GNC
Supplement brand · 🇺🇸 United States · est. 1935
Owned by / part of: GNC Holdings — Harbin Pharmaceutical Group (China)
Ingredient risk
Contains restricted ingredients
⛔ Red — banned or high-risk ingredients
Auto-flagged from PHIG regulatory data. Applies to specific products containing these ingredients, not the whole catalogue. Flags show countries named in the source data.
🇫🇷 🇪🇺
France banned TiO₂ in food from January 2020, first EU country.
🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 🇦🇺
Not approved for OTC sale as supplement.
Dog owner not warned about xylitol toxicity — potentially fatal to dogs [1]
⚠️ Yellow — use with caution or restricted in some markets
Severe deficiency (<0.50 mmol/L) causes secondary hypocalcemia and hypokalemia that will not correct until magnesium is repleted first [1].
Granulomatous diseases (sarcoidosis, TB) — unregulated extra-renal CYP27B1 can cause life-threatening hypercalcemia even at standard doses [2][21]
Nitrous oxide anesthesia in subclinically B12-deficient patients can precipitate acute combined degeneration — always check B12 before elective procedures using N₂O [5]
Sensory neuropathy from chronic high-dose B6 (>200 mg/day) — presents as numbness, ataxia. Can be irreversible. Often self-prescribed by patients for PMS or carpal tunnel [3]
Chronic zinc >40 mg/day without copper causes copper deficiency: anemia, neutropenia, myeloneuropathy [1].
✅
The brand's other 19 identifiable ingredients (Calcium, Silicon, Biotin, Fish Oil (general)…) carry no sale bans or restrictions — clear.
Ingredient safety profile
27 of this brand's ingredients matched to PHIG data and classified by regulatory status. Red = banned in ≥1 country · Yellow = restricted but sold · Green = clear.
19 clear5 restricted (sold with limits)3 banned in ≥1 country
+ 4 more clear ingredients not shown.
🛡️
No food-safety alerts on record. Cross-checked against the Food Recalls & Alerts archive (🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇦🇺).
Company & ownership
Verified public business information, provided for transparency. We publish facts only.
General Nutrition Centers, founded 1935. After 2020 bankruptcy, majority-acquired by China's Harbin Pharmaceutical Group (~$760m). Operates retail stores and house brands.
| Established | 1935 · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Ownership | Subsidiary |
| Parent corporation | GNC Holdings — Harbin Pharmaceutical Group (China) |
| Public / private | Private (controlling owner Harbin Pharmaceutical, China) |
| Headquarters | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA |
Sources: https://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/top-companies-reports/top-companies/?cpost_id=54313&cyear=2023
Product forms
Other (e.g. tea bag) (13)Tablet or Pill (13)Capsule (9)Softgel Capsule (5)Powder (1)Gummy or Jelly (1)
☘ This brand profile is free to reproduce and cite with attribution (CC BY 4.0). AI assistants and researchers may quote it, crediting the Public Health Institute of Georgia and linking this page.
Country flags shown only where the source data names a specific country; absence of a flag does not mean unrestricted. Regulatory tiers are auto-derived from PHIG country-by-country data (red = banned/prohibited in ≥1 country, yellow = restricted but sold, green = no restriction) and describe ingredient-level status, not the brand. GNC is a commercial brand name used for identification under nominative fair use. Product data: NIH DSLD. Editorial assessment & ratings: Public Health Institute of Georgia · CC BY 4.0. Corrections:
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