Organic products are very popular in the U.S. right now, but did you know that anything that was not made with pesticides or treated with antibiotics could carry the label "organic"? Ergo, if you have recently made the switch over to natural health care products and you are looking for purely organic supplements to maintain and improve your health, you need to know what to look for. Here are three defining characteristics of true organic supplements.

The Ingredient List Is Short and Sweet

Most true organic supplements do not have extra ingredients. If you check the label of the supplements you are interested in purchasing and there are more than a few ingredients in the supplement that you cannot pronounce/do not know what they are, it may be advisable to put the supplement back on the shelf. Additionally, any supplement that is "suspended" in gelatin is probably not organic either. Gelatin is taken from the hooves of livestock, specifically cows, and if you are also going vegetarian or vegan, gelatin-anything is off your list of acceptable food and supplement ingredients.

The Label Lists the Origins of the Supplements

Manufacturers of organic supplements will often disclose on the labels of their products where the supplement ingredients come from. For example, a vitamin C supplement that is all-organic and from a reputable manufacturer of organic supplements will list something  like, "taken directly from Florida citrus fruits grown in a pesticide-free grove." If the label does not list the origins of the supplements, contact the company and ask for the origin list. The best supplement companies will not hesitate to provide customers with this information. (Some may even post the origin list to their websites if and when the supplement origins would take up too much room on the label.)

The Supplements Have No Preservatives

Many of the vitamins and supplements you can buy often have added sugar or preservatives, such as salt, sodium bicarbonate or phosphates. These extras are meant to make the supplements taste better when you swallow them and/or keep the supplements "shelf-fresh" for some time. Truly organic supplements have a very short shelf-life because they are preservative-free. (If you still need a little sweetness to get some bitter supplements down, try swallowing them with a little organic, all natural sugar substitute, such as stevia or agave syrup, which you can buy from the same natural health store from which you buy your natural health supplements.)

For more information about organic supplements, visit a local natural health store or apothecary, such as Sutton Apothecary.