Vitamin Shoppe Online Community Adds Dr. Joseph Mercola as Expert; Total of 19 Leading Health and Wellness Experts Now on Board

North Bergen, NJ, December 06, 2010 --(PR.com)-- The Vitamin Shoppe online community, better known as VSConnect.com, had added Dr. Joseph Mercola, D.O. to their panel of experts. Dr. Mercola is the wellness expert at VSConnect.com and has opened his message board to anyone looking for advice and thoughts on taking care of their health. The service is free to all visitors of VitaminShoppe.com.

Dr. Mercola is best known for his website www.mercola.com where he is dedicated to helping find solutions to health problems. Dr. Mercola is a fully licensed osteopathic physician, who seeks to treat the whole person, not just the symptom. He is also a best selling author and was voted the 2009 “Ultimate Wellness Game Changer” by the Huffington Post. He is also board-certified in family medicine and served as the chairman of the family medicine department at St. Alexius Medical Center for five years. He is trained in both traditional and natural medicine.

“We are very excited to be partnering with The Vitamin Shoppe,” said Dr. Mercola.

“We’re thrilled to have Dr. Mercola join on in the VSConnect community,” said Fran Clinton, manager of online community for The Vitamin Shoppe. “The conversations and sharing of information that is happening at VSConnect is truly inspiring and helping the thousands of people who have joined already. Having Dr. Mercola join our already impressive list of experts truly speaks to the uniqueness of this community and its members.”

Dr. Mercola joins a list of 18 skilled professionals on VSConnect.com including:

Dave Foreman, The Herbal Pharmacist
Jan Lovejoy – healthy aging expert, nutritionist and herbalist
Michael T. Murray, Naturopathic Doctor
Dr. L. Phillips Brown, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Jordan Rubin, Natural health expert
Lorna Vanderhaeghe, MS - nutritionist, researcher and women’s health expert
Dr. Bill Sears, MD – Pediatrician and children’s health expert

Anyone looking to “join the conversation” can log on directly at www.vsconnect.com or find the message boards at www.vitaminshoppe.com.

About Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. (NYSE:VSI)
Vitamin Shoppe is a leading specialty retailer and direct marketer of nutritional products based in North Bergen, New Jersey. The company sells vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements, herbs, sports nutrition formulas, homeopathic remedies, green living products, and health and beauty aids to customers located primarily in the United States. The company carries national brand products as well as exclusive products under the Vitamin Shoppe, BodyTech, MD Select, and VS Basics proprietary brands. The Vitamin Shoppe conducts business through more than 450 company-owned retail stores, national mail order catalogs, and websites, www.VitaminShoppe.com, and www.EcoShoppe.com and has a social community site at www.VSconnect.com.

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