Vitamin Shoppe First Retailer to Earn Certified for Sport

ANN ARBORVitamin Shoppe, Inc. (NYSE: VSI) has become the first retailer to earn NSF's Certified for Sport® designation after having its True Athlete line of performance nutrition products were certified by the third party health and safety organization. The products in this line underwent a rigorous testing and inspection program to verify compliance to NSF/ANSI Standard 173, the only official accredited American National Standard for dietary supplements and ingredients. The inspection also included a GMP (good manufacturing practices) facility audit, label claim testing/verification and a contaminant review. As the Certified for Sport program was developed in response to concerns of banned substances and is relied upon by several professional sports leaguesincluding the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL), the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the (PGA)the certification program also tested for more than 165 athletic banned substances.

The True Athlete products certified included Multivitamin for Men, Multivitamin for Women, ZMA (Zinc Monomethionine Aspartate) with Theanine, Training Formula, Kre-Alkalyn, Natural Protein Chocolate and Natural Protein Vanilla. According to the company, products in this line contain no artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners, and use hormone-free protein.

Athletes need to know that the products they use are free from banned substances and other contaminants," said Marvin Barton, sports nutrition expert at The Vitamin Shoppe. "The NSF Certified for Sport certification provides Vitamin Shoppe customers this assurance and demonstrates that we are committed to helping them achieve better health and performance."