NSF vs Informed Sport Certification
Recently Dr. Luigi Gratton was a guest speaker on one of our coach’s team calls. In this segment of the call, he discusses NSF vs Informed Sport Certification and why Beachbody made the switch to the latter. Getting educated on this certification process has really heightened my respect for the Performance Line of supplements.
Who is Dr. Luigi Gratton?
Dr. Luigi Gratton is a new addition to Beachbody’s executive team, joining our family in January 2018.
Luigi, as he likes people to call him, is a medical doctor with a masters in Public Health. He is currently the Group Vice President of Nutritionals, the team who is responsible for all of Beachbody’s nutritional supplements—Shakeology, the Beachbody Performance line (Energize, Hydrate, Recover, Recharge, and Creatine), the Shakeology Boosts (Power Greens, Digestive Health, Focused Energy), Daily Sunshine, and the new Beachbars.
He came to Beachbody as a result of his interest in eating clean, eating sustainably, and eating organic and non-GMO plant-based foods. After earning a certificate of sustainability at UCLA, he started looking at companies that were focused on sustainable nutrition and he found Beachbody. He was so impressed, he knew he wanted to work with the company—and the rest is history so to speak.
Beachbody’s Nutritional Philosophy
I want to briefly touch on Beachbody’s nutritional philosophy because it’s so intertwined with the sports certification.
In short, Beachbody’s nutritional philosophy that’s at the core of all of their supplements is to deliver the macronutrients (i.e., protein, fat, carbs, etc.) and micronutrients (i.e., vitamins, minerals, trace elements, etc.) that our bodies need to function properly in order to boost our health and serve as a powerful weight loss tool.
Protein is KEY to this philosophy because it replenishes muscles after exercise and muscle mass determines our metabolism, which is central to weight loss.
What is NSF Certification?
Until recently, Beachbody used to use NSF to certify their nutritional supplements.
NSF, which is an acronym for National Sanitation Foundation, is an independent and acredited U.S. based organization that was founded in 1944. In 1990, they changed their name to NSF International and lost the acronymn.
NSF International develops health standards and certification programs that serve to protect food, water, consumer products and environment. In short, their goal is to protect and improve the health of humans around the world. They do this by developing standards, testing and certifying products and systems, as well as auditing, educating, and managing risk.
They are old, massive, and they certify an extremely broad spectrum of products to ensure they are hygienic—such as appliances, nutritional products, medical devices and much more.
Although they are an extremely reputable organization, Beachbody chose to switch to Informed Sport to certify their nutritional supplements.
What is Informed Sport Certification?
Based in the U.K., Informed Sport is an international quality assurance program specializing in sports nutrition products and nutritional supplements.
They work closely with manufacturers and suppliers and review their systems and test their products and ingredients to certify that every batch of a supplement and/or raw material that bears the Informed-Sport logo has passed the test for being free of banned substances. The program also provides athletes with a reliable risk management service to enable them to choose supplements that have undergone quality control testing as required in elite sports.
Why Did Beachbody Make the Switch?
As I mentioned, Beachbody recently switched from using NSF to Informed Sport to certify their nutritional supplements.
Here’s why:
- Informed Sport is as good or better than NSF and test all of the same banned substances.
- Informed Sport is more internationally recognized. Even American sports teams are recognizing them because they’re so good.
- Informed Sport certifies individual batches of supplements and enables the consumer to check them by batch number on their website. NSF does not do this.
- Informed Sport has a higher and faster level of customer service.
- Like NSF, Informed Sport is compliant with the nutritional supplement/substance regulations of the U.S. military.
- Like NSF, Informed Sport meets the requirements of international anti-doping organizations, such as WADA (World Anti-Doping Association).
So how do you know if a product is certified? If it has the Informed Sport Logo (see above), you can rest assured that what you’ll consume is 100% safe. As I mentioned above, you can also check the batch number in the search box on this page—Informed Sport Certified Product Search
Dr. Luigi on NSF vs Informed Sport Certification
Here’s Dr. Luigi talking about NSF vs Informed Sport Certification during the recent Team Call:
I’m Here to Help
Being an avid cyclist and mountain biker, I love my supplements because they help me workout longer and stay healthy. But, I will NEVER sacrifice my health or integrity by taking anything other than a safe supplement.
I’ve recently started velodrome cycling and have come to witness the impact of banned substances on a sport. Having military friends and a brother who went through the Navy Seal program, I’m also aware of how crucial it is to trust that a supplement is safe.
The fact that all of our Beachbody supplements, especially the Performance Line because they’re so awesome for sports, are certified safe by Informed Sport makes me incredibly proud.
If you have any questions about the Performance supplements or would like to find out how to get it at a discount, shoot me a message:
