Extraordinary Health Magazine Extraordinary Health Vol 21 | Page 21

WHAT IS “CLEAN” FOR SPORT? INFORMED-CHOICE AND INFORMED-SPORT CERTIFICATION SETS THE WORLDWIDE STANDARD FOR CLEAN WHEN IT COMES TO SPORT SUPPLEMENTATION. F or over 50 years, the lab behind Informed-Choice certification has been the worldwide expert in antidoping and has published over 300 scientific papers on methods for detection of trace levels of substances that are prohibited in sport. The Informed-Choice lab, working with other worldwide testing experts and world governments participating in Olympic sports, in partnerships with world sport associations of all types— from tennis to swimming to soccer and beyond—joined forces in 1999 to create The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). From high school team sports to high-profile Olympic championships, WADA sets the world’s standards for banned substances, and ensures a level playing field by certifying that players and products are CLEAN. In 2007, after almost a decade of working with WADA, the Informed-Sport & Informed-Choice quality assurance program was born. The certifications were created with one goal in mind—to provide anyone concerned with CLEAN sport supplementation the assurance that their products were CLEAN and free of any prohibited substances, whether they appear on the WADA list or on other lists from individual sport associations such as the NFL, NCAA, MLB, NBA and NHL. HERE ARE SOME QUICK STATS AND INTERESTING FACTS: • Informed-Sport/Informed-Choice Certification programs are the only globally recognized certifications accepted in North America, Europe, South Africa and Australia. (All others are recognized only in North America.) • The Informed-Choice certification means a product is free of over 1,500 banned substances. • Informed-Choice labs are the largest commercial laboratories testing supplements for banned substances in the world, testing over 40,000 samples and processing more than 7,000 samples per year. • Almost 200 companies rely on Informed-Choice to test their products and manufacturing facilities. HORSE AND HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY Amazing, but true—when it comes to athletics, kinetics and even the health of tendons, ligaments and musculature— horses and humans are extremely similar. The InformedChoice program began in Lexington, Kentucky, where the lab remains to this day. The Informed-Choice labs are the recognized leaders in Animal Sport drug surveillance, and currently perform exclusive equine testing for the states of Kentucky, Maine, Virginia and in Puerto Rico. GARDEN OF LIFE® IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE that RAW Fit™, RAW Meal and RAW Protein have all received this coveted certification from Informed-Choice. GardenofLife.com/Volume 21. 2014 19