In response to recalls of foreign-made products and the decline of U.S. manufacturing, a trio of Rocklanders have established a Web site called America’s Business to Consumers (www.usab2c.com) that features only U.S.-made goods.

Offerings run the gamut from apparel to Zippo lighters — “from A to Z,� according to one of the site’s founders, George Hanos, who retired from drug-maker Pfizer Inc. in 2004.

Hanos, 54, along with two sisters-in-law, Denetra Anayannis of Pomona and Nanuet-resident Sophia Anayannis, who edits a community blog and chat room on the site, wanted to make a difference.

“We asked ourselves, ‘What could one person really do … to stop the flow of knowledgeable jobs overseas?’â€? Hanos said.

Many of the manufacturers featured on the site are mom-and-pop operations, he said.

USAB2C.com acts as a portal Web site, having products shipped directly to consumers from the manufacturers.

Items include wooden toys from Maple Landmark Inc., based in Middlebury, Vt., and Holgate Toys of Bradford, Pa., which have none of lead-paint concerns of toys made in China, Hanos said.

The site has been up-and-running since the beginning of November in anticipation of the Christmas selling season, he said.

How’d sales do?

“For a start-up,� Hanos said. “it worked out pretty good.�

A nutritional supplement marketed by Purchase-based Nutrition 21 Inc. has been shown to improve brain function in older people experiencing early memory decline, the company reported this week.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati found that daily supplementation with 1,000 micrograms of Nutrition 21’s chromium picolinate helped improve insulin sensitivity, allowing glucose, the brain’s main “fuel,� to be process more efficiently, Nutrition 21 said.

“Impaired glucose metabolism and insulin resistance have been linked to age-related cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease,� said Robert Krikorian, lead investigator of the study. “These findings suggest that improving glucose metabolism with chromium picolinate supplementation may enhance cognition.�

The study used a Nutrition 21 supplement specifically formulated to improve brain health, known as Core4Life Advanced Memory Formula.

In addition to chromium picolinate, the supplement includes two other ingredients — phosphatidylserine and DHA — that, Nutrition 21 said, are known to play a role in improve memory and maintain brain health.

Consumers who buy their prescription drugs online may find out the hard way that some Web sites aren’t legitimate retailers.

Some have reported problems such as credit-card charges and overcharges for which no products were received; receipt of wrong or fake drugs; no order confirmations; and other problems.

So called “rogue pharmacies� are the scourge of the Internet, says PharmacyChecker.com, a White Plains-based company that provides a verification service for online pharmacies.

This week the company published a list of 36 rogue pharmacies that showed no evidence of being licensed.

“Consumers should be alerted that using the Web sites on the list may put their health and money at risk,� said Dr. Tod Cooperman, president of PharmacyChecker.com and its sister site, ConsumerLab.com.

Still, he said, “(Consumers) can take some simple steps to avoid rogue pharmacies and find legitimate pharmacies that offer authentic medication at significant savings.”

The 36 rogue pharmacies on the list, which the company said will be updated continually, can be found at PharmacyChecker.com (www.pharmacychecker.com).

ConsumerLab.com, a White Plains-based tester of nutritional supplements, reports that its latest study of omega-3 and -6 fatty acid supplements derived from seed oils showed improvement from two previous reports.

The most recent test showed two of the 22 products tested were “slightly” low in one fatty acid, a better showing than studies in 2002 and 2005 in which as many as six products failed testing.

The study also noted that none of the products test this time around showed evidence of spoilage, which had been found in the past, ConsumerLab.com said.

Among those products that failed testing this year, LifeWise Naturals Evening Primrose Oil 1300 mg, a softgel, contained only 80 percent of its labeled amount of oleic acid — a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid. The other was Udo’s Choice Udo’s 3-6-9 Oil Blend that contained only 84 percent of its labeled amount of omega-9 fatty acids.

Both products, however, contained the claimed amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, ConsumerLab.com said.

Consumers take omega-3 and -6 fatty acids for perceived health benefits. For omega-3, those include improved heart health, while omega-6 is believed to help in treatment of ailments involving pain and inflammation, including rheumatoid arthritis and cyclic mastalgia — breast pain associated with the menstrual cycle.

The report includes results of two supplements for pets, as well. Pet owners use omega-3 and-6 fatty acids for skin and coat maintenance.

ConsumerLab.com’s latest report on omega-3 and -6 supplements is available online to subscribers of the Web site (www.consumerlab.com).