Canada Free Press:
Dietary supplements are big business. Three out of four Americans take one or more on a regular basis, and for older Americans the fraction is four out of five. One in three children also takes supplements. The estimated number of supplement products increased form 4,000 in 1994 to 50,000-80,000 today. Out of pocket expenditures for herbal and complementary nutritional products are about $50 billion, reports Henry Miller. 1
One of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated on health conscious American consumers is the hype and outright fraud of dietary supplements that don’t work and are sometimes dangerous.
.
Most studies suggest that taking vitamins and supplements is usually completely unnecessary and might be harmful. A study of almost forty thousand women, for instance, found no benefit to taking a range of supplements and concluded that there was little justification for the general and widespread issue of dietary supplements.2
Research has also found that vitamin C does not prevent cancer or, for that matter colds; supplementation with some vitamins (e.g., A and E) may increase the risk of certain cancers; taking supplements with omega-3 may increase the risk of prostate cancer; and according to a report from the Harvard School of Public Health, further supplementation with high doses of the vitamin B has not been found to be beneficial and might actually cause harm.
Other studies have found that many supplements are often not what they say they are. A 2013 study from the University of Guelph, for example, did a blind study of commercially available supplements and found that ‘most of the herbal products were of poor quality, including considerable product substitution, contamination and use of fillers.’ Remarkably, these researchers found some product substitution—the use of another, unlabeled herb in the place of the main ingredient—in products of 83 percent of the companies tested. In other words, only 17 percent of the companies were providing products that matched what the label said. This is, of course, both dangerous and unethical.2
Canadian researchers tested popular supplements from 12 companies in 2013 and found that products from just two of the companies contained 100 percent of the supplement. The rest had been contaminated with other plants, had mislabeled ingredients, or contained mostly fillers like rice, soy or wheat. The New York Attorney General’s office did similar DNA tests of herbal supplements in early 2015 and found that most didn’t contain any of the actual herb on the label.3
Over-the-counter melatonin is not commonly regulated by governing bodies around the world, such as the US Food and Drug Administration. Scientific evaluations of over-the-counter brands have found melatonin concentrations that range from 83 percent less than claimed on the label, to 478 percent more than stated. 4
But deficiencies are real. Just look at any vegan.
There’s a business opportunity here for an independent testing laboratory, akin to Underwriters Lab. I don’t take any supplements except for melatonin, and I would certainly prefer to buy a brand with some sort of badge of trustworthiness.
Maybe there already is such a thing and I’m merely ignorant of it. Anybody know?
If these studies were paid for by government or big pharma I wouldn’t believe them for a second.
Paid for by the CDC, AMA, and Pharmaceuticals “R” Us.
Living in Maine, we spend much of the year without sun. Taking vitamin D helps.
Interesting that out in the Northwest they have an abundance of salmon which is rich in vitamin D. They see the sun less often than we do.
Uncle Al: AdvoCare’s products are 3rd party tested by two different independent testing groups and are used by many many professional & college athletes, along with olympic athletes, because they are safe and banned substance free. I use them every day. Also, Zurvita’s products are based on all natural superfood ingredients. The lovely Mrs Chiggerbug and I direct sell both company’s products…..and are every day product users of both company’s products (full disclosure).
@Billy Fuster & @joe6pak – I don’t trust govt or pharma industry “studies” either, but I also strongly suspect that some of the major players in the OTC supplement world are pretty flaky. That’s why I’d like to see an independent testing lab certification system.
@Chiggerbug – Thanks very much! I’ll make a note of that.
Uncle Al, there are independant testing labs for supplements. USP Verified is one. Like anything else you need to get to know which brands are trustworthy. From what I’ve read, most harmful supplements are sold for weight loss. They sometimes are loaded with dangerous stimulant herbs.
I have benefitted a lot from supplements and have been helped by an Integrative Physician.
I don’t know if the writer, Dini, approved the article’s title, but it’s a strange assessment of “pharma” and nutritional supplements. Read the CFP comments. Several commenters nailed the myriad problems with Dini’s exposition.
Uncle Al: the name escapes me but there’s a purported lab website that analyzes all sorts of supplements and posts critical findings. However, you have to pay to access them. Is it for real or just another scam? I don’t know but it pops up near the top of the stack if you search for reviews on various meds or supplements.
I don’t even trust the pharmacies any more much less the snake oil salesmen out there.
Too much is coming from China for the cost savings {meaning increased profit margin}.
We’ve had our pets poisoned, bad toothpaste and many other products loaded with heavy metals etc.
I’ve lost trust with everything with all the money grubbing scum out there now.
@Uncle Al: if you want more information about AdvoCare / Zurvita, BFH has my email address 🙂
Cannabis is a natural weed that takes care of a lot of your aches and pains. It’s a great tranquilizer, stress reliever and sleeping pill. No hangovers either. Cancer patients benefit from smoking weed. It helped my sister’s appetite and took some of the ill effects of chemo away to where she could function. She ended up dying like we all will – eventually.
Everything in moderation.
this is a dishonest report. it ignores what actual case show. if in doubt test your levels of the vitamins mentioned. you will likely find you are below optimum. I have taken supplements for decades and I know that some of them (Vit A and D in particular) had a noticeable positive effect when I started to take them.
Uncle Al JUNE 10, 2019 AT 9:42 AM
There’s a business opportunity here for an independent testing laboratory, akin to Underwriters Lab. I don’t take any supplements except for melatonin, and I would certainly prefer to buy a brand with some sort of badge of trustworthiness.
Maybe there already is such a thing and I’m merely ignorant of it. Anybody know?
YES Mike Adams of http://www.healthranger.com/
Anonymous JUNE 10, 2019 AT 11:21 AM
Everything in moderation.
please define moderation? I take 12,000 to 20,000 to of Vitamin C daily. haven’t had a cold since. several years now. previously I took 500 units of C daily …and it had no impact.
Many men over 50 are low in B-12 because their guts lose the ability to absorb it. This has been proven by many researchers.
So, a good sub-lingual B-12 daily can help. I’ve been taking it for 15 years and it’s amazing how I feel (as in rotten) if I stop. Same is true for cod liver oil (A and D). And Vit-C.
Listen to your body and find quality supplements that work.
I get vitamins from the VA, hopefully they are tested, and not from the lowest bidder???
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/p0329-drug-overdose-deaths.html
Drug overdoses killed 63,632 Americans in 2016. Nearly two-thirds of these deaths (66%) involved a prescription or illicit opioid. Overdose deaths increased in all categories of drugs examined for men and women, people ages 15 and older, all races and ethnicities, and across all levels of urbanization.
Actual pharmaceuticals kill just as many if not more.
This article is a load of bullshit all the way around. I actually read many of the studies that come out every few months that are intended to scare people away from supplements. They ALWAYS have ties to the pharmaceutical companies if you dig deeply enough they are designed, conducted and published solely to discourage people from using supplements to improve / maintain their health.
Most times the amounts used in studies are too little to make any difference or so much that they are known to cause harm. One such study a few years ago used 200,000 IU of vitamin A (which was already known to be enough to cause liver damage and eventual death). The conclusions of the “study”, which was stopped prematurely because the test subjects got sick, was that vitamin A was a dangerous supplement and should not be taken. The study was designed to accomplish this outcome with no regard for the fact that the body can’t make keratin (hair, skin and nails) without vitamin A. Every study I read and dig into is this way – they are designed to provide negative outcomes for whatever supplement is being “studied”.
My father is still alive and in fair shape at almost 89 years old because of supplements. A gastroenterologist told me 7 years ago that he would be dead from cirrhosis of the liver in pretty short order (he expected less than a couple of years). My dad was too old for a transplant and there is no other accepted medical treatment for it. I got him to take a regimen of supplements I researched targeting the liver. Within a few months he stopped building fluid on his abdomen completely (he was building it at a rate of a liter a week) and for all intents and purposes he no longer has cirrhosis. His blood work is good and his liver has returned to normal size.
The guy that wrote this worthless article is either stupid or a paid shill for the pharmaceutical industry.
And Uncle Al – I use Puritan’s Pride for most supplements based on price and quality. They do extensive testing using gas chromatography and other advanced testing equipment on each lot of product made to verify potency and accuracy. They used to have a link on their site that discussed it – if they don’t you could call the customer service number and ask for a brochure about it (they sent me one a few years ago). There are 3rd party labs that test their products occasionally as well (you have to pay a subscription fee now to see results) and they were always shown to be accurate in their product descriptions when I had access to it.