If you are marketing a dietary supplement or sports nutrition product, you should know if it is NSF Certified for Sport.

As a competition-level athlete, I was excited to read about a new program of certification for sports supplements and nutrition products.

After all, most athletes want to enhance their performance through the use of legal supplements, but it can be hard to navigate the sea of confusing information about what is and isn’t considered a “banned substance”. All too often athletes are disqualified for using substances that they thought were completely harmless and legal, and of curse, no one wants to put their own health at risk. That’s where NSF comes in.

The NSF Certified for Sport™ program offers accredited certification for sports supplement products and is recognized by sports organizations such as the NFL, MLB, and their player associations; PGA, LPGA, NCAA and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES).

The program minimizes the risk that a dietary supplement or sports nutrition product contains a substance banned by one of the major sports organizations. 

How do they do it?

NSF does independent testing to certify that supplements contain the exact ingredients they say they do and in the correct amounts for the serving size listed on the product label. They even conduct unannounced plant inspections and on-going inspections of the facilities.

This is incredible news for athletes who in the past risked their health and even their lives by using uncertified supplements. It is also a fantastic way for manufacturers and marketers of sports supplements to gain credibility in the marketplace.

If you are marketing health and nutrition supplements, understanding how this list is compiled and making sure your products are on it would be a wise move.

This may soon become the Holy Grail for athletes because it is one of the few places they can go for reliable information, and NSF even offers a mobile app to make it simple for athletes of all levels to find NSF certified products.

You can find out more about NSF and their new Certified for Sport program by reading this article, written by the editor of nutraceuticalsworld.com, Joanna Cosgrove, “Safer Sports Supplements” or you can go directly to the NSF Certified for Sport website to download the NSF For Sport App.

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Marketing Sports Nutrition Products to Everyday People

Health Nutrition Marketing: FDA action could make supplements obsolete

Marketing Your Health and Nutrition Brand Against Private Labels

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekigyuu/4405060141/”>Noodles and Beef</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>cc</a>

Jessica Clay

Jessica is a competitive athlete and the President of Energize HNM, a health and nutrition marketing agency. Jessica is committed to supporting health brands of every size by helping them define their missions and connect with their customers on a deeper, more meaningful level.