Problems with Supplements

[Ginny]

Food for thought:

This is info. was presented at a medical symposium I attended yesterday. One speaker was a nutritionist and warned about the widespread use of OTC supplements. Forgive me, I'm going from memory since they provided no handouts in order to be "green" - PDFs will be emailed later. Evidently 20/20 did an investigation of 20 or so randomly picked supplements. One had no ingredients at all, just sugar pills. Another, ginseng, had a pesticide in it that had been used while growing the ginseng. Another, glucosamine/chondroiton, had just a small fraction of the active ingredients. The list went on...

Bottom line, many think these all natural products are less dangerous than the chemically based meds. The fact is the FDA only recently has begun to regulate such that what is supposed to be in the supplements is, indeed, the active ingredient. Those with a USP label adhere to this regulation.

No safety testing is done at all on these by the FDA. He stated that any studies the companies tout, which are few and far between, are with incredibly small populations and not based on sound scientific methods.

Buyer Beware.

 

[Wayne A]

Some how I don't seem surprised.Thanks Ginny

 

[ardeagold]

I remember this being in the news a while back. They did name some "tested" supplements that have what's stated on the bottles. I believe they said that more of the name brand vitamins tested okay.

For the dogs...I use a powder...but I guess that could be "skewed" as well. And, the wild salmon oil.

For humans...Centrum vitamins.

 

[KatieB]

Yeah we learned about this in school and purchased products to do our own analysis on. There is a website that has tested nearly every supplement to determine if what is on the label is in the bottle and in what amounts. I will search for it.

 

[cedarvalleynewfoundlands]

No safety testing is done at all on these by the FDA. He stated that any studies the companies tout, which are few and far between, are with incredibly small populations and not based on sound scientific methods.

Buyer Beware.

Yep...The other thing that always concerns me is that the companies usually sponser their own testing. Since they are usually not based on the scientific method, there are often no control groups, no peer review, etc.

 

[KodysGrandma]

That's why we don't do any herbs or herbal type supplements on either the dogs or us. We only try things that we are reasonably sure can't hurt. Example- we have added cider vinegar and cinnamon to my husband's diabetic regimen and drum roll please- it seems to be helping. So far down about 50 points on average, not always but often enough to be encouraging.

 

[charityd]

Yeah we learned about this in school and purchased products to do our own analysis on. There is a website that has tested nearly every supplement to determine if what is on the label is in the bottle and in what amounts. I will search for it.

I think this is the one you mean http://www.consumerlab.com/

 

[Ginny]

Thanks for posting that Charity. I hate it when these sites charge a fee for their info. That tends to make me a bit skeptical.

 

[Tug]

But to be fair, a lot of the drugs the FDA 'pass' use the same sub-standard 'tests' and trials. They don't tell you how many people have died from prescribed medication they have allowed, and still allow... Take Ephedrine. They banned má huáng, as the source of Ephedra, but it was what the Drug scientists made from it that was unhealthy.

I take EVERYTHING with a bucket of salt