The Vitamin Shoppe®, a leading health and wellness retailer, is at the forefront of product ingredient transparency for dietary supplements. The Vitamin Shoppe currently submits all labels for its proprietary dietary supplements to the Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) created by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). By doing so, the Vitamin Shoppe is providing customers with important product information so that they can make an informed decision about their dietary supplement purchases.

The database is a collaborative project of the Office of Dietary Supplements and National Library of Medicine at NIH, with input from many federal stakeholders. The database contains the full label contents, including the Supplement Facts panel, directions for use, health-related claims and any cautions, from approximately 30,000 dietary supplement products marketed in the United States. The database allows consumers to compare and choose products based on criteria they view as important, such as ingredient, strength and product claims. Labels from 1,000 additional products are added each month.

The Vitamin Shoppe announced that by end of 2015 the Company expects all of its dietary supplement vendors to submit their product labels to the DSLD and will request certification by the vendor that the label has been submitted to the DSLD.

"Consumers desire and value product transparency, and the Vitamin Shoppe is leading the initiative to provide consumers with the information they want," commented Tony Truesdale, CEO of the Vitamin Shoppe. "We are asking our dietary supplement vendors to join us in providing their product labels to the National Institutes of Health Dietary Supplement Label Database."

Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, of which the Vitamin Shoppe is a member, commented on the announcement stating, "This action by the Vitamin Shoppe is representative of a company choosing to go above and beyond what is required by law to demonstrate its commitment to transparency and putting consumers first."