemon Meringue Omega-3 liquid provides naturally occurring EPA and DHA levels (100 mg EPA and 133.3 mg DHA per teaspoon) and also has vitamins A and D. Excellent sources of EFAs include Omega-3 Super Concentrate, Flaxseed Oil, and Salmon and Wild Fish oil products from Webber Naturals.

We want to reassure our customers that WN Pharmaceuticals^®, maker of Webber Naturals products, does not test its products on animals. We have found that it is not necessary to perform testing on animals to provide safe, effective products.